VCU School of Public Health Appoints Chair of New Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Promotion

By Sathya Achia Abraham

RICHMOND, Va. (Sept. 1, 2006) — The Virginia Commonwealth University School of Public Health has appointed a nationally recognized expert on health communication and decision making in disease treatment and organ donation as chair of the new Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Promotion.

Laura Siminoff, Ph.D., will also serve as associate director of Cancer Prevention and Control at the VCU Massey Cancer Center, where she will continue her current work on treatment decision-making, and develop the cancer control research program.

“Dr. Siminoff is a nationally recognized authority in cancer control and organ procurement for transplantation, which will benefit the Massey Cancer Center and the Hume-Lee Transplant Center, two of our most important programs,” said Jerome F. Strauss III, M.D., Ph.D., dean of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine.

“Additionally, her vision to create a multi-disciplinary group of social and behavioral scientists who are dedicated to applying their knowledge of these disciplines to the study of health and healthcare will greatly benefit the development of a new and accredited VCU School of Public Health,” he said.

Siminoff said that the focus of the new department is to understand how social, behavioral and cultural factors affect public health, and to educate the public to make lifestyle and other behavioral changes to improve the standard of health. The initial focus of the department, in terms of faculty recruitment and research, will be on cancer, health disparities and chronic disease.

Siminoff’s top priority is to create an active research base within the department and she brings two federally funded research projects with her to VCU. Additionally, Siminoff says she hopes to develop a nationally ranked doctoral program along with post-doctoral training programs and to contribute to the Masters of Public Health program.

“We hope to be very research intensive and work in an interdisciplinary manner by blending expertise across VCU’s Monroe Park and MCV campuses,” said Siminoff.

Siminoff said the department will help to provide expertise to public health and clinical practitioners about how they can integrate the social, cultural and behavioral issues that truly impact the public’s health, healthcare and ability to negotiate the healthcare system.

“I hope we can translate the work we do in this department and work with clinicians and healthcare practitioners to help enhance how people manage their health,” she said.

Siminoff brings to VCU her skills as a researcher with methodological and theoretical expertise. Her research interests include treatment decision-making by patients with cancer, empirical bioethics, and policy issues of organ and tissue donation.

Prior to joining VCU, Siminoff was a professor of bioethics, oncology and family medicine, and the program leader of Behavioral Cancer Prevention and Control at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. She received her doctoral degree in public health in 1988 from the Johns Hopkins University.

The Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Promotion is the third department in VCU’s School of Public Health. The other departments include Biostatistics, and Epidemiology and Community Health.