Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences

By Paul Brockwell Jr. Photos by Daniel Sangjib Min An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. What Benjamin Franklin first said centuries ago is a truth recognized for decades by faculty on the MCV Campus who knew there was a missing piece to VCU’s academic enterprise in health sciences: public health.  In […]

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 […]

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. Maghboeba Mosavel, Ph.D. is a health disparities researcher whose work focuses on the social drivers of inequities and their negative impacts on chronic disease. Her funded projects have […]

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. Katherine Y. Tossas, Ph.D., M.S. is a health disparities researcher who focuses particularly on the identification of early cancer detection biomarkers. Her past research includes identifying and addressing […]

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. Vanessa B. Sheppard, Ph.D. is a population scientist whose research focuses on reducing cancer disparities. She has prioritized work among racial/ethnic minorities in order to identify factors that […]

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. Kellie Carlyle, Ph.D., M.P.H., M.Ed. specializes in health communication and health behavior theory; her research focuses on the design, implementation, and evaluation of health communication campaigns, media portrayals […]

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. Dra. Dina García is a scholar, scientist, teacher, and mentor whose impact reaches far beyond the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Her independent research focuses on uncovering […]

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. Sunny Jung Kim, Ph.D. is an e-health communication scholar specializing in theory-based social technologies for health promotion and their impact on the social and psychological mechanisms of behavior […]

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. Maria Thomson, Ph.D. is a social and behavioral scientist with interdisciplinary training in anthropology and public and population health sciences. She is an experienced community-engaged researcher, having recently […]