Researcher Directory

Academic Appointment

Professor and Chief
Department of Medicine
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Research Interests

• Developing, evaluating, and implementing psychological interventions to reduce distress and improving quality of life for cancer survivors and their family members
• Developing, evaluating, and implementing survivor-focused interventions to improve post-treatment care quality and outcomes, and
• Developing and implementing digital skin cancer risk reduction interventions for melanoma survivors and their families as well as the general population. My primary goal is to improve psychological, behavioral, and care quality outcomes for cancer patients, survivors, and their family members, as well as foster better sun protection and reduce UV exposure among the general population., using innovative, family-based, and digital health approaches. We have eight ongoing studies, and three currently-funded R01s (see below):
  • Improving skin self-exam and sun safety practies among Melanoma survivors
  • Empowered Survivor: Fostering self-management of symptoms among oral and oropharyngeal cancer survivors
  • Improving sun safety practices among tweens using a social media-based parent group intervention
• We also have three grants under consideration for funding:
  • Improving sun safety practices among parents of very young children using a social media based group intervention (scored well, also under review)
  • Empowered Survivor 2.0: A hybrid implementation trial (R01/under review)
  • Project SAILS: An online self-management intervention for lymphoma survivors (R34)