Most of my work during the 39 years I have been at UMass Medical School has been focused on the behavioral intervention and prevention of disease and women’s health. My programmatic research started with the Physician Delivered Smoking Intervention Project (R01 NCI CA 38360) funded by NCI. I have had 9 NIH studies regarding the behaviors of tobacco use, alcohol use, dietary behavior and physical activity and the strategies clinicians can use to help patients modify these behaviors. I also attend to the development of measurement tools to assess quantity and quality of brief clinician delivered interventions. My extensive clinical research in the primary care setting was an important factor regarding my appointment as the behavioral psychologist in the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) from 2003 through 2008. Among other physicians I was chair of the inaugural Behavior Committee for the American Heart Association as well as other national committees. I also was a principal investigator on the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI). All of my work has contributed to the development of national clinical practice guidelines and strategies that primary care physicians can use in their practice.
On Going Projects/ Grants
§ Principal Investigator, Weight Management Counseling in Medical Schools: A Randomized Controlled Trial, NIH, 2015-2020.
§ Principal Investigator, An Internet-Based Weight Loss and Exercise Intervention for Breast Cancer Survivors; Our Danny Cancer Fund Collaborative Research Program, 2012-2014.
§ Advisor, UMMS Prevention Research Center, CDC. 2014-2019.
Board Certification
Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Massachusetts #2740
Teaching
Masters in Clinical Investigation Program: Team Science Course
§ 2009 Developed Course: Team Science
§ 2009, 2010 Course Leader, Team Science
PhD Program: Clinical and Population Health Research
§ 2002-2005 Co-lead faculty and co-developer of the degree program
§ 2004-2005 Developed Course: Determinants of Health
§ 2005-2012 Course Leader, Determinants of Health
MEDICAL STUDENTS
First Year
2001-present Doctoring and Clinical Skills, Year 1
(formerly: Physician, Patient & Society)
Present one large group lecture
2000-2002 End of Life Elective (1st & 2nd Year Medical Students)
1994-1996 Physician, Patient & Society (PPS), Year 1
1996-2000 Taught small groups which met weekly
Presented two large group lectures
Co-developer of the course
1996-1999 Nutrition Core Curriculum
Facilitated case discussions
1992-1993 Medical Interviewing and Clinical Problem Solving
Taught small groups 3 hours per week for 12 weeks
Presented two large group lectures
1983-1992 Communication Skills
Taught small group 1 ½ hours per week for nine weeks
Second Year
1996-1998 Doctoring and Clinical Skills, Year 2 Lecturer
Third Year
2002, 2003 Women's Health Interclerkship, Lecturer
1995-1998 Women's Health Interclerkship, Preceptor
1995-1998 Domestic Violence Interclerkship, Small Group Facilitator
1993-1994 Maternal/Child Health Clerkship
"Counseling High Risk Pregnant Women for Health Behavior Change"
1988-1994 Medical Clerkship
"Counseling Patients for Health Behavior Change" to each University of Massachusetts Medical Center rotation
RESIDENTS
Medicine
2002-2004 Elective in Behavioral Medicine.
Fellows
1993-1995 Preventive Cardiology Minicourse for Cardiology Fellows
FACULTY
2012-2017 Co-Director, Peers for Promotion
2012-2017 Director, Leadership Speaker Series
2003-2010 Advancing Your Presentation Skills Workshop
2003-2010 Building and Leading Research Teams Workshop
2003-2010 Writing a Clinical Research Proposal Workshop
2001-2004 Grant Writing for Clinical Research
Course developer and small group facilitator
2000-2008 Director, Mentoring Program for faculty
OTHER TEACHING (Selected)
2009-2011 - Preventive Medicine Workshop: Developing United States Preventive Services Task Force Clinical Prevention Guidelines.
- Research supervision of medical students.
- Lecturer in Student Enrichment Program for college students at UMMS.
1994-1995 - Lecturer in undergraduate course, Principles of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at UMass, Amherst, MA (1994-1995).
1995-1997 - Lecturer in graduate course in MPH program, (UMMS), Community and Clinical Interventions for Health Promotion, for UMass Division of Public Health, Amherst, MA (1995-1997).
1994-1995 - Lecturer in graduate course, Preventive Aspects of Cardiovascular Diseases, for UMass Division of Public Health, Amherst, MA (1994-1995).
Affiliations
§ Professor of Medicine
Division of Preventive and Behavioral Medicine
Associate Vice Provost for Gender and Equity
University of Massachusetts Medical School
§ Adjunct Professor
Department of Nutrition
School of Public Health
Quantitative Health Science
University of Massachusetts/Amherst
Clinical/Research Interests
§ Prevention and management of disease
§ Development and application of a patient-centered counseling model for brief primary care-based physician-delivered interventions
§ Relationship of lifestyle behaviors to health and disease
§ Women’s health
§ Community-based interventions for health promotion and disease prevention
§ Training and certification programs for treatment specialists, medical schools, medical residents, medical students