For distinguished contributions to psychophysiology: Julian F. Thayer

I was greatly honored to present my mentor Julian Thayer with SPR’s highest award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychophysiology at the Society’s annual meeting in Quebec City in 2018. As it was then, it is now a great challenge to capture the depth and breadth of Julian’s contributions in limited space. As such, I will try here to present some of his most noteworthy and representative accomplishments. Julian is a true Renaissance scholar; his work spans many distinct areas of psychophysiology and, equally so, its cognate fields of behavioral/psychosomatic medicine. He also has made numerous methodological contributions that have advanced not only psychophysiology but also more broadly psychology itself. As well, Julian is an accomplished jazz musician, and he is characterized by a unique blend of artistic creativity and scientific rigor that has inspired his many students and colleagues alike. A bit of historical background helps to appreciate the evolution of Julian’s work. He was born in Brooklyn, NYC (1959); his family relocated to the relatively rural town of Milford, DE (1964). He became interested in music and started playing the double bass when only 10 years old. After graduating from Milford High School (1977), he enrolled in Boston’s noted Berklee College of Music, intending to pursue a career as a jazz bassist. His awareness of how profoundly music could emotionally affect people stimulated his interest in psychology. In particular, he was fascinated by the relationship between the temporal aspects of music and emotion. Seeking to pursue this connection more deeply, he transferred to Indiana University (IU), majoring in psychology with a minor in music. It was at IU where his path crossed with Robert Levenson (another SPR career award recipient; see Miller, 2018), a psychophysiologist with an active interest in both emotion and music. Levenson mentored Julian’s honor’s thesis, a study of the effects of music on psychophysiological responses to a stressful film. This project not only produced Julian’s first publication but also set the future course for a major theme in his research: response patterning in emotion, using multiple psychophysiological indices and laboratory-based emotion inductions (Thayer Friedman et al., 1993; Thayer, Friedman, Thayer, Friedman, Borkovec, Johnsen, he had two visiting professorships during this time, one at the Free University of Amsterdam (1995) and another at the University of Bergen, Norway (1998). The rapid upward trajectory of his career was recognized in his receiving the Early Career Award for Contributions to Psychosomatic Medicine from the American Psychosomatic Society (1996). Mobility has been a hallmark of Julian’s life, leading to extensive collaborations, and perhaps has fueled his creative vision as well. In accord with this view, Julian left Missouri for the National Institute on Aging (NIA) in Baltimore, MD, where he was a Senior Investigator and Section Chief (2000–2005). During this time, he was named a Fellow of the Society for Behavioral Medicine (2003). His most prominent intellectual advance during this period was the advent of the influential Neurovisceral Integration Model, developed with Richard Lane (Thayer he served on SPR’s Bylaws Committee (1991–1994), Program Committees (1991, 2016, 2017), and was an associate editor of Psychophysiology (1998–2003). He also was on the Executive Council of the American Psychosomatic Society (2000–2003) and has been on the Editorial Board of Psychosomatic Medicine since 2002. He was the program chair of the Annual Meeting of the Society for Behavioral Medicine (1999), the American Psychosomatic Society (2003–2004), the Rocky Mountain Bioengineering Symposium (2002, 2007), and the chair of the Membership Committee as well as a member of the Executive Council of the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research (2009–2013). He also served as president of the Rocky Mountain Bioengineering Symposium for 10 years (2008–2018). In this tribute to Julian, I’ve attempted to summarize the themes and highlights of Julian’s contributions to psychophysiology, which span nearly four decades. Many foci stand out: for example, emotion and physiological patterning, heart rate variability and adaptive function, neurovisceral integration, perseverative cognition, and ethnic disparities in health. Yet, a unifying thread runs through his 400+ peer-reviewed articles and book chapters: the key role of flexible psychophysiological responding in adaptive function. This perspective is buttressed by the methodological rigor and quantitative expertise that characterizes our field. Julian is an expansive scholar who has inspired many to transcend conceptual boundaries in their approach to science. I consider myself very fortunate to have been among those individuals whose both professional and personal lives have been indelibly influenced by Julian. He has made an enduring contribution to psychophysiology and its related fields of behavioral/psychosomatic medicine, and I can think of no one who is more deserving of SPR’s highest award. His work undoubtedly will influence psychophysiologists for generations to come. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article. Please note that the full bibliography of Julian’s work is linked as online supporting information.