Dr. Ferrer, was a post-doctoral Cancer Research and Training Award Fellow in the Behavioral Research Program’s (BRP) Office of the Associate Director (OAD) at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Dr. Ferrer received a doctorate in social psychology from the University of Connecticut and holds a bachelor’s degree in decision science from Carnegie Mellon University.

During her fellowship, Dr. Ferrer’s program of research centered on social psychological processes in health-related judgment and decision making and behavior change. She was particularly interested in examining the relationships among emotional and social-cognitive predictors of behavior, including how emotion might moderate the association between social-cognitive predictors and health behavior. This program of research reflected a multidisciplinary approach, drawing from the fields of decision science, social psychology, and health psychology. Her work focused primarily on cancer prevention behaviors such as nutrition, physical activity, and cancer screening, as well as HIV preventive behaviors such as condom use. She was also actively involved in the NCI’s Theories Project, which aims to identify and execute research that will further the field of health behavior theory, including critical thought about and comparison of theory, integrative theory testing, and integration of theory into health behavior change interventions.

After the completion of her NCI fellowship, Dr. Ferrer transitioned into her current position as a Program Director for the Basic Biobehavioral and Psychological Sciences Branch within the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences.