29. Hormones and Behavior: Sex, Stress and Bonding with Dr. Gary Dohanich

Dr. Gary Dohanich is a professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. Dr. Dohanich received his B.S. in Psychology from Lehigh University, his M.S. in Physiological Psychology from Villanova University, and his Ph.D. in Integrative Biology from Michigan State University.  Following an NRSA postdoctoral fellowship in the Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology at Rockefeller University, he joined the Tulane faculty in 1985.  His research has focused on the roles of gonadal and adrenal hormones as moderators of cognitive, affective, and reproductive behaviors. Complementary interests included the impact of biological sex on the development and expression of behavior.  He has published 70 research articles, scholarly reviews, and book chapters, and held grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.  Dr. Dohanich no longer maintains an active research laboratory and devotes his time to undergraduate and graduate teaching, and training of doctoral students in contemporary pedagogical techniques.  Dr. Dohanich is the co-founder and former co-director of Tulane’s major and master’s programs in Neuroscience.  He is the recipient of many of Tulane University’s highest teaching awards, including the 1995 Randolf C. Read Award for Excellence in Teaching, the 1996 Sheldon Hackney Award for Excellence in Teaching, the 2007 Suzanne and Stephen Weiss Presidential Fellowship in Undergraduate Education, and the 2014 President’s Award for Excellence in Graduate and Professional School Teaching.  He was named the Distinguished Newcomb Fellow by the Newcomb College Institute in 2012 and the Honors Professor of the Year in 2020. Along with Dr. Dohanich’s research and teaching achievements, he’s a lover of New Orleans life and culture, frequenting local clubs and also known for attending all 7 days of Jazz Fest. 

In this episode, we discuss:

-How quarantine is limiting our freedom, Dr. Dohanich’s story, and introverts vs. extroverts

-Sex hormones and sexual differentiation in development

-The complex way sex hormones affect behavior

-Oxytocin and other hormones involved in bonding behavior

-Monogamy in humans: are we “made” for this?

-Effects of hormones in the brain

-Fight or fight response and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in stress

-How other brain structures regulate the stress response

-Epigenetics and how this affects our stress response system

-Long term health effects of chronic stress

Gary Dohanich, PhD: https://sse.tulane.edu/psyc/faculty/dohanich

Connect with me on Instagram: @madds_baileeyy

Visit my website: madelinebbailey.com/

Intro Music by: Seth Francis

Cover Art by: Tyler Colter