Grand Rounds | Science Of Behavior Change

February 24, 2023 | SOBC Webinar – Mechanistic Targets for Intervening with Racial Disparities: A Focus on Race-Related Stressors, Health Literacy, and Physicians/Patient Interactions

Please join the SOBC Research Network and expert speakers as we host a webinar focused on “Mechanistic Targets for Intervening with Racial Disparities: A Focus on Race-Related Stressors, Health Literacy, and Physician/Patient Interactions”. This webinar will integrate the SOBC mechanistic science program with the current enhanced NIH focus on racial disparities in health.

Format: 2.5 hours consisting of a general introduction, followed by three 40-minute talks and a 20 min panel discussion.

Date: February 24th, 2:00 to 4:30 pm EST

The webinar has been successfully completed. To access the full recording, please visit our SOBC YouTube Channel.

SOBC Webinar Information Sheet

October 7, 2021 | Guillaume Chevance, PhD Presentation: Thinking Health-related Behaviors in a Climate Change Context

On October 7th at 11am, Dr. Guillaume Chevance will give a Grand Rounds presentation on: Thinking Health-related Behaviors in a Climate Change Context.

Human activities have changed the biosphere so profoundly over the past two centuries that human induced climate change is now posing serious health-related treats to the current and future generations. Rapid actions from all scientific fields are needed to contribute to both the mitigation and adaption to climate change. This presentation will discuss the bi-directional associations between climate change effects (i.e., rising average temperatures, natural disasters, air pollution, rising sea level) and health-related behaviors, as well as a set of key actions/propositions for the behavioral medicine community.

To register, click here.

Subscribe to the Science of Behavior Change (SOBC) YouTube Channel

The Science of Behavior Change (SOBC) seeks to improve the understanding of underlying mechanisms of human behavior change by promoting research on the initiation, personalization, and maintenance of behavior change. SOBC aims to bring together basic and applied scientists across health-related behaviors, such as diet, exercise, and medication adherence, in order to develop more effective behavioral interventions. SOBC research is funded by the SOBC Common Fund Program in the Office of Strategic Coordination, Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Common Fund programs resonate with the missions of multiple Institutes, Centers, and Offices at the NIH. Its programs are intended to be transformative, cross-cutting, and unique. NIH staff from more than 15 Institutes, Centers, and Offices are involved in SOBC research and several of them are active members of the SOBC Research Network as Program Officials and Project Scientists associated with Network projects.

Visit and subscribe to the SOBC YouTube Channel here to access all recent presentation recordings.

June 1, 2021 | Jeff Huffman, MD Presentation: Developing and Testing Positive Psychology-based Interventions to Promote Physical Activity

Co-hosted with Columbia Roybal Center for Fearless Behavior Change on June 1st at 3pm EST, Dr. Jeff Huffman will present on Developing and testing positive psychology-based interventions to promote physical activity.

To register: click here

Dr. Jeff Huffman is a Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and the Director of the Cardiac Psychiatry Research Program. His work has focused on developing scalable clinical interventions to improve mental health and health behaviors in people with heart disease and related medical conditions. This includes developing a positive psychology-based intervention program to promote physical activity among patients with recent acute cardiac events and those with more chronic conditions. His work has led to more than 180 peer-reviewed publications, and he has received funding from multiple NIH institutes, the American Heart Association, the American Diabetes Association, and the Templeton Foundation.

Grand Rounds

Recording | Samantha Farris, PhD Presentation: Targeting Fear and Avoidance of Exercise in Cardiac Rehabilitation

On February 17, 2021, SOBC and the Columbia Roybal Center for Fearless Behavior Change co-hosted a Grand Rounds Webinar with Dr. Samantha Farris who presented on Targeting Fear and Avoidance of Exercise in Cardiac Patients.

Presentation Recording: Link here

Talk Description: Dr. Farris discussed her translational research on exercise fear-avoidance and the application of this work to cardiac rehabilitation. She defines the construct of ‘interoceptive sensitivity’ and describes its multi-method measurement, and then introduces an exposure-based behavioral intervention to target interoceptive sensitivity and improve physical activity outcomes in cardiac rehabilitation.

February 17, 2021 | Samantha Farris, PhD Presentation: Targeting Fear and Avoidance of Exercise in Cardiac Rehabilitation

Co-hosted with Columbia Roybal Center for Fearless Behavior Change on February 17th at 12pm EST, Dr. Samantha Farris will present on Targeting Fear and Avoidance of Exercise in Cardiac Patients.

To register: click here

Dr. Samantha Farris is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology and is the Director of The Rutgers Emotion, Health and Behavior (REHAB) Laboratory. Dr. Farris received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at The University of Houston, and completed her psychology internship at the Alpert Medical School at Brown University. She completed fellowships in cancer prevention at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and in cardiovascular behavioral medicine at The Miriam Hospital/Alpert Medical School at Brown University. Dr. Farris has published over 100 peer-reviewed publications and has received continuous funding for her research from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Farris’ research focuses on understanding how and why stress and anxiety (i.e., worry, fear, panic) commonly co-occur with and contribute to problematic health behaviors and chronic disease. She utilizes an experimental medicine approach to (a) identify cognitive-affective mechanisms that contribute to health behaviors and physical disease, (b) isolate how these mechanisms influence health behaviors “in real time” through use of laboratory methodologies, and in turn (c) develop tailored interventions that target these mechanisms to promote health behavior change and prevent the onset or progression of chronic disease. Dr. Farris is also a licensed clinical psychologist in the state of New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island, and specializes in cognitive-behavioral therapy for the treatment of anxiety and related disorders.

Recording | SOBC Webinar – Roles for Behavioral Science in COVID-19 Vaccination Efforts

Please see the following recording and associated resources from the SOBC Research Network and expert panelists on a webinar focused on the behavioral and social science challenges and solutions to the COVID-19 vaccine uptake/adoption, particularly in underserved populations.

Webinar Recording

SOBC COVID-19 Webinar Information Sheet

January 6, 2021 | SOBC Webinar – Roles for Behavioral Science in COVID-19 Vaccination Efforts

Please join the SOBC Research Network and expert panelists as we host a webinar focused on the behavioral and social science challenges and solutions to the COVID-19 vaccine uptake/adoption, particularly in underserved populations.

The “Big Questions” we hope to address are: What can our understanding of the mechanisms of behavior change contribute to help solve the challenge of broad vaccine uptake/adoption, including in underserved populations? What does existing scientiﬁc evidence suggest concerning communication about the science of COVID-19 vaccines and/or the availability/prioritization of vaccines in different communities? What role can/should behavioral science play in preparing the nation for a vaccine?

SOBC COVID-19 Webinar Information Sheet

To register for this webinar on January 6, 2021 at 1:30pm EST click here.

Grand Rounds

Recording | Lisa Marsch, PhD Presents: Digital Therapeutics for Health Behavior Change: The State of the Science

Presentation recording here.

Lisa A. Marsch, PhD is the Director of the Center for Technology and Behavioral Health (CTBH), the Director of the Northeast Node of the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network, and the Andrew G. Wallace Professor within the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College. CTBH is an interdisciplinary “Center of Excellence”, supported by the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse, that uses science to inform the development, evaluation, and sustainable implementation of digital therapeutics (that leverage web, mobile, sensing and/or social media approaches) in the treatment of persons with substance use disorders and other behavioral health challenges. These tools are designed to deliver engaging and effective health monitoring and health behavior interventions to collectively lead to transformations in the delivery of science-based behavioral health treatment.

Grand Rounds

Recording | Kenneth Freedland, PhD Presents: Pilot Trials of Health-Related Behavioral Interventions: Problems, Solutions, and Recommendations

Presentation recording here.

Dr. Kenneth Freedland is a Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the Editor-in-Chief of Health Psychology, and the Program Director of the annual NIH/OBSSR Summer Institute on Randomized Behavioral Clinical Trials. His methodological interests include feasibility and pilot studies and the selection and design of comparators for randomized controlled trials of health-related behavioral interventions. He chaired the NIH/OBSSR Expert Panel on Comparator Group Selection in Behavioral and Social Science Clinical Trials and has published several papers and chapters on comparators and on pilot studies.

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