My research spans the continuum from cancer prevention to cancer control, with a focus on the health risk behavior of tobacco use. A particular area of scientific inquiry involves identification and modification of psychological variables that are germane to the process of smoking cessation (e.g., motivation, confidence, distress, causal attributions, risk perception, fatalism, social support, and posttraumatic growth). Funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), my Career Development Award sought to uncover precisely how a cancer diagnosis functions as a “teachable moment” for adults who smoke cigarettes. In a sample of newly diagnosed head/neck and cervical cancer patients, this longitudinal study investigated day-to-day changes in cigarette smoking and other tobacco use behavior and the cognitive and affective processes that underlie these changes. Another recently completed observational study is a mixed-methods study with cervical cancer survivors and their primary source of support, the goal of which was to try and discern why cervical cancer survivors smoke at rates that exceed those of all other cancer patient populations. With a grant from the KY Lung Cancer Research Fund, I then conducted a pilot randomized controlled trial to test the adaptation of a proven strategy for smoking cessation induction (that is, prompting quit attempts among smokers who report low motivation to quit) for cancer survivors who live in rural or Appalachian Kentucky. Pertinent to implementation science, I also lead a NCI-funded, evidence-based tobacco treatment program that serves adult outpatients at Markey Cancer Center, affectionately named the Markey CARES Program. Yet another implementation science project involved a partnership with Kentucky Homeplace and provided an avenue whereby community health workers in Appalachia Kentucky could become tobacco treatment specialists. Currently, I am the co-Principal Investigator of a NCI R01 that will test the efficacy of a survivorship care intervention designed for lung cancer survivors in rural Kentucky.

Interested in joining my lab as a graduate student? Well, I'm NOT SURE if I will review applications for 2023 admission into the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program. Circle back to my website later as I will make a final decision in early fall 2022. Typically, I welcome applications from people interested in cancer survivorship broadly, but those with a particular interest in tobacco-related cancers or tobacco use and cessation are ideal. Additionally, people who want to pursue primarily clinical careers in behavioral medicine or health psychology would fit well in my lab, as long as they are open to cancer survivorship research during their doctoral training.