Roxane Cohen Silver

•Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Public Health, and Medicine, University of California, Irvine

•Vice Provost, Institutional Research, Assessment, and Planning, UC Irvine

Biography

Roxane Cohen Silver, Ph.D., is Vice Provost for Institutional Research, Assessment, and Planning and Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Public Health, and Medicine at the University of California, Irvine. An international award-winning scholar in the field of traumatic stress research, Silver has spent over four decades studying acute and long-term psychological and physical reactions to loss and personal traumas, as well as responses to larger collective events such as terror attacks, infectious disease outbreaks, and natural disasters across the world. She has guided governments in the U.S. and abroad in the aftermath of terrorist attacks and disasters and served on numerous senior advisory committees and task forces for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. State Department, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. She twice provided Congressional testimony and has briefed policymakers at the White House and on Capitol Hill on the role of social and behavioral science research in disaster preparedness and response and the impact of the media following disasters.

Silver is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, the American Psychological Association (in 4 Divisions), the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research, the Society of Experimental Social Psychology, and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.

Silver is Past-President of the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences, Past-President of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology, and a founding Director and former Chair of the Board of Directors of Psychology Beyond Borders. Silver received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Northwestern University.

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Education

B.A. in Psychology with Highest Distinction, Northwestern University, 1976
Ph.D. in Social Psychology, Northwestern University, 1982

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Distinctions

Elected member, American Academy of Arts & Sciences, 2024
American Psychological Association's Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest (Senior Career), 2011
American Psychological Association's Division 56 (Trauma Psychology) Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Field of Trauma Psychology, 2020
Inaugural Fellow, International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, 2026
International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies' Robert S. Laufer Ph.D. Memorial Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement, 2018
International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies' Innovation Award, 2022
International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies' Frank Ochberg Award for Media and Trauma Study, 2014
International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies' Public Advocacy Award, 2010
Application of Personality and Social Psychology Senior Career Contribution Award, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, 2019
Elected Fellow, Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research, 2017
Elected Fellow, Association for Psychological Science, 2000
Elected Fellow, Division 56 (Trauma Psychology), American Psychological Association, 2010
Elected Fellow, Society for Personality & Social Psychology (Division 8, American Psychological Association), 2010
Elected Fellow, American Psychological Association (Division 38, Society for Health Psychology), 2000
American Psychological Association's Award for Distinguished Service to Psychological Science, 2007
Elected Fellow, Society of Experimental Social Psychology, 1989
Honorary member, Phi Beta Kappa, 2023

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Areas of Expertise

Psychological Trauma
Coping with Collective Traumas
Effects of Media Exposure to Trauma
Stress & Coping Mechanisms
Disaster Mental Health
Psychological Impact of Infectious Disease Outbreaks
Psychological Responses to Hurricanes, Wildfires, and Earthquakes
Psychological Responses to Terrorism and Mass Violence
Cascading Crisis Effects
Coping with Loss

Recent Publications

Ermagun, A., Thompson, D., Vahedifard, F., Silver, R. C., “Emergency managers' challenges with wildfires and related cascading hazards in California” (opens in new tab), Journal of Environmental Management, vol. 374, pp. 124008, 2025.
Chang, H. A., Silver, R. C., Holman, E. A., “Betrayal trauma and somatic symptoms among patients in a medically underserved primary care clinic” (opens in new tab), Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 97-104, 2025.
Grisham, E. L., Dashtgard, P., Relihan, D. P., Holman, E. A., Silver, R. C., “They Saw a Hearing: Democrats’ and Republicans’ Perceptions of and Responses to the Ford-Kavanaugh Hearings” (opens in new tab), Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, vol. 51, pp. 730-741, 2025.
Elliott, M. R., Charles, S. T., Holman, E. A., Garfin, D. R., Silver, R. C., “Psychological distress across 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic differs by age and by race/ethnicity” (opens in new tab), Journal of Traumatic Stress, 2025.
Tao, T. J., Estes, K. D., Holman, E. A., Vahedifard, F., Silver, R. C., “Understanding climate change anxiety and anticipatory climate disaster stress: A survey of residents in a high-risk California county during wildfire season” (opens in new tab), BMJ Mental Health, vol. 28, 2025.
Holman, E. A., Garfin, D. R., Silver, R. C., “It matters what you see: Graphic media images of war and terror may amplify distress” (opens in new tab), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 121, no. 29, pp. e2318465121, 2024.
Garfin, D. R., Jones, N. M., Holman, E. A., Silver, R. C., “Finding benefits during collective stress: A study of health behaviors in a longitudinal representative U.S. sample during the COVID-19 era” (opens in new tab), Health Psychology, vol. 43, no. 10, pp. 705-717, 2024.
Estes, K. D., Garfin, D. R., Holman, E. A., Silver, R. C., “Consuming hurricane-related media: The protective role of perceived trust” (opens in new tab), Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, vol. 17, pp. S150-S157, 2024.
Lim, D., Poulin, M. J., Shaffer-Morrison, C. D., Ministero, L. M., Silver, R. C., “Investigating the role of adversity and benevolence beliefs in predicting prosociality” (opens in new tab), Journal of Personality, vol. 93, pp. 670-682, 2024.
Thompson, R. R., Jones, N. M., Garfin, D. R., Holman, E. A., Silver, R. C., “Contrasting objective and perceived risk: Predicting COVID-19 health behaviors in a nationally representative U.S. sample” (opens in new tab), Annals of Behavioral Medicine, vol. 58, no. 4, pp. 242-252, 2024.
Frolova, N., Silver, R. C., “A sudden but prolonged collective trauma: The Ukrainian experience” (opens in new tab), PLOS Mental Health, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. e0000056, 2024.
Elliott, M., Charles, S., Silver, R. C., Holman, E. A., “Racial disparities in psychological well-being across age groups during COVID-19: A longitudinal study”, Innovation in Aging, vol. 8, no. Suppl 1, pp. 717, 2024.
Holman, E. A., Jones, N. M., Garfin, D. R., Silver, R. C., “Distortions in time perception during collective trauma: Insights from a national longitudinal study during the COVID-19 pandemic” (opens in new tab), Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, vol. 15, no. 5, pp. 800–807, 2023.
Relihan, D. P., Holman, E. A., Garfin, D. R., Ditto, P. H., Silver, R. C., “Politicization of a pathogen: A prospective longitudinal study of COVID-19 responses in a nationally representative U.S. sample” (opens in new tab), Political Psychology, vol. 44, no. 6, pp. 1193-1213, 2023.
Relihan, D. P., Jones, N. M., Holman, E. A., Silver, R. C., “Shared social identity and media transmission of trauma” (opens in new tab), Scientific Reports, vol. 13, pp. 11609, 2023.
Garfin, D. R., Silver, R. C., “Addressing mental health aftershocks from the Turkey-Syria earthquake: A call for action” (opens in new tab), Nature Mental Health, vol. 1, pp. 238-239, 2023.
Grisham, E. L., Jones, N. M., Silver, R. C., Holman, E. A., “Do past events sow future fears? Temporal disintegration, distress, and fear of the future following collective trauma” (opens in new tab), Clinical Psychological Science, vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 1064-1074, 2023.
Jones, N. M., Thompson, R. R., Holman, E. A., Silver, R. C., “Idiosyncratic media exposures during a pandemic and their link to well-being, cognition, and behavior over time” (opens in new tab), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 120, no. 26, pp. e2304550120, 2023.
Grisham, E. L., Dashtgard, P., Relihan, D. P., Holman, E. A., Silver, R. C., “They saw a hearing: Democrats' and Republicans' perceptions of and responses to the Ford-Kavanaugh hearings” (opens in new tab), Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2023.
Garfin, D. R., Thompson, R. R., Holman, E. A., Wong-Parodi, G., Silver, R. C., “Association between repeated exposure to hurricanes and mental health in a representative sample of Florida residents” (opens in new tab), JAMA Network Open, vol. 5, no. 6, pp. E2217251, 2022.

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Most Cited Publications

Silver, R. C., Holman, E. A., McIntosh, D. N., Poulin, M., Gil-Rivas, V., “Nationwide longitudinal study of psychological responses to September 11” (opens in new tab), JAMA, vol. 288, pp. 1235-1244, 2002.
Garfin, D. R., Silver, R. C., Holman, E. A., “The novel Coronavirus (COVID-2019) outbreak: Amplification of public health consequences by media exposure” (opens in new tab), Health Psychology, vol. 39, pp. 355-357, 2020.
Seery, M. D., Holman, E. A., Silver, R. C., “Whatever does not kill us: Cumulative lifetime adversity, vulnerability, and resilience” (opens in new tab), Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 99, pp. 1025-1041, 2010.
Wortman, C. B., Silver, R. C., “The myths of coping with loss” (opens in new tab), Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, vol. 57, pp. 349-357, 1989.
McIntosh, D. N., Silver, R. C., Wortman, C. B., “Religion's role in adjustment to a negative life event: Coping with the loss of a child” (opens in new tab), Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 65, pp. 812-821, 1993.
Lepore, S. J., Silver, R. C., Wortman, C. B., Wayment, H. A., “Social constraints, intrusive thoughts, and depressive symptoms among bereaved mothers” (opens in new tab), Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 70, pp. 271-282, 1996.
Silver, R. L., Boon, C., Stones, M., “Searching for meaning in misfortune: Making sense of incest” (opens in new tab), Journal of Social Issues, vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 81-102, 1983.
Holman, E. A., Silver, R. C., “Getting "stuck" in the past: Temporal orientation and coping with trauma” (opens in new tab), Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 74, pp. 1146-1163, 1998.
Holman, E. A., Garfin, D. R., Silver, R. C., “Media's role in broadcasting acute stress following the Boston Marathon bombings” (opens in new tab), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 111, pp. 93-98, 2014.
Davis, C. G., Wortman, C. B., Lehman, D. R., Silver, R. C., “Searching for meaning in loss: Are clinical assumptions correct?” (opens in new tab), Death Studies, vol. 24, pp. 497-540, 2000.

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Contact Information

Website: https://faculty.sites.uci.edu/rsilver/

Email: rsilver@uci.edu

Address: Office of Institutional Research, Assessment, and Planning, 535 Aldrich Hall, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-1000

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This profile was created with the help of AI.

Last updated on 10/7/2026.