Kelly Lambert, the
Macon and Joan Brock Professor in Psychology at Randolph-Macon College, is the author of
The Lab Rat Chronicles: A Neuroscientist Reveals Life Lessons from the Planet’s Most Successful Mammals (Perigee Penguin, 2011). In the book, Lambert delves into the lives of rats and emerges with clues to model human behavior. A substantial part of the book is about the research that Lambert’s students have conducted at R-MC.
“Through the years, my students and I have conducted a diverse array of research projects that have been presented at professional conferences and published in behavioral neuroscience journals,” says Lambert. “Because the rat brain has all the same structures and neurochemicals as the human brain, we can learn many central truths about the nature of behaviors important for maintaining healthy lifestyles from these unassuming animals. I adopted a
Beatrix Potter meets Behavioral Neuroscience approach for this writing project—an
edutainment format that enabled me to describe the research journeys I have taken with my students and, of course, the R-MC laboratory rats. As a professor, I am passionate about disseminating neuroscience research to the general public so people can make more informed decisions about maintaining their mental health. Although written in a lighthearted manner, the book has a very serious message — we may benefit from respecting our ancestral roots by engaging in more physical activity, developing positive social relationships, spending more time in the presence of nature’s raw elements, and gaining effective flexible coping strategies to combat the building levels of stress taking over our fast-paced, technologically-advanced lives.”
The book was reviewed in the July 3 edition of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Click on Lab Rat Chronicles to read the review.
Kirkus Reviews said of the book, “In this jauntily written examination of the lives of the lowly lab rat, [Lambert] suggests that we would do well to emulate the prodigious achievements of our mammalian cousins. Rats, Lambert writes, are blue-collar creatures who owe much of their happiness to an unambiguous work ethic. Deprived of this, they soon begin to exhibit the same tell-tale signs of anxiety, frustration and depression now afflicting so many among our cushy Western culture. Unlike humans, however, the rats studied here are more likely to beat the blues with a spin on the exercise wheel than by downing a synthetic drug.”
Lambert earned her bachelor’s degree from Samford University and her master’s and Ph.D. from the University of Georgia. She joined the faculty at R-MC 1989 and is chair of the
department of psychology and co-director of the Schapiro Undergraduate Research Fellowship (
SURF) program. In 2007, she was awarded the Samuel Nelson Gray Distinguished Professor Award and in 2008 she was named
Virginia Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). She is the president of the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society (2009-2011) and is the author of
Lifting Depression: A Neuroscientist’s Hands-On Approach to Activating Your Brain’s Healing Power (Basic Books, 2008). In addition, the second edition of
Clinical Neuroscience: Psychopathology and the Brain (Oxford University Press, 2010), which Lambert co-wrote with Craig Kinsley, was recently released.