Research Bio

Sheri Johnson is a clinical psychologist whose research investigates emotion-related impulsivity and risk factors for bipolar disorder. She is best known for her integrative models linking personality traits, reward sensitivity, and self-regulation to mood instability and well-being. Johnson’s research combines longitudinal clinical studies, behavioral tasks, and neuroscience methods to understand how cognitive and motivational processes contribute to emotional resilience and psychopathology. Her work has advanced understanding of mood disorders and informed new approaches to prevention and treatment.

She is a Distinguised Professor of Psychology at UC Berkeley and Director of the Cal Mania (CALM) Program. She has published over 300 manuscripts, and her research has been published in  Clinical Psychological Science, and Psychological Bulletin. With Ann Kring, she co-authors a leading textbook on clinical psychology (The Science and Treatment of Psychological Disorders, Wiley Press). Johnson is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT), Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research (ABMR), and Association for Psychological Science (APS), and she has been the President of the Society for Research in Psychopathology’. At Berkeley, she teaches clinical science and she mentors students in emotion and mental health research. She has won several teaching awards.  

Currently, she is conducting grant-funded research to study circadian (day/night) rhythms and reward processing in bipolar disorder, and whether healthy eating plans (timed eating and the Mediterranean diet) can improve outcomes in bipolar disorder.  

Research Expertise and Interest

bipolar disorder, healthy lifestyles, time-restricted eating, impulsivity, suicidality, community-engaged research / scholarship