Jonas Tesarz

My research investigates how early life adversity, psychological trauma and chronic stress shape health trajectories across the lifespan and contribute to chronic pain, depression and age-related disease. Integrating psychosomatic medicine, pain science, psychophysiology and epidemiology, I examine how psychosocial experiences become biologically embedded and influence long-term health and resilience.

A central focus of my work is the interaction between psychosocial processes, physiological regulation and symptom perception. Using experimental, clinical and population-based approaches, I investigate how stress, trauma, expectations and emotions influence pain processing, bodily awareness and adaptive functioning. Methodologically, I combine psychophysiological assessments, experimental paradigms, computational modelling and longitudinal cohort studies to identify mechanisms of vulnerability and resilience.

My current research extends this framework to healthy and pathological ageing, focusing on allostatic load, accelerated biological ageing and epigenetic ageing clocks as potential pathways linking psychosocial adversity, chronic pain and depression to age-related morbidity. The overarching goal is to develop a mechanistic understanding of how psychological and biological processes interact across the lifespan and to translate this knowledge into personalised interventions that promote resilience, reduce suffering and support healthy ageing.

Research website

Positions held

• Since 2024: Director (W3 Professor) of the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center (UMC), Mainz
• Since 2024: Director of the Institute for Advanced Training in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy (WePP), University Medical Center (UMC), Mainz
• 2019 - 2024: Adjunct Professor, Heidelberg University
• 2017 - 2024: Senior Physician and Adjunct Professor, University of Heidelberg

Education

• 2021: Specialist in Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy
• 2014: Specialist in Internal Medicine
• 2007: MD, Heidelberg University

Selected publications by Jonas Tesarz

Beiner E, Hermes M, Reichert J, Kleinke K, Vock S, Löffler A, Ader L, Sirazitdinov A, Keil S, Schmidt T, Schick A, Löffler M, Hopp M, Ruckes C, Hesser J, Reininghaus U, Flor H, Eich W and Tesarz J (2025) Early-life adversity as a predictor of fibromyalgia syndrome: the central role of perceived stress over endocrine stress indicators. Pain, 166:1871–1881 Link

Fieß A, Hartmann A, Ernst M, Schuster AK, Mildenberger E, Brähler E, Urschitz MS, Pfeiffer N, Beutel ME, Gißler S and Tesarz J (2025) Sequelae of preterm birth over the lifespan: behavioral problems in childhood and increased risk of major depression and anxiety in adulthood. EClinicalMedicine, 85:103316 Link

Tesarz J, Eich W, Baumeister D, Kohlmann T, D’Agostino R and Schuster AK (2019) Widespread pain is a risk factor for cardiovascular mortality: results from the Framingham Heart Study. Eur Heart J, 40:1609–1617 Link

Wettstein M, Eich W, Bieber C and Tesarz J (2019) Pain intensity, disability, and quality of life in patients with chronic low back pain: does age matter? Pain Med, 20:464–475 Link

Tesarz J, Wolfgang E, Treede RD and Gerhardt A (2016) Altered pressure pain thresholds and increased wind-up in adult patients with chronic back pain with a history of childhood maltreatment: a quantitative sensory testing study. Pain, 157:1799–1809 Link