Health Cognition & Behavior Lab

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The Lab is a multidisciplinary setting dedicated to studying medical decision making. We pursue theoretical questions that have real world implications for the public’s health. People Director Noel Brewer, PhD, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health Post-docs Paul Reiter, PhD Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, UNC School of Public Health Jessica Hughes (right) presenting a poster at the American Public Health Assn. convention in San Diego. Alice Richman, PhD Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, UNC School of Public Health Students Jessica DeFrank, MPH Doctoral student, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, UNC School of Public Health Paul Gilbert, MPH Doctoral student, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, UNC School of Public Health Jessica Kadis, MPH Doctoral student, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, UNC School of Public Health Morgan Lee Undergraduate student, UNC Department of Psychology and UNC Department of Exercise and Sport Science Annie-Laurie McRee, MPH Doctoral student, Department of Maternal and Child Health, UNC School of Public Health Ed Morrill, MA Doctoral student, UNC Department of Psychology Terence Ng Master’s student, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, UNC School of Public Health Christine Record Master’s student, Public Health Leadership Program, UNC School of Public Health Carmina Valle, MPH Doctoral student, Department of Nutrition, UNC School of Public Health Staff Marissa Sheldon Interview staff, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, UNC School of Public Health Geoff Thompson Interview staff, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, UNC School of Public Health Alumni Yuli Chang, MPH ‘08 Alrick Edwards, MPH ‘09 Eugenio Facci, ‘07 Karah I. Fazekas, MPH ’07. Steve Hackbarth, ‘07 Jessica Hughes, MPH, ‘08 Katie Keating, MPH ‘08 Sarah E. Lillie, MPH ’06 Christina Ludema, ‘07 Cicely Mitchell, ‘07 Alison Reed, MPH ‘09 Talya Salz, PhD ’08 Nina Sperber, MPH, ‘07 Janice Tzeng, MPH ‘09 Karen Ziarnowski, MPH ‘08 Playing Cranium at the semi-annual Lab party First Jobs These are some fun jobs that Lab members had as their next step after leaving the Lab. 2006 – Sarah Lillie was a Research Fellow at the National Cancer Institute. She worked on evaluation of breast cancer interventions and intervention dissemination theory. 2007 – Karah Fazekas conducted prostate cancer prevention education sessions. She now has her “dream job” at Family Health International working on sexual health programming for adolescents in developing countries. 2008 –Talya Salz is an assistant professor at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. She conducts behavioral research on quality of care for cancer survivors. 2009 – Janice Tzeng works on community health and evaluation projects at RTI International.

Fun Pub Pub Club. Every month or so we read a paper at a bar, with beer. Semi-annual Lab party. We celebrate our achievements at the end of each semester. Noel, Alice, Janice, Annie-Laurie, Paul R and Paul G at Pub Pub Club. Accomplishments Students in the Lab publish in top journals and present at national conferences. New student pubs (students’ names bolded) Tzeng, J. P., Mayer, D., Richman, A. R., Lipkus, I., Han, P. K. J., Reitel, V., Valle, C., Carey, L. A., & Brewer, N. T., Women’s experiences with genomic testing for breast cancer recurrence risk. Cancer. Chang, Y., Brewer, N. T., Rinas, A., Schmidt, K., and Smith, J. S. (in press). Evaluating the impact of the human papillomavirus vaccine. Vaccine. Salz, T., & Brewer, N. T. (in press). Offering chemotherapy and hospice jointly: One solution to hospice underuse among lung cancer patients. Medical Decision Making. Brewer, N. T., Tzeng, J. P., Lillie, S. E., Edwards, A., Peppercorn, J. M., & Rimer, B. K. (in press). Health literacy and cancer risk perception: Implications for genomic risk communication. Medical Decision Making. 2009 student pubs Ziarnowski, K., Brewer, N. T., & Weber, B. (2009). Present choices, future outcomes: Anticipated regret and HPV vaccination. Preventive Medicine, 48, 411-414. Hughes, J., Cates, J. R., Liddon, N., Smith, J. S., Gottlieb, S. L., & Brewer, N. T. (2009). Disparities in how parents are learning about the HPV vaccine. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, 18, 363-372. Brewer, N. T., Edwards, A., O’Neill, S. C., Tzeng, J. P., Peppercorn, J. M., and Rimer, B. K. (in press). When genomic and standard test results diverge: implications for breast cancer patients' preference for chemotherapy. Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. Cates, J. R., Brewer, N. T., Fazekas, K. I., Mitchell, C. E., & Smith, J. S. (2009). Racial differences in HPV knowledge, HPV vaccine acceptability, and related beliefs. Journal of Rural Health, 25, 93-97. Alison Reed (right) and Paul Reiter collecting data at a gay pride festival in Durham, NC. 2008 student pubs Keating, K., Brewer, N. T., Gottlieb, S., Liddon, N., Ludema, C., & Smith, J. S. (2008). Potential barriers to HPV vaccine provision among medical practices in an area with high rates of cervical cancer. Journal of Adolescent Health, 43, S61-S67. Download pdf Morrill, E.F., Brewer, N. T., O’Neill, S. C., Lillie, S. E., Dees, E. C., Carey, L. A, & Rimer, B. K. (2008). The interaction of posttraumatic growth and posttraumatic stress symptoms in predicting depressive symptoms and quality of life. Psycho-Oncology, 17, 947-953. Download pdf Fazekas, K. I., Brewer, N. T., & Smith, J. S. (2008). HPV vaccine acceptability in a rural, Southern area. Journal of Women’s Health, 17, 539-548. Download pdf Sperber, N. R., Brewer, N.T., and Smith, J. S. (2008). Influence of parent characteristics and disease outcome framing on HPV vaccine acceptability among rural, Southern women. Cancer Causes & Control, 19, 115-118. Download pdf 2007 student pubs Brewer, N. T., Salz, T., Lillie, S. E. (2007). The long-term effects of false-positive mammograms: A systematic review. Annals of Internal Medicine, 146, 502-510. Download pdf Brewer, N. T., Salz, T., Lillie, S. E. (2007). The long-term effects of false-positive mammograms. Annals of Internal Medicine, 147, 739-740. [Letter] Lillie, S. E., Brewer, N. T., Rimer, B. K., O’Neill, S. C., Morrill, E. F., Dees, E. C., & Carey, L. A.. (2007). Retention and use of breast cancer recurrence risk information from genomic tests: The role of health literacy. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, 16. Download pdf Brewer, N. T., & Fazekas, K. I. (2007). Predictors of HPV vaccine acceptability: A theory-informed systematic review. Preventive Medicine, 45, 107-114. Download pdf O’Neill, S. C., Brewer, N. T., Rimer, B. K., Lillie, S. E., Morrill, E. F., Carey, L. A.., & Dees, E. C. (2007). Patient interest in gene expression analysis for breast cancer recurrence risk. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 25, 4628-4634. Download pdf 2006 student pubs Brewer, N. T., Lillie, S.E., & Hallman, W. K. (2006). Why people believe they were exposed to biological or chemical warfare: Reports from Gulf War veterans. Risk Analysis, 26, 337-345. Download pdf

Recent awards Recent grants, awards and honors for students. Jessica DeFrank – first place prize, Population and Prevention Sciences poster competition, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, 2009 Paul Reiter – third place prize, Population and Prevention Sciences poster competition, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, 2009 Janice Tzeng – member, Delta Omega Society, 2009 Jessica DeFrank – doctoral fellowship, UNC Cancer Care and Quality Training Program, 2009-2010 Paul Gilbert – doctoral fellowship, UNC Royster Society of Fellows Program, 2008-2013 Paul Reiter – post-doctoral fellowship, UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, 2008-2010 Janice Tzeng – fellowship, UNC University Cancer Research Fund, 2008-2009 Sarah Lillie and Talya Salz win awards at the Society for Behavioral Medicine annual meeting in San Francisco. Alison Reed – fellowship, UNC University Cancer Research Fund, 2008-2009 Alrick Edwards – fellowship, UNC University Cancer Research Fund, 2008-2009 Janice Tzeng – fellowship, UCSF-NCI Minority Training Program in Cancer Control Research, 2008 Alrick Edwards – fellowship, UCLA-NCI Minority Training Program in Cancer Control Research, 2008 Playing bocce at the semi-annual Lab party Jessica Hughes – first place prize, Population and Prevention Sciences poster competition, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, 2008 Ed Morrill – dissertation fellowship, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, 2008-2009 Alrick Edwards – Barnhill-Hatch award, 2007-2008 Talya Salz – dissertation fellowship, Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making, 2007-2008 Sarah Lillie – meritorious student abstract award, Society for Behavioral Medicine, 2006 Talya Salz – meritorious student abstract award, Society for Behavioral Medicine, 2006 Sarah Lillie – second place prize, Population and Prevention Sciences poster competition, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, 2006 Karah Fazekas – Lucy Morgan fellowship, 2006 Talya Salz – dissertation fellowship, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, 2005-2007 Contact info Health Cognition & Behavioral Lab UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health 325B Rosenau Hall CB7440 Chapel Hill, NC 27599 (919) 843-3105 Principal Investigator Noel Brewer ntb1xunc.edu (change x to @) UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health 325 Rosenau Hall CB7440 Chapel Hill, NC 27599 (919) 966-3282 (fax,-2921)

Last updated October 5, 2009