Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences

The theme of this year’s Women’s History Month is “Leading the Change: Women Shaping a Sustainable Future.” This year, Women’s History Month recognizes women who are leading the way toward lasting changes for global challenges, including those beyond environmental concerns. As an exemplar of this theme, we are highlighting the POWER project (Academic PI Jessica […]

Katherine Y. Tossas, Ph.D., M.S., director of Catchment Area Data Analytics (CADA) and associate co-director of global oncology at VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center, is one of 20 mid-career scientists, engineers and medical professionals selected to the 2026-28 cohort of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s New Voices in Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine […]

Marcie Wright, Ph.D., M.P.H., has been named interim associate dean for research at the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Public Health, where she will provide strategic leadership to advance the School’s growing research enterprise. Wright, an associate professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, began her career at VCU in 2008. She has […]

International Open Access Week is observed annually in order to highlight the benefits of free and immediate access to scholarly research worldwide. Open access allows research scholarship to have wide-reaching effects, and grants colleagues the ability to freely share and use research. This year’s theme is “Who Owns Our Knowledge?” – an opportunity to consider […]

Dr. Hsinling Sonya Hung is retiring as of August 31, 2025. Dr. Hung joined VCU in 2016 as assistant professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences (then the Department of Health Behavior & Policy). During her time at VCU, she has collaborated as evaluator and co-investigator on a myriad of health promotion projects, including […]

LaRose has served as interim chair since November 2022, prior to the School’s founding. by Maggie Christ Jessica G. LaRose, Ph.D., F.S.B.M., has been named chair of the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences as of August 1, 2025. She took on the role in an interim capacity, first as the Department of Health Behavior and Policy […]

Maghboeba Mosavel, Ph.D., the current head of VCU’s Division of Community Engagement is being promoted to vice provost, effective immediately, said Fotis Sotiropoulos, Ph.D., VCU’s Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs. “Dr. Mosavel has done an outstanding job of both reorganizing and energizing VCU’s Community Engagement team after it was moved into the Office of […]

Every April, Cancer Control Month honors cancer survivors and those currently fighting cancer. This month of recognition focuses on cancer prevention and treatment as well as quality of life for those diagnosed with cancer and cancer survivors. Cancer Prevention and Control is a major area of research in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences. […]

The Society of Behavioral Medicine held its 46th Annual Meeting & Scientific Sessions on March 26th-29th in San Francisco, CA. Faculty, staff, and alumni from the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences represented our school at this year’s SBM meeting. Read on for some descriptions of their work and see more photos below! Sunny Jung […]

In keeping with the theme of this year’s Women’s History Month, this series highlights the importance and impact of mentoring partnerships between department faculty and their mentees. Jessica LaRose, Ph.D. wears many hats in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences – she is a prolific scholar and scientist, conducting multiple behavioral clinical trials in […]