Mary Ann Fletcher, Ph.D.

Dr. Mary Ann Fletcher has directed the laboratory since its inception. She is a licensed Clinical Laboratory Director in Florida and New York and is certified as a High Complexity Laboratory Director by the American Board of Bioanalysis. Dr. Fletcher is a member of the American Association of Immunologists, the American Society for Microbiology, the Society for Applied Cytometry, the Clinical Immunology Society, the American Association of Bioanalysts and the American Association of Clinical Chemists. She serves on the editorial boards of Diagnostic and Clinical Immunology, Clinical Cytometry, Clinical Applied Immunology Reviews and the CFS Research Reviews.

Dr. Fletcher’s bibliography includes over 232 peer-reviewed journal articles, invited chapters and letters. Recent publications include:

  1. Antoni, M, Cruess, D, Klimas, N, Carrico, A, Maher, K, Cruess, S, Lechner, S, Kumar, M, Lutgendorf, S, Ironson, G, Fletcher, MA, Schneiderman, N. Increases in a marker of immune system reconstitution are predated by decreases in 24-h urinary cortisol and depressed mood during a 10-week stress management intervention in symptomatic HIV-infected men. J Psychosomatic Res. J Psychosom Res.58(1):3-13. 2005.
  2. Ironson, G, Balbin, E., Stuezle, R., Fletcher, MA, O’Cleirgh, C, Laurenceau, JP, Schneiderman, N and Soloman, G. Dispositional optimism and the mechanisms by which it predicts slower disease progression in HIV: Proactive behavior, avoidant coping and depression. Int J Beh Med. 12: 86-97, 2005.
  3. Hernandez-Reif, M, Field, T, Ironson, G, Beutler, J, Vera, Y, Hurley, J, Fletcher, MA, Schanberg, S and Kuhn, C. Natural killer cells and lymphocytes increase in women with breast cancer following massage therapy. Intern J Neuoscience 115:495-510, 2005.
  4. Maher, K,  Fletcher MA. Quantitative flow cytometry in the clinical laboratory, Clin. Appl Immunol Rev.5:353-372, 2005.
  5. Maher, K, Klimas, NG and Fletcher, MA. Chronic fatigue syndrome is associated with diminished intracellular perforin. Clin Exp Immunol, 142:505-511, 2005.
  6. Carrico, A, Antoni, M, Pereira, D, Fletcher, MA, Lechner S, and Schneiderman N. Cognitive behavioral stress management effects on mood, social support and a marker of anti-viral immunity are maintained up to one year in HIV+ gay men, Int J Behav Med Res.12:218-26, 2005.
  7. Hurwitz BE, Brownley KA Movivala SJ, Milanovich Jr, Kibler JI, Filion L, LeBlanc WG, Kumar, M Klimas NG, Fletcher, MA and Schneiderman, N. Sympatho-immune anomalies underlying the response to stressful challenge in HIV spectrum disease. Psychosomatic Med. 67:798-806, 2005.
  8. Antoni, M.H., Carrico, A.W., Durán, R.E., Spitzer, S., Penedo, F., Ironson, G., Fletcher, M.A., Klimas, N., and Schneiderman, N. Randomized clinical trial of cognitive behavioral stress management on HIV viral load in gay men treated with HAART. Psychosomatic Med. 68:143-51. 2006.
  9. Ironson, G., O’Cleirigh, C., Fletcher, M.A., Laurenceau, J.P., Balbin, E., Klimas, N., Schneiderman, N., and Solomon, G. Psychosocial factors predict CD4 and viral load change in men and women with HIV in the era of HAART.  Psychosomatic Med, 67(6):1013-21, 2005.
  10. Miguez MJ, Rodriguez A, Hadrigan S, Asthana D, Burbano X, Fletcher MA. Interleukin-6 and platelet protagonists in T lymphocyte and virological response. Platelets.  16:281-6, 2005.
  11. Penedo, F, Dahn, J, Kinsinger, D. Antoni, M, Molton, I, Gonzalez, J, Fletcher, MA, Roosa, B, Carver, C and Schniederman, N. Anger suppression mediates the relationship between optimism and natural killer cell cytotoxicity in men treated for localized prostate cancer. J Psychosomatic Res. 60:423-427, 2006.
  12. Shor-Posner G, Hernandez-Reif M, Miguez MJ, Fletcher MA, Quintero N, Baez J, Perez-Then E, Soto S, Mendoza R, Castillo R and Zhang G. Impact of a massage therapy clinical trial on immune status in young Dominican children infected with HIV-1. JACM 12:511-16, 2006.
  13. Siegel SD, Antoni MH, Fletcher MA, Maher K, Segota MC, Klimas N. Impaired natural immunity, cognitive dysfunction, and physical symptoms in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome: preliminary evidence for a subgroup? J Psychosom Res. 60(6):559-66, 2006.
  14. Ironson G, Stuetzle R, Fletcher MA. An increase in religiousness/spirituality occurs after HIV diagnosis and predicts slower disease progression over 4 years in people with HIV. J Gen Intern Med. 21 Suppl 5:S62-8, 2006.
  15. Fletcher, MA, Klimas NG, Cytotoxic Lymphocytes. G. Fink, ed.. In Enclyclopedia of Stress., Academic Press, 2007.