Health Behavior and Policy is officially part of the School of Population Health as of July 1, 2023, along with the Departments of Biostatistics and Epidemiology.

Six new PhD students have started this fall. Welcome to Ghader Abassabad, Tolulope Kolawole, Farnese Motto, Oyintoun-Emi Ozobokeme, Sonia Riaz, and Akpene Tetteh!

Three faculty members received promotions as of July 1, 2023:

• Dr. Alex Lucas to Assistant Professor
• Dr. Maghboeba Mosavel to Professor
• Dr. Jessica LaRose to Professor

August 17, 2023

New student welcome for the Social and Behavioral Sciences Ph.D. program

August 17, 2023

School of Population Health happy hour

Dr. Kathy Tossas received a V Scholar award from the V Foundation for her research on the influence of the vaginal microbiome and stress-response pathways on racial disparities in precancerous cervical lesions. Read more.

Dr. Anika Hines was selected as a Blick Scholar and will receive a four-year award to support her research. Read more.

Dr. Dina Garcia will be honored with an Outstanding Teacher Award at the School of Medicine annual Faculty Excellence Awards Program on September 20th.

Dr. Alex Lucas received an NHLBI grant for Behavioral Exercise Training to Reduce Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Men Undergoing Androgen Deprivation Therapy and an NCORP grant for Refining a Behavioral Exercise Training Intervention for Medically Underserved Men Undergoing Androgen Deprivation Therapy for Prostate Cancer.

Dr. Sunny Kim received an NSF grant for Incorporating Human Behavior in Epidemiological Models: Multidisciplinary Analysis of Vaccination Games for Equity.

Dr. Autumn Lanoye received an ACS-IRG Pilot Award for Feasibility and Acceptability of an Anti-Inflammatory Lifestyle Intervention for Emerging Adult Cancer Survivors, and her team at Massey also received a DOD grant for the LiveNOW lab. Read more.

Michael Preston: "Engaging Rural Male Cancer Survivors during Covid-19" AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved

Jessica Kiernan, Bassam Dahman, Alex Krist, Gretchen Neigh, and April Kimmel: "Access to low barrier primary care and population-level HIV epidemic indicators among high HIV-burden urban neighborhoods across the US South" AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Meeting

Michael Preston: "Uptake of Colorectal Cancer Screening Intervention in Rural Clinical Settings within Rural and Under-Resourced Communities" at 15th Annual Conference on the Science of Dissemination and Implementation and AcademyHealth

Autumn Lanoye: "Improving Evidence-Based Psychological Assessment and Intervention for Patients with Brain Tumor" at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Health Promotion & Resiliency Intervention Research Series, Boston, MA

Nixon Arauz, Stacie Lefeavers, and Julie Russo (pictured left) proposed dissertations and are now doctoral candidates!

All 6 of our rising third year Ph.D. students successfully passed their comps! Congratulations to Guleer Shahab, Gati Wambura, Savannah Reitzel, Fariha Tariq, Julie Russo, and Stacie Lefeavers.

Grant proposals:

Guleer Shahab submitted an F31

Fariha Tariq submitted an AHA

Sarah Marks submitted an F30

Dr. Viktor Clark

QVOICES: Queer Voices in Oncology Igniting Change through Empowered Stories of Survivorship

Dr. Sharyn Dougherty

"It's just not enough": Examining the experiences of school-based sexual health education and conversation engagement with trusted adults among Black Boys in Richmond, VA

Dr. Michael Preston ran a 5k this summer!

Stacie Lefeavers went hiking in Banff this summer. Pictured is Peyto Lake in Jasper National Forest.

Dr. Jessica LaRose spent some time in Maine this summer and enjoyed an 8-hour hike at the top of the Appalachian Trail. Pictured is waterfalls at the midpoint of the hike.

Dr. Carrie Dolan (HCPR '17) was promoted to Associate Professor of Health Sciences at William & Mary

Dr. Aubree Shay (SBS '13) received a grant from the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas as Multi-PI for Expansion of HPV Vaccination Among Survivors of Childhood Cancer

Dr. Jean Reading (SBS '22) and Dr. Kristal Brown (SBS '20) received NIH Loan Repayment Awards

Dr. Kristal Brown was appointed Assistant Professor in the Creative Arts Therapies Department at Drexel University

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