Ashley Mason, PhD

Associate Adjunct Professor

Psychiatry

+1 415 514-6820

Ashley Mason, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at UCSF. She is core research faculty at the UCSF Osher Center and a provider in the UCSF Osher Center Clinic. She is the Co-Director of the UCSF Center for Obesity Assessment, Study, and Treatment (COAST). She is Director of the UCSF Sleep, Affect, and Eating (SEA) Lab. She is primarily a researcher (80% time) but also does clinical work (20% time).

Research Focuses: Learn more at sealab.ucsf.edu
- Food cravings and overeating
- Role of endogenous opioid system in binge eating and obesity
- Adherence to ketogenic diet in Type 2 Diabetes
- Effects of ketogenic diet on cardiovascular health
- Impact of stress on metabolic health and biological aging
- Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) methods
- Effects of sugar on body and brain
- Thermogregulatory processes among individuals with depression

Clinical Work: Learn more (including insurance coverage) at oshersleepgroup.ucsf.edu
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I)
- Offers 6 groups focused on sleep problems per year
- Maintains small individual practice for people with sleep problems
- Can see patients in person (Mt. Zion) or over Zoom
- Covered for sleep treatment by medicare

Publications:

Longer Leukocyte Telomere Length Predicts Stronger Response to a Workplace Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Sales Ban: An Exploratory Study.

Current developments in nutrition

Wojcicki JM, Lustig RH, Jacobs LM, Mason AE, Hartman A, Leung C, Stanhope K, Lin J, Schmidt LA, Epel ES

A Brief Motivational Intervention Differentially Reduces Sugar-sweetened Beverage (SSB) Consumption.

Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine

A Pilot Study Comparing the Effects of Consuming 100% Orange Juice or Sucrose-Sweetened Beverage on Risk Factors for Cardiometabolic Disease in Women.

Nutrients

Price CA, Medici V, Nunez MV, Lee V, Sigala DM, Benyam Y, Keim NL, Mason AE, Chen SY, Parenti M, Slupsky C, Epel ES, Havel PJ, Stanhope KL

Feasibility of continuous fever monitoring using wearable devices.

Scientific reports

Smarr BL, Aschbacher K, Fisher SM, Chowdhary A, Dilchert S, Puldon K, Rao A, Hecht FM, Mason AE

Intervention Enhancement Strategies Among Adults With Type 2 Diabetes in a Very Low-Carbohydrate Web-Based Program: Evaluating the Impact With a Randomized Trial.

JMIR diabetes

Saslow LR, Moskowitz JT, Mason AE, Daubenmier J, Liestenfeltz B, Missel AL, Bayandorian H, Aikens JE, Kim S, Hecht FM

Treating binge eating and food addiction symptoms with low-carbohydrate Ketogenic diets: a case series.

Journal of eating disorders

Carmen M, Safer DL, Saslow LR, Kalayjian T, Mason AE, Westman EC, Sethi Dalai S

Correction: Examining the Effects of Mindful Eating Training on Adherence to a Carbohydrate-Restricted Diet in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes (the DELISH Study): Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

JMIR research protocols

Mason AE, Saslow L, Moran PJ, Kim S, Wali PK, Abousleiman H, Hartman A, Richler R, Schleicher S, Hartogensis W, Epel ES, Hecht F

Association of a Workplace Sales Ban on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages With Employee Consumption of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages and Health.

JAMA internal medicine

Epel ES, Hartman A, Jacobs LM, Leung C, Cohn MA, Jensen L, Ishkanian L, Wojcicki J, Mason AE, Lustig RH, Stanhope KL, Schmidt LA

Chapter 29 Eustress, distress, and oxidative stress: Promising pathways for mind-body medicine.

Kirstin Aschbacher, Ashley E. Mason

Correction to: Lipid findings from the Diabetes Education to Lower Insulin, Sugars, and Hunger (DELISH) Study.

Nutrition & metabolism

Mason AE, Saslow LR, Moran PJ, Kim S, Wali PK, Abousleiman H, Richler R, Schleicher S, Goldman VM, Hartman A, Leung C, Hartogensis W, Hecht FM

Do stress eating or compulsive eating influence metabolic health in a mindfulness-based weight loss intervention?

Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association

Radin RM, Epel ES, Daubenmier J, Moran P, Schleicher S, Kristeller J, Hecht FM, Mason AE

Stringency in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) criteria and application in clinical study

Journal of Infertility and Reproductive Biology

Schneider, C., Huddleson, H., Masharani, U., Mason, A.E., & Frassetto, L.

A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Mindfulness-Based Weight Loss Intervention on Cardiovascular Reactivity to Social-Evaluative Threat Among Adults with Obesity.

Mindfulness

Daubenmier J, Epel ES, Moran PJ, Thompson J, Mason AE, Acree M, Goldman V, Kristeller J, Hecht FM, Mendes WB

Lipid findings from the Diabetes Education to Lower Insulin, Sugars, and Hunger (DELISH) Study.

Nutrition & metabolism

Mason AE, Saslow LR, Moran PJ, Kim S, Abousleiman H, Richler R, Schleicher S, Goldman VM, Hartman A, Leung C, Hartogensis W, Hecht FM

Correction: Maternal caregivers have confluence of altered cortisol, high reward-driven eating, and worse metabolic health.

PloS one

Radin RM, Mason AE, Laudenslager ML, Epel ES

Maternal caregivers have confluence of altered cortisol, high reward-driven eating, and worse metabolic health.

PloS one

Radin RM, Mason AE, Laudenslager ML, Epel ES

Sweet cognition: The differential effects of glucose consumption on attentional food bias in individuals of lean and obese status.

Physiology & behavior

Mason AE, Jhaveri K, Schleicher S, Almeida C, Hartman A, Wackerly A, Alba D, Koliwad SK, Epel ES, Aschbacher K

The burden of being poor: Stress at the belly of the matter.

Brain, behavior, and immunity

Mason AE

Examining the Effects of Mindful Eating Training on Adherence to a Carbohydrate-Restricted Diet in Type 2 Diabetes: the DELISH Study Protocol.

JMIR research protocols

Mason AE, Saslow L, Moran PJ, Kim S, Abousleiman H, Hartman A, Richler R, Schleicher S, Hartogensis W, Epel ES, Hecht F

Rapid Assessment of Reward-Related Eating: The RED-X5.

Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.)

Vainik U, Eun Han J, Epel ES, Janet Tomiyama A, Dagher A, Mason AE

Stress Resilience: Narrative Identity May Buffer the Longitudinal Effects of Chronic Caregiving Stress on Mental Health and Telomere Shortening.

Brain, behavior, and immunity

Mason AE, Adler JM, Puterman E, Lakmazaheri A, Brucker M, Aschbacher K, Epel ES

Can Mindfulness Address Maladaptive Eating Behaviors? Why Traditional Diet Plans Fail and How New Mechanistic Insights May Lead to Novel Interventions.

Frontiers in psychology

Brewer JA, Ruf A, Beccia AL, Essien GI, Finn LM, van Lutterveld R, Mason AE

Weight loss, weight-loss maintenance, and cellular aging in the Supporting Health through Nutrition and Exercise (SHINE) Study.

Psychosomatic medicine

Mason AE, Hecht FM, Daubenmier JJ, Sbarra DA, Lin J, Moran PJ, Schleicher SG, Acree M, Prather AA, Epel ES

Comfort Eating and All-Cause Mortality in the US Health and Retirement Study.

International journal of behavioral medicine

Cummings JR, Mason AE, Puterman E, Tomiyama AJ

Pathways and mechanisms linking dietary components to cardiometabolic disease: thinking beyond calories.

Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity

Stanhope KL, Goran MI, Bosy-Westphal A, King JC, Schmidt LA, Schwarz JM, Stice E, Sylvetsky AC, Turnbaugh PJ, Bray GA, Gardner CD, Havel PJ, Malik V, Mason AE, Ravussin E, Rosenbaum M, Welsh JA, Allister-Price C, Sigala DM, Greenwood MRC, Astrup A, Krauss RM