Alicia B Colvin, PhD

I am a psychiatric epidemiologist, and my research has primarily focused on the impact of the menopausal transition on mental health and quality of life outcomes. I am particularly interested in understanding the role of family history of depression in the development of depression in women during midlife.  I am also interested in examining changes in quality of life over the menopausal transition and identifying predictors of those changes.  More recently, I have become involved in research focused on the relationship between physical functioning and trajectories of  lifestyle behaviors and psychosocial factors in women during midlife.  Most of my work has been conducted using data from the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN), a multi-center, multi-ethnic observational study of the menopausal transition.  I have worked with the SWAN data for over 10 years, and I am currently an Investigator at the SWAN Coordinating Center. 

1996 | Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME | Bachelor of Arts

2001 | University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA | Master of Public Health

2012 | University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA | PhD Psychiatric Epidemiology

• Psychiatric epidemiology
• Women's health and aging
• Impact of the menopausal transition on mental health and quality of life
• Physical functioning and trajectories of healthy lifestyle behaviors and psychosocial factors 

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5638-2747

1. Avis NE, Ory M, Matthews KA, Schocken M, Bromberger J, Colvin A. Health-related quality of life in a multiethnic sample of middle-aged women: Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN). Medical Care 2003; 41(11):1262-76.
2. Avis NE, Brockwell S, Colvin A. A universal menopausal syndrome? The American Journal of Medicine 2005; 118 (12B):37S-46S.
3. Johnston JM, Colvin A, Johnson BD, Santoro N, Harlow SD, Bairey Merz CN, Sutton-Tyrrell K. Comparison of SWAN and WISE menopausal status classification algorithms. Journal of Women’s Health 2006; 15(10):1184-1194.
4. Gold EB, Colvin A, Avis NE, Bromberger J, Greendale GA, Powell L, Sternfeld B, Matthews KA. Longitudinal analysis of the association between vasomotor symptoms and race/ethnicity across the menopausal transition: Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN). American Journal of Public Health 2006; 96(7):1226-1235.
5. Avis NE, Colvin A. Disentangling cultural issues in quality of life data. Menopause 2007; 14(4):708-716.
6. Wildman RP, Colvin AB, Powell LH, Matthews KA, Everson-Rose SA, Hollenberg S, Johnston JM, Sutton-Tyrrell K.  Associations of endogenous sex hormones with the vasculature in menopausal women: the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN). Menopause 2008; 15:414-421.
7. Kelley-Hedgepeth A, Lloyd-Jones DM, Colvin A, Matthews KA, Johnston J, Sowers MR, Sternfeld B, Pasternak RC, Chae CU. Ethnic differences in c-reactive protein concentrations. Clinical Chemistry 2008; 54:1027-1037.
8. Hess R, Colvin A, Avis NE, Bromberger JT, Schocken M, Johnston JM, Matthews KA. The impact of hormone therapy on Health Related Quality of Life: Longitudinal results from the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation. Menopause 2008; 15:422-428.
9. Lewis TT, Everson-Rose SA, Colvin A, Matthews KA, Bromberger JT, Sutton-Tyrrell K. The Interactive Effects of Race and Depressive symptoms on Calcification in African-American and White Women. Psychosom Med 2009; 71:163-170.
10. Avis NE, Colvin A, Bromberger JT, Hess R, Matthews KA, Ory M, Schocken M. Change in health-related quality of life over the menopausal transition in a multi-ethnic cohort of middle-aged women: Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN). Menopause 2009;16(5):860-869.
11. Colvin A, Richardson GA, Cyranowski JM, Youk A, Bromberger JT. Does family history of depression predict major depression in midlife women? Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation Mental Health Study (SWAN MHS). Archives of Women’s Mental Health 2014;17(4):269-278.
12. Sternfeld B, Colvin A, Stewart A, Dugan S, Nackers L, El Khoudary SR, Huang MH, Karvonen-Gutierrez C. The Impact of a Healthy Lifestyle on Future Physical Functioning in Midlife Women. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 2017:49(2):274-282.
13. Avis NE, Colvin A, Karlamangla AS, Crawford S, Hess R, Waetjen, E, Brooks M, Tepper PG, Greendale GA. Change in Sexual Functioning Over the Menopause Transition: Results from the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN). Menopause 2017;24(4): 379-390.
14. Colvin A, Richardson GA, Cyranowski JM, Youk A, Bromberger JT. The Role of Family History of Depression and the Menopausal Transition in the Development of Major Depression in Midlife Women: Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation Mental Health Study (SWAN MHS). Depression and Anxiety 2017;34(9):826-835.
15. Pettee Gabriel K, Sternfeld B, Colvin A, Stewart A, Strotmeyer ES, Cauley JA, Dugan S, Karvonen-Gutierrez C. Physical Activity Trajectories during Midlife and Subsequent Risk of Physical Functioning Decline in Late Mid-life: The Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN). Preventive Medicine 2017; 105:287-294.
16. Avis NE, Colvin A, Bromberger JT, Hess R. Midlife Predictors of Health-Related Quality of Life in Older Women. The Journals of Gerontology: Series A 2018;73 (11):1574-1580.
17. Sternfeld B, Colvin A, Stewart A, Appelhans BM, Cauley JA, Dugan SA, El Khoudary SR, Greendale GA, Strotmeyer E, Karvonen-Gutierrez C. Understanding Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Physical Performance in Mid-Life Women: Findings from SWAN (Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation). The Journals of Gerontology: Series B [published online ahead of print Aug 14, 2019]. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbz103.
18. Hutchins F, Abrams B, Brooks M, Colvin A, Moore Simas T, Rosal M, Sternfeld B, Crawford S. The Effect of Gestational Weight Gain across Reproductive History on Maternal Body Mass Index: The Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation. The Journal of Women’s Health. 2020 Feb;29 (2):148-157.
19. Pettee Gabriel K, Sternfeld B, Colvin AB, Lucas AR, Karvonen-Gutierrez C, Gold EB, Crawford SL, Greendale GA, Avis NE. The impact of breast cancer on physical activity from midlife to early older adulthood and predictors of change post-diagnosis. Journal of Cancer Survivorship [published online ahead of print March 30, 2020]. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11764-020-00879-7.
20. Avis NE, Levine B, Goyal N, Crawford SL, Hess R, Colvin A, Bromberger JT, Greendale, GA. Health-Related Quality of Life Among Breast Cancer Survivors and Non-Cancer Controls Over 10 Years: Pink SWAN. Cancer. 2020 May;126 (10): 2296-2304.
21. Stewart A, Sternfeld B, Lange-Maia B, Ylitalo KR, Colvin A, Karvonen-Gutierrez C, Dugan S, Green R, Pettee Gabriel K. Reported and Device-Based Physical Activity by Race/Ethnic Groups in Young-Old Women. Journal for the Measurement of Physical Behavior [published online ahead of print May, 2020]. doi: https://doi.org/10.1123/jmpb.2019-0062.