Annelise Klettner, PhD

My research examines how psychosocial factors—such as stigma, close relationships, and stress—shape the health and quality of life of young adults living with conditions like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). These conditions often carry significant social stigma, and my work seeks to understand the interpersonal and cultural challenges that influence patients’ day-to-day experiences and long-term health outcomes. Ultimately, my goal is to design and implement interventions that reduce stigma, strengthen social support, and prevent disease progression.

During my doctoral studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, I expanded my research to examine how interpersonal, cultural, and psychosocial factors shape health and illness experiences. My early work explored how attachment styles, rejection sensitivity, cultural values, and personality traits influence emotional responses in relationships, leading to publications on privacy violations in intimate relationships and adolescent depression in Chinese parent–child dynamics. These projects demonstrated how psychological control, insecurity, trust, and identity shape emotional well-being, stress regulation, and physical health.

My later work turned to chronic illness, particularly IBS and IBD, where stigma and interpersonal challenges are common. In my dissertation research, I used experimental vignette studies to investigate dating partners’ perceptions of individuals with visible IBS symptoms. The findings revealed that symptom visibility—even without a formal diagnosis—can increase stigma, highlighting how relationship dynamics can amplify health disparities.

My path into this field was shaped by experiences in clinical, laboratory, and industry settings. As a graduate student, I worked in a neurocognitive lab at the Connecticut Mental Health Center, conducting cognitive remediation experiments with outpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia. This work underscored the importance of trust-building in clinical research and sparked my interest in how patient–provider relationships—and social networks more broadly—impact health outcomes. After earning my master’s degree in psychology from Southern Connecticut State University, I became a Rater Training Associate at Cogstate, a global neuroscience technology company, supporting over 50 clinical sites conducting drug-treatment trials for dementia and traumatic brain injury. In this role, I ensured data quality, monitored protocol adherence, and reinforced the value of rigorous, standardized procedures to produce meaningful results for patients.