Brenna Bray, PhD

She/Her
Associate Professor, Adjunct Faculty
  • Focus: Research, Psychology, Neuroscience, Neurobiology, Psychedelic Research, Clinical Mental Health, Eating Disorders, Complementary and Integrative Health Research, Nutrition, Mindfulness & Meditation, Yoga, Mind-Body Interventions, Substance Use, Stress-Brain Interactions, Neurohormones, Gut-Brain Interactions, Psychobiotics
  • Education:
    • Ph.D. - Basic Biomedical Sciences, Neuroscience Specialization - Sanford School of Medicine, University of
    • South Dakota (2013-2018)
    • Certificate in Publishing - Denver University Publishing Institute (2006).
    • B.A. - Psychology, Media Studies Concentration - St. Olaf College (2002-2006).
  • Website:

    Hi! I’m Brenna (Dr. Bray; Brenna is fine).

    I’m a Scientific Research Investigator with a PhD in Basic Biomedical Sciences & Neuroscience and post-doctoral training in Complementary and Integrative Health focusing on eating disorders and the Social Justice factors that often contribute to their development and maintenance.

    My graduate work focused on the ability of stress hormones (e.g., cortisol in humans) to act as neurotransmitters in the brain and influence stress and reward neurotransmission. In healthy conditions, stress hormones (e.g., cortisol) can enhance reward neurotransmission (e.g., dopamine output in the ventral striatum/nucleus accumbens), enabling stress to enhance motivation, focus, and attention (a healthy stress response). However, in conditions of stress dysregulation (e.g., untreated ADD/ADHD, acute amphetamine withdrawal, acute drug/dependence withdrawal, and various forms of trauma), stress (cortisol) can actually REDUCE reward neurotransmission (dopamine release in the ventral striatum), which can contribute to a lack of motivation, distraction, anxiety, drug-stimulant seeking/use, and stress-induced relapse. (Bray et al., 2016, 2020; Barr, Bray, Forster, 2017).

    My postdoctoral work shifted gears and focused initially on the overlapping neurobiological underpinnings of substance use disorders and many binge-type eating disorders (especially binge eating disorder). These days, my research focuses on environmental factors that contribute to eating disorder development and maintenance (Bray et al., 2022a, “Binge Eating Disorder Is a Social Justice Issue,”) and a variety of additional factors associated with eating disorder pathology and treatment (Bray et al., 2022b, 2023, 2021, 2024a,b).

    In addition to teaching at NUNM in the Clinical Research MS program, I am a contributing faculty to the Building Research across InterDisciplinary Gaps (BRIDG) program and a research faculty at NUNM’s Helfgott Research Institute. I also direct a nonprofit research foundation (NourishED Research Foundation, www.nourishedrfi.org) and run a successful integrative nutrition and holistic health practice (www.brennabray.com). Additionally, I am an associated adjunct professor at Naropa University in Boulder, CO in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling MS Program and in the Psychology Department and Psychedelic Studies program.

    When not engaging in research or teaching, I am an avid ultra-marathon mountain trail runner with longstanding practices of yoga and meditation. I am passionate about making health information and health self-efficacy accessible to everyone. One thing I do to support this passion (in addition to my work at NourishED) is write a holistic health column for AboutBoulder.com.