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Spikes Lab

Spikes Lab

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Chronic Stress & Resilience: Black Women’s Heart Study

Emory University
Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing
 

Our Research

Our lab is dedicated to understanding how chronic stress impacts cardiovascular health and accelerates biological aging, with a focused lens on early to mid-life African American women - a group disproportionately affected by both structural and psychosocial stressors.

By integrating biological and qualitative data, we aim to develop culturally tailored interventions that may mitigate the risk of cardiovascular disease and morbidity, as well as translate findings from this research to practice and evaluation.

The African American population tends to have an earlier onset of hypertension than any other racial or ethnic groups in the United States. Earlier studies have found that higher perception of chronic stress over time was correlated with an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

Therefore, our lab investigates how chronic stress—particularly as it is perceived and experienced—may drive biological aging and elevate cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk among early midlife African American women.

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Contact

Spikes Lab

Please feel free to reach out with any questions, concerns, or just to connect! We always welcome your feedback and look forward to hearing from you.

1520 Clifton Rd N E, Atlanta, GA 30322

tspikes@emory.edu Instagram

Message of Appreciation

Spikes Lab

Thank You!

We are incredibly grateful to all participants that made our research possible!

As of June 2nd 2025, recruitment for our study has officially concluded. We want to extend our deepest gratitude to each of you who took the time to participate.

By sharing your experiences, you have helped to shed light on how chronic stress uniquely affects the health of African American women - insights that are often overlooked in scientific research. Your participation is a powerful step toward advancing health equity and informing future interventions that can better serve your communities.

We look forward to sharing updates on our findings in the future. Thank you again for your trust, time, and support

Personnel

These are photos used in the spring/summer 2026 Emory Nursing magazine
Spikes Lab
Spikes Lab

Meet our Team

Dr. Telisa Spikes is a Tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University. Dr. Spikes’ research interest focuses on the chronic stressors derived from the social environment and the impact of their embodiment related to accelerated biological aging and cardiovascular disease risk in early midlife adult African American women ages 30-44 years old, a group that has seen a dramatic increase in cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and stagnating declines in CVD mortality.

After completing her PhD at the Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Dr. Spikes completed a 2-year postdoctoral fellowship focused on research methodologies to eliminate cardiovascular health inequalities in vulnerable populations at the Rollins School of Public Health in the division of cardiovascular/social epidemiology at Emory University. Dr. Spikes earned her Masters degree in nursing at Kennesaw State University, and a bachelor's degree in nursing from Georgia Baptist College of Nursing at Mercer University.

Telisa Spikes | PhD, RN

Team Leader

Irene Jang is a fourth-year undergraduate at Emory University majoring in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology. She joined the lab to explore how societal discrimination against certain racial groups modulates neurobiological pathways, including stress-related neural circuits, that contribute to downstream effects on cardiovascular health. Irene plans to pursue an MD after graduation.

Irene Jang

Team Member

Eduardo is a second-year Master’s student in Epidemiology and Data Science at the Rollins School of Public Health in Emory University. He is interested in researching the risk factors of cardiovascular diseases.

For our study, Eduardo is helping with the data analysis that will uncover how chronic stress is related to biological and vascular aging.

Eduardo Gonzalez Villarreal

Team Member

Publications

Spikes Lab

Associated Writings

  • The Role of Psychosocial Stress on Cardiovascular Disease in Women: JACC State-of-the-Art Review.
    Ebong, I. A., Quesada, O., Fonkoue, I. T., Mattina, D., Sullivan, S., Oliveira, G. M. M., Spikes, T., Sharma, J., Commodore, Y., Ogunniyi, M. O., Aggarwal, N. R., Vaccarino, V., & American College of Cardiology Cardiovascular Disease in Women Committee (2024). Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 84(3), 298–314. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2024.05.016
  • A Qualitative Study: Hypertension Stigma Among Black Women.
    Abel, W. M., Spikes, T., & Greer, D. B. (2021). The Journal of cardiovascular nursing, 36(2), 96–103. https://doi.org/10.1097/JCN.0000000000000759
  • Biological Age as a Predictor of Arterial Stiffness in Young and Early Midlife Black and White Women
    Spikes, T. A., Alonso, A., Thorpe, R. J., Pelkmans, J., Higgins, M., Sullivan, S., Dunbar, S. B., Michopoulos, V., Searles, C., Lewis, T. T., Mehta, P. K., Pemu, P., Taylor, H., & Quyyumi, A. (2025). American journal of hypertension, hpaf059. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajh/hpaf059
  • The associations among illness perceptions, resilient coping, and medication adherence in young adult hypertensive black women.
    Spikes, T., Higgins, M., Lewis, T., & Dunbar, S. B. (2019). The associations among illness perceptions, resilient coping, and medication adherence in young adult hypertensive black women. Journal of clinical hypertension (Greenwich, Conn.), 21(11), 1695–1704. https://doi.org/10.1111/jch.13712
  • Effect of Early Life Trauma Exposure on Vascular Dysfunction in Black Men and Women.
    Spikes, T. A., Thorpe, R. J., Jr, Michopoulos, V., Wharton, W., Pelkmans, J., Dunbar, S. B., Mehta, P. K., Pemu, P., Taylor, H., & Quyyumi, A. (2025). Journal of the American Heart Association, 14(5), e036498. https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.124.036498

Media & Lab Highlights

Newsletters

Here you will find our monthly newsletters, which provide updates on the progress of our research project, along with photos and highlights from events our lab has attended. This page serves as a space to share our work, celebrate milestones, and keep participants and community members connected to our ongoing efforts.

Written by Chassidy Arnold, Research Assistant

Spikes Lab

Written by Irene Jang, Research Assistant

Spikes Lab

Written by Irene Jang, Research Assistant

Spikes Lab