Full Bio

Dr. Nicole Bowles received her PhD from The Rockefeller University in Neuroendocrinology under the tutelage of the late Dr. Bruce McEwen and her Masters in Clinical Epidemiology from Weill Cornell Medical College as a Center of Excellence in Disparities and Community Engagement Research Fellow. As an Assistant Professor in the Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences at OHSU, Dr. Bowles currently works to couple her training in molecular neuroendocrinology with more recent training in human research, including a postdoc with Steven Shea, Ph.D. at OHSU. Her developing research portfolio sits at the nexus of basic science and social science. Specifically, she examines the role of cannabinoid signaling in the modulation of sleep and circadian rhythms in humans, and determines how these signaling patterns buffer the cardiometabolic responses to psychosocial and environmental stress. Additionally, Dr. Bowles continues to use a community based participatory framework (CBPR): (1) to study sleep, stress and circadian rhythms in populations of shift workers including on-duty Oregon firefighters and police officers; and (2) to bring diverse populations into the laboratory where she is able to control the environment and behaviors to systematically measure sleep and circadian phase. In order to collect data in the field, Dr. Bowles makes use of a number of wearable devices (e.g., actigraphy and heart rate monitoring as measures of sleep; vital patch for measures of ECG and temperature). In the laboratory, she works bedside to bench, and pairs psychometrics with biological assays that measure cannabinoid activity (e.g., ligands and their respective receptors and enzymes). Dr. Bowles’ research is currently funded through the Oregon Health Workforce Center a NIOSH Total Worker Health Center of Excellence and a NHLBI K01 Career Training Award. She was also awarded OHSU’s 2021 Women in Academic Health & Medicine Emerging Leader Award and serves on OHSU’s Fellowship for Diversity in Research Advisory Committee as well as the SRBR Trainee Day Planning Committee.