THE KHALSA LABORATORY
Sahib S. Khalsa, M.D., Ph.D.Director of Clinical Operations, Laureate Institute for Brain Research
Associate Professor, University of Tulsa, Oxley College of Health Sciences Director, LIBR Float Clinic and Research Center Volunteer Faculty Member, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oklahoma Email: skhalsa@laureateinstitute.org | Phone: 918-502-5743
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Research Program Highlights
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Main Question
How does the connection between brain and body determine physical and mental health? Approach Use infusions of medicines to influence body physiology, and evaluate how this changes bodily feelings, emotional experience, and brain activity in individuals with eating and anxiety disorders. Also studying the heart-brain connection in individuals with cardiac arrhythmias (e.g., how cardiac arrhythmias can induce psychiatric disorders). |
Future Directions
To determine whether abnormal brain body connections predict psychiatric problems in eating disorders, anxiety disorders, and cardiac arrhythmias. To determine whether systematically retraining the brain body connection reduces psychopathology and could yield new therapeutics for these disorders. |
Scientific Biography
Dr. Khalsa received a B.S. in Psychology from SUNY Stony Brook in 2002. He graduated from the Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of Iowa, receiving M.D. and Ph.D. (neuroscience) degrees in 2009. He completed his residency training in Psychiatry at UCLA in 2013, serving as the program Chief Resident and Chief Resident in the UCLA Anxiety Disorders Clinic. At that time, he joined the department as a faculty member in the Division of Adult Psychiatry at UCLA, becoming an Assistant Professor in Residence in 2014.
Dr. Khalsa’s research examines how people feel their heartbeat, how the human brain maps cardiac sensation, and whether there is dysfunctional cross talk between the heart and brain in psychiatric and cardiovascular illnesses. To approach these questions, his studies have examined the effects of aging, focal brain injury, cardiac dysfunction, and long-term meditation practice on awareness of the heartbeat. Ongoing projects examine the neural basis of cardiac sensation, the neural basis of dysfunctional heart-brain communication in anorexia nervosa, and the impact of implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) on awareness of the heartbeat. These studies aim to ultimately answer the question “How can we develop new treatments that re-establish a functional dialogue between the heart and brain?”
Dr. Khalsa’s clinical expertise focuses on the assessment and treatment of anxiety disorders. As a faculty member Dr. Khalsa served as Associate Director of the UCLA Anxiety Disorders Clinic, supervising resident physicians in the treatment of anxiety disorders. As founding Director of the Healthy Hearts Behavioral Medicine Program, an interdisciplinary endeavor started with the UCLA Cardiac Arrhythmia Center, he specializes in treating anxiety and mood disorders in individuals with cardiovascular disease and who have received ICDs. He also worked as an attending psychiatrist in the UCLA OCD Intensive Outpatient Program.
In February 2015, Dr. Khalsa joined the Laureate Institute for Brain Research in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as the Director of Clinical Studies, and as an Assistant Professor (tenure track) on the Faculty of Community Medicine at the University of Tulsa.
Dr. Khalsa’s research examines how people feel their heartbeat, how the human brain maps cardiac sensation, and whether there is dysfunctional cross talk between the heart and brain in psychiatric and cardiovascular illnesses. To approach these questions, his studies have examined the effects of aging, focal brain injury, cardiac dysfunction, and long-term meditation practice on awareness of the heartbeat. Ongoing projects examine the neural basis of cardiac sensation, the neural basis of dysfunctional heart-brain communication in anorexia nervosa, and the impact of implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) on awareness of the heartbeat. These studies aim to ultimately answer the question “How can we develop new treatments that re-establish a functional dialogue between the heart and brain?”
Dr. Khalsa’s clinical expertise focuses on the assessment and treatment of anxiety disorders. As a faculty member Dr. Khalsa served as Associate Director of the UCLA Anxiety Disorders Clinic, supervising resident physicians in the treatment of anxiety disorders. As founding Director of the Healthy Hearts Behavioral Medicine Program, an interdisciplinary endeavor started with the UCLA Cardiac Arrhythmia Center, he specializes in treating anxiety and mood disorders in individuals with cardiovascular disease and who have received ICDs. He also worked as an attending psychiatrist in the UCLA OCD Intensive Outpatient Program.
In February 2015, Dr. Khalsa joined the Laureate Institute for Brain Research in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as the Director of Clinical Studies, and as an Assistant Professor (tenure track) on the Faculty of Community Medicine at the University of Tulsa.
Lab Members
Emily Adamic
Graduate Student 
Adam Teed, Ph.D.
Post-Doctoral Research Associate |
McKenna Garland
Graduate Student 
Raminta Wilson, M.D., M.P.H.
Psychiatric Research Coordinator, LIBR Float Clinic and Research Center |
Jessyca Naegele
Research Coordinator 
Rachel Lapidus, M.A.
Graduate Student |
Valerie Upshaw, R.N., B.S.N.
Clinical Research Coordinator |
Research Volunteers
Katie Baker
Ann Marie Flusche
Abigail Kimball
Dhvanit Raval
Chloe Sigman
Megan Sinik
Alexandra Weindel
Ann Marie Flusche
Abigail Kimball
Dhvanit Raval
Chloe Sigman
Megan Sinik
Alexandra Weindel
Selected Publications
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Neural circuits of interoception. Berntson GG, Khalsa SS. Trends in Neurosciences 2021 Jan;44(1):17-28. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2020.09.011. PMID: 33378653.
A Bayesian computational model reveals a failure to adapt interoceptive precision estimates across depression, anxiety, eating, and substance use disorders. Smith R, Kuplicki R, Feinstein JS, Forthman KL, Stewart JL, Paulus MP, Tulsa 1000 Investigators, Khalsa SS. PLoS Computational Biology 2020 Dec 14;16(12):e1008484. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008484. PMID: 33315893.
Reduced environmental stimulation in anorexia nervosa: An early-phase clinical trial. Khalsa SS, Moseman SE, Yeh HW, Upshaw V, Persac B, Breese E, Lapidus RC, Chappelle S, Paulus MP, Feinstein JS. Front Psychol. 2020 Oct 6; 11:567499.
An Active Inference Approach to Interoceptive Psychopathology. Paulus MP, Feinstein JS, Khalsa SS. Annu Rev Clin Psychol. 2019 May 7;15:97-122.
Interoception and Mental Health: a Roadmap. Khalsa SS, Adolphs R, Cameron OG, Critchley HD, Davenport PW, Feinstein JS, Feusner JD, Garfinkel SN, Lane RD, Mehling WE, Meuret AE, Nemeroff CB, Oppenheimer S, Petzschner FH, Pollatos O, Rhudy JL, Schramm LP, Simmons WK, Stein MB, Stephan KE, Van Den Bergh O, Van Diest I, von Leupoldt A, Paulus MP, Interoception Summit 2016 Participants. Biological Psychiatry Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging. 2018; 3: 501-13.
The hierarchical basis of neurovisceral integration. Smith R, Thayer JF, Khalsa SS, Lane RD. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. 2017; 75: 274–296.
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Computational models of interoception and body regulation. Petzschner FH, Garfinkel SN, Paulus MP, Koch C, Khalsa SS. Trends in Neurosciences 2021 Jan;44(1):63-76. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2020.09.012. PMID: 33378658
Cardiac sympathetic denervation and mental health. Khalsa SS, Clausen AN, Shahabi L, Sorg J, Gonzalez SE, Naliboff B, Shivkumar K, Ajijola O. Autonomic Neuroscience (in press).
Heightened affective response to perturbation of respiratory but not pain signals in eating, mood, and anxiety disorders. Lapidus RC, Puhl M, Kuplicki R, Stewart JL, Paulus MP, Rhudy JL, Feinstein JS, Khalsa SS, Tulsa 1000 Investigators. PLoS One. 2020 Jul 15; 15(7):e0235346.
Somatomap: A novel mobile tool to assess body image perception, piloted with fashion models and non-models. Ralph-Nearman C, Arevian AC, Puhl M, Kumar R, Villaroman D, Suthana N, Feusner JD, Khalsa SS. JMIR Ment Health. 2019 Oct 29;6(10):e14115.
Interoceptive anxiety and body representation in anorexia nervosa. Khalsa SS, Hassanpour MS, Strober MA, Craske MG, Arevian AC, Feusner JD. Frontiers in Psychiatry. 2018 Sep 21;9:444.
The Tulsa 1000: A naturalistic study protocol for multi-level assessment and outcome prediction in a large psychiatric sample. Victor TA, Khalsa SS, Simmons WK, Feinstein JS, Savitz J, Aupperle RL, Yeh H, Bodurka J, Paulus MP. BMJ Open. 2018; 7:e016620.
What happens after treatment? A systematic review of relapse, remission, and recovery in anorexia nervosa. Khalsa SS, Portnoff LC, McCurdy-McKinnon D, Feusner JD. Journal of Eating Disorders. 2017; 5: 20.
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Diminished responses to bodily threat and blunted interoception in suicide attempters. DeVille DC, Kuplicki R, Stewart JL; Tulsa 1000 Investigators, Aupperle RL, Bodurka J, Cha YH, Feinstein J, Savitz JB, Victor TA, Paulus MP, Khalsa SS. Elife. 2020 Apr 7;9. pii: e51593. doi: 10.7554/eLife.51593. PMID: 32254020. IF: 7.1
The practice of meditation is not associated with improved interoceptive awareness of the heartbeat. Khalsa SS, Rudrauf D, Hassanpour MS, Davidson RJ, Tranel D. Psychophysiology. 2020 Feb;57(2):e13479.
The insular cortex dynamically maps changes in cardiorespiratory interoception. Hassanpour MS, Luo Q, Feinstein JS, Simmons WK, Bodurka J, Paulus MP, Khalsa SS. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2018; 43, 126-131.
Clinical Neurocardiology—defining the value of neuroscience based cardiovascular therapeutics.
Shivkumar K, Ajijola OA, Anand I, Armour JA, Chen PS, Esler MD, DeFerrari G, Fishbein MC, Goldberger JJ, Harper RM, Joyner MJ, Khalsa SS, Kumar R, Lane RD, Mahajan A, Po S, Schwartz PJ, Somers V, Valderrabano M, Vaseghi M, Zipes D. Journal of Physiology. 2016 Jul 15;594(14):3911-54. Panic anxiety in humans with bilateral amygdala lesions: pharmacological induction via cardiorespiratory interoceptive pathways. Khalsa SS, Feinstein JS, Wi L, Feusner JD, Adolphs R, Hurlemann R. The Journal of Neuroscience. 2016; 36(12): 3559-3566..
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Research Collaborators
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Karl-Jürgen Bär, M.D.
University of Jena Gary Berntson, Ph.D.
Ohio State University Ilona Croy, Ph.D.
University of Dresden |
Paul Fletcher, M.B.B.S.
Cambridge University Rene Hurlemann, M.D., Ph.D.
University of Bonn Walter Kaye, M.D.
University of California- San Diego Rajesh Kumar, Ph.D.
University of California- Los Angeles |
Frederike Petzschner, Ph.D.
Brown University David Rudrauf, Ph.D.
University of Geneva |
