Lori Zoellner, Ph.D.
Professor
(206) 685-3126
Advising:
Accepting new graduate students in 2025-2026.
Areas:
Adult Clinical
Interests: Understanding the processes (e.g., memory processing, fear learning) underlying the prevention and treatment of chronic psychopathology following trauma exposure, including fear and loss such as posttraumatic stress disorder and depression.
Links:
Research
Over the last 20 years, our knowledge regarding the nature of post trauma reactions has increased substantially but key questions in understanding mechanisms associated with recovery following trauma exposure remain. Who is most likely to develop chronic psychopathology? How do we most effectively intervene for those immediately following trauma and for those who are still suffering months and years later? How do we promote resilience and recovery after trauma? Better understanding the mechanisms associated with natural and therapeutic recovery we may be better able to answer these key questions. My research focuses on addressing these questions across three main areas of inquiry: information processing mechanisms associated with trauma exposure and psychopathology, prevention of chronic psychopathology following trauma exposure, and intervention for chronic psychopathology following trauma exposure. Ultimately, our work seeks to reduce mental health disparities after trauma exposure and expand our interventions to those who need it the most.
Education
University of California - Los Angeles (1997)
- June 26, 2024 Lori Zoellner, Emma PeConga, and Michele Bedard-Gilligan published a guest blog on the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center
- September 28, 2022 Lori Zoellner shared ways to cope with social anxiety in Right as Rain by UW Medicine
- October 25, 2021 Lori Zoellner provides tips on coping with social anxiety in UW Medicine's Right as Rain
- March 24, 2020 Lori Zoellner, Emma Peconga and Michelle Bedard-Gilligan discuss anxiety, fear and active problem solving while dealing with an ambiguously threatening environment, in this Seattle Times article.
- July 23, 2019 Conratulations to Rosemary Walker, who was selected to receive the Graduate School Presidential Dissertation Fellowship, a prestigious honor!
- October 25, 2018 Lori Zoellner’s study on PTSD treatment and patient choice is featured in this UW News story.
- February 7, 2018 Isabelle Tully, a junior honors student in Psychology, is UW's Sophomore Medalist. Isabelle works in Lori Zoellner's lab. Isabelle will be recognized by Ana Mari Cauce and Jerry Baldasty next month.
- October 17, 2017 Lori Zoellner is interviewed in this article from The Daily about her collaboration with the Somali Reconciliation Institute to create a program to promote trauma-focused treatment.
- September 27, 2017 Congratulations to Lori Zoellner and Shannon Dorsey, who were among the winners of the University of Washington Population Health Initiative pilot research grants.
- May 1, 2017 Congratulations to Lori Zoellner who just received her 1st year of NIH R34 funding for her research titled "A lay-led intervention for war and refugee related trauma."
- March 28, 2016 Lori Zoellner just received funding from the Seattle Foundation for her work on Trauma Healing in Islamic communities.
- December 16, 2015 Lori Zoellner just received funding from the Catherine Holmes Wilkins Foundation for her work titled Trauma Healing in the Somali Community. Congratulations Lori!
- June 25, 2014 Lori Zoellner shows patient with PTSD may know best when it comes to their treatment:
- May 28, 2014 Lori Zoellner was recently interviewed by UW Today about her work on PTSD treatment.
- October 2, 2013 Janie Jun won the Putnam Trauma Research Award from the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.
- April 10, 2013 Natalia Garcia has received a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship.
- October 17, 2011 Lori Zoellner's work on post-traumatic stress disorder was featured in UW Today: "Learning to not be afraid."
- April 13, 2009 Aileen Echiverri received the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award for Individual Predoctoral Fellowship to Promote Diversity in Health-related Research.
- April 11, 2008 The UW Clinical Psychology program has received a number 1 ranking (tied with UCLA and Wisconsin) in the latest U.S. News and World Report ranking of more than 200 graduate programs.
- April 23, 2006 Drs. Lori Zoellner and Richard Bryant review current research on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and the therapies and medicines that can effectively treat the condition on UW TV, Sunday, April 23rd, 10:00 PM.
- July 5, 2004 Lori Zoellner's work on Psychology’s and Psychiatry and Behavioral Science’s proposal to create the Collaborative Center for the Cognitive Behavioral Treatment of Anxiety Disorders was funded by the Provost's Fund for Innovation and Redesign.
- Marks, E. H., Franklin, A., & Zoellner, L. A. (2018). Can't get it out of my mind: A systematic review of predictors of intrusive memories of distressing events. Psychological Bulletin.
- Bedard-Gilligan, M., Zoellner, L. A., & Feeny, N. C. (2017). Is trauma memory special? Trauma narrative fragmentation in PTSD: Effects of treatment and response. Clinical Psychological Science, 5, 212-225. doi:10.1177/216770261667658
- Garcia, N. M. & Zoellner, L. A. (2017). Fear generalization in individuals with high neuroticism: Increasing predictability is not necessarily better. Cognition and Emotion. doi: 10.1080/02699931.2016.1259160 PMID: 27892819
- Zoellner, L.A., Telch, M., Foa, E. B., Farach, F. J., McLean, C. P., Gallop, R., Bluett, E. J., Cobb, A., & Gonzalez-Lima, F. (2017). Enhancing extinction learning in posttraumatic stress disorder with brief daily imaginal exposure and methylene blue: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, DOI: 10.4088/JCP.16m10936
- Echiverri-Cohen, A., Zoellner, L. A., Gallop, R., Feeny, N., Jaeger, J., & Bedard-Gilligan, M. (2016). Changes in temporal attention inhibition following prolonged exposure and sertraline in the treatment of PTSD. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 84, 415-426. doi:10.1037/ccp0000080
- Jerud, A.B., Farach, F.J., Bedard-Gilligan, M., Smith, H., Zoellner, L.A., Feeny, N.C. (2016). Repeated trauma exposure does not impair distress reduction during imaginal exposure for posttraumatic stress disorder. Depression and Anxiety. doi:10.10002/da.22582
- Keller, S. M., Feeny, N. C, & Zoellner, L. A. (2014). Depression sudden gains and transient depression spikes during treatment for PTSD. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 82, 103-111.
- Zoellner, L. A., Pruitt, L. D., Farach, F. J., & Jun, J. J. (2014). Understanding heterogeneity in PTSD: Fear, dysphoria, and distress. Depression and Anxiety, 31, 97-106.
- Jun, J., Zoellner, L. A., & Feeny, N. C. (2013). Sudden gains in prolonged exposure and sertraline for chronic PTSD. Depression and Anxiety, 30, 607-613.
- Zoellner, L. A., Bedard-Gilligan, M. A., Jun, J. J., Marks, E. H., & Garcia, N. M. (2013). The evolving construct of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD): DSM-5 criteria changes and legal implications. Psychological Injury and the Law.