53. Suzanne Segerstrom: When Optimism Is a Mixed Blessing

Today’s guest is Dr. Suzanne Segerstrom, the Jo Anne Leonard Petersen Endowed Chair for Gerontology and Family Studies at Oregon State University, where she is a professor and director of the Center for Healthy Aging Research. Her work examines when psychological factors such as personality, optimism, and self-regulation affect the immune system, how those effects change across adulthood, and how brain health fits into the picture.