Member Login
Search

    President's Message - Fall 2026

Dear Colleagues,

I am honored to write this message to you as the current President of PNIRS.  I attended my first PNIRS meeting in 2002 as a graduate student and it forever changed the trajectory of my career.  The lessons I learned from that meeting began to fill a gap that I had not previously even realized was there – the critical analysis of health and disease from a multi-system, integrative, and bio-behavioral approach which seeks to answer key questions around health disparities and morbidity, but also resilience. I also fell in love with this welcoming and vibrant society and began to make life-long friends.  It is a true privilege to serve the society now in this capacity.

I would like to thank our outgoing President Ruth Barrientos for her steadfast, joyful, and excellent leadership of this society during an extraordinarily tough time for science in our world. I also thank all the many members of our committees who generously devote their time to the improvement, enrichment, and well-being of this community.  We simply would not work without them. And, of course, thanks to our excellent staff at Degnon, including Jess Widing and Colleen Wainwright, who keep this ship sailing.

Our last meeting in New Orleans was a resounding success, full of food, friends, and great science, and we are now looking forward to our next one in Columbus, OH, co-hosted by THE Ohio State University Institute of Brain, Behavior, and Immunology. Be sure to save the dates for June 14-17, 2027, for our meeting focused around the theme of “The Body Remembers: Psychoneuroimmunology at the Nexus of Interoception”.  We already have several exciting speakers confirmed and are planning several fun events for the meeting.

PNIRS Presents will continue in the upcoming year, and I encourage you to participate in this series as we work together to strengthen and broaden our community across disciplines. Please extend an invitation to colleagues outside of PNIRS who share an interest in these topics or may be considering joining our society. Your support in spreading the word about these events is greatly appreciated.

Please visit our Journal webpage to learn more about our three Society journals.

  • Brain, Behavior, and Immunity (BBI)was founded in 1987 and is the official journal of the PNIRS.
  • Brain, Behavior, and Immunity - Health (BBI - Health) is an open access journal and a companion title to BBI.
  • Brain, Behavior, and Immunity - Integrative (BBI – Integrative) is another, newly formed, open access journal and companion title to BBI. This journal examines how the mind and body communicate with one another through the immune system, with a focus on Eastern approaches, and has devoted its next Issue to traditional Asian medicine and cancer.

Just a reminder that regular members receive a 25% discount with Elsevier on open access publication fees for our Society journals. This translates to savings of $1,420 USD for Brain Behavior and Immunity (BBI), $722.50 USD for BBI-Health and $321 USD BBI-Integrative—benefits that far exceed the cost of membership.

In closing, the importance of our community and advocacy for our critical work is greater than ever. It is an honor to serve this society as President for the coming term and I look forward to welcoming you to Columbus in June.

Staci Bilbo

PNIRS President 2027-2027