College Directory

Areas of Expertise

• Effects of chronic traumatic stress (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder) on health, cognition, and psychosocial functioning (e.g., work and family functioning), within an aging- and gender-specific framework
• Gender differences in mental health outcomes (e.g., PTSD and suicidal ideation) and underlying biopsychosocial mechanisms
• Identification of modifiable individual and social risk and resilience factors to promote health and prevent negative mental health outcomes
• Design and analysis using secondary data

Selected Recent Publications

• Sobczak S, Orgeta V, Beenakker M, Boks M, Boltri M, Cations M, Coeur E, Cook JM, Corveleyn X, Dorame A, van Dijk GC, Forresi B, Fréel S, Gómez-Bautista D, Günak MM, Havermans DCD, Hopwood M, O J, Lawrence KA, Lee LO, Maercker A, Marsman A, Olivé I, Quaedflieg CWEM, Ruisch J, Thorp SR, Woudsma JS, Zabihi S, Olff M, & Global Collaboration on Traumatic Stress & Ageing. (2025). Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Older Adults: A Global Collaboration on Setting the Future Research Agenda. The Lancet Healthy Longevity.
• Havermans, D. C., Coeur, E. M., O, J., Rippey, C. S., Cook, J. M., Olff, M., Hoeboer C., Sobczak S., & Lawrence, K. A. (2025). The diagnostic accuracy of PTSD assessment instruments used in older adults: a systematic review. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 16(1), 2498191.
• Lawrence, K. A., Speaks, H. R., Abner, E. L., Schmitt, F. A., Vasterling, J. J., Smith, B. N., & Segerstrom, S. C. (2025). Lifetime posttraumatic stress disorder and longitudinal cognitive decline: A cognitive aging framework in the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center Uniform Data Set. Journal of Traumatic Stress.
• Cook JM, Bovin MJ, Günak MM, Lawrence KA, & Pietrzak RH. (2024). Psychometric Properties, Factor Structure, and Functional Correlates of the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 in a U.S. National Sample of Older Veterans. International Psychogeriatrics, 37(2), 100027.
• Lawrence KA, Gloger EM, Pinheiro CN, Schmitt FA, & Segerstrom SC. (2024). Associations between IL-1β, IL-6, and TNFα polymorphisms and longitudinal trajectories of cognitive function in non-demented older adults. Brain, Behavior, & Immunity-Health, 39, 100816.
• Lawrence, K. A., Rippey, C. S., Welikson, B., Pietrzak, R. H., & Adams Jr, T. G. (2023). Interactive Association of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Apolipoprotein ε4 Genotype, and Age on Cognitive Functioning. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, e5888.
• Lawrence, K. A., Garcia-Willingham, N. E., Slade, E., DeBeer, B. B., Meyer, E. C., & Morissette, S. B. (2023). Associations Among PTSD, Cognitive Functioning, and Health-Promoting Behavior in Post-9/11 Veterans. Military Medicine, usad035.
• Lawrence KA, Vogt D, Nigam S, Dugan AJ, Slade E, & Smith BN. (2021) Temporal Sequencing of Mental Health Symptom Severity and Suicidal Ideation in Post-9/11 Men and Women Veterans Who Recently Separated from the Military. Chronic Stress, 5, 24705470211061347.
• Lawrence KA, Vogt DS, Dugan AJ, Nigam S, Slade E, & Smith, BN. (2021). Mental Health and Psychosocial Functioning in Recently Separated U.S. Women Veterans: Trajectories and Bi-directional Relationships. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(3), 935.
• Lawrence KA, Pachner TM, Long MM, Henderson S, Schuman DL, Plassman BL. (2020). Risk and Protective Factors of Dementia Among Adults with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: A Systematic Review Protocol. BMJ Open, 10(6), e035517.
• Lawrence, KA, Matthieu MM, & Robertson-Blackmore E. (2019). Civic Service as an Intervention to Promote Psychosocial Health in Post-9/11/01 Era Women Veterans. Journal of Women’s Health, 28(8), 1133-1142.
• Larsen, S, Bellmore, A, Gobin, R, Holens, P, Lawrence, KA, Pacella, M. A. (2019). Systematic Review of Residual Symptoms Following Completion of Empirically Supported Trauma-Focused Psychotherapeutic Treatment. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 63, 26-35.

Current Projects

• Using data collected by the VA Boston Healthcare System, Dr. Lawrence and collaborators at the Boston VA are investigating gender-specific prospective relationships between mental health symptomatology and psychosocial functioning in post-9/11 veterans who recently separated from the military.
• Using data collected by Dr. Julie Cerel at the University of Kentucky, Dr. Lawrence is investigating relationships between PTSD and loneliness in National Guard Members.
• Dr. Lawrence received a K01 from the National Institute on Aging (NIH) to study the effects of PTSD on cognitive aging.
• In collaboration with the University of Kentucky Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (UK-ADRC) in the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging (SBCoA), Dr. Lawrence is leading a secondary data study to investigate the associations between single nucleotide polymorphisms in pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines and cognitive functioning trajectories in older adults. This will be followed by a validation study characterizing the SNP effect on plasma biomarker levels of target pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines in a sample subset.

Alma Mater

• Washington University, The Brown School of Social Work – Master of Social Work
• Washington University Medical School – PhD in Neurosciences