The Proulx Lab: Mindfulness and Underserved Communities

Dr. Proulx’s work focuses on the development of mindfulness programs in underserved communities and how these programs may be protective for health in those communities.

His efforts bridge Native American and African-American traditional contemplative and healing practices and mainstream mindfulness practices and how mindfulness affects resilience and well-being across a person’s developmental trajectory. Dr. Proulx’s work includes studying changes in physiological markers, such as cortisol or blood sugar levels, their relationship to stress and how responses to stress earlier in life may affect health later in life.

Stress in minority communities is also influenced by historical and cultural traumas and his work is designed to address the loss of culture and traditions by relying on community input to assimilate community strengths and traditions that are already “mindful” into the mindfulness intervention. The goals of these interventions reflect the distinct cultures of the people he works with and affect health disparities in conditions such as diabetes and dementia.

Dr. Proulx is recognized as a developmental health psychologist and his work integrates other disciplines including public health, medicine, molecular biology, and lifecourse sociology.