It is exciting to look toward gathering in Vancouver in the coming year! It reminds me of how much our science and research tie our behavioral medicine community together. I continue to be grateful to be a small part of that and am able to contribute to the International Journal of Behavioral Medicine (IJBM). As we look toward a new year, I am thrilled to introduce you to our new additions to the IJBM team. With the beginning of 2023, we welcome six new Associate Editors. All are accomplished behavioral medicine researchers with highly valuable expertise. The journal will undoubtedly be in good hands.
New Associate Editors
Please help me welcome:
Abigail W Batchelder, PhD
Dr. Batchelder is a clinical health psychologist at Mass General Hospital (MGH) and the Harvard University Medical School with a background in public health. Her own research focuses on understanding and addressing psychological barriers to HIV treatment and prevention, including stigma and shame, among underserved people living with substance use and other stigmatized identities. Her work is focused on developing and refining technology-enhanced interventions. At MGH, Dr. Batchelder is a member of the intern selection committee and provides clinical and research supervision to Behavioral Medicine preand postdoctoral fellows.
Kristen Carpenter, PhD
Dr. Kristen Carpenter is a clinical health psychologist and associate professor in the departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Psychology and Obstetrics and Gynecology at The Ohio State University, as well as a member of the Ohio State Comprehensive Cancer Center. She is chief psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health and director of Ambulatory Services for Ohio State Behavioral Health. Dr. Carpenter is an expert in women’s health, cancer survivorship, biobehavioral processes, and sexuality after chronic illness.
Sannisha Dale, PhD
Dr. Sannisha Dale is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and a Licensed Clinical Psychologist at the University of Miami (UM). She is the Founder and Director of the SHINE (Strengthening Health through Innovation and Engagement) Research Program. Dr. Dale also holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Her primary research interests include enhancing our understanding of the relationships between resilience, trauma, and health outcomes; investigating psychosocial and structural factors that relate to health inequities; developing effective prevention and intervention strategies to promote resilience and good health outcomes, especially individuals minoritized due to racism, sexism, heterosexism, and cisgenderism; and engaging community members and stakeholders in research.
Michelle Fortier, PhD
Dr. Michelle Fortier is a clinical psychologist who specializes in pain management in children, and whose program of research incorporates health information technology to improve the management of pain and symptoms in children. In addition to her new role as a faculty member at the Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). Dr. Fortier is the Co-Director of the UCI Center on Stress and Health, and is on medical staff in the Department of Pediatric Psychology at the Children’s Hospital of Orange County. She is an expert in cancer survivorship in Adolescent and Young Adult survivors.
Mette Terp Høybye, PhD
Dr. Mette Terp Høybye is an interdisciplinary researcher, encompassing diverse methods and scientific viewpoints from social anthropology and public health in her work. She is a professor in the Department of Clinical Medicine at Aarhus University in Denmark. Dr. Terp Høybye leads the interdisciplinary Borderlands of Living research team, studying uncertainties of prognostics of unresponsive patients with serious brain injury between scientific and clinical reasoning. The program critically examines the relationality of knowledge and methodological innovation in this space of ambiguity. She is an expert in understanding clinical decision making in clinical settings and in the use of qualitative methods in behavioral medicine research.
Anna Song, PhD
Dr. Anna Song is an Associate Professor of Health Psychology at the University of California, Merced. She is also the Director of UC Merced’s Nicotine and Cannabis Policy Center. Dr. Song conducts research that helps to identify and address psychosocial factors that increase health risk behaviors that lead to heart and cardiovascular disease, cancer, and obesity. These behaviors include tobacco, marijuana, and e-cigarette use, sedentary lifestyles, and dietary choices. Factors of interest include perceptions of risks/benefits, social norms, implicit biases, policies, and media exposure. Community engagement serves as the foundation to her research. Her work ranges from development of qualitative methodologies to statistical modeling of large-scale, longitudinal data.
Call for papers
In addition to our special call for paper on: Advancing the Science of Behavioral Medicine: Meta-Analyses and Foundational Reviews, IJBM is pleased to announce a special call for papers on: Social Isolation and Loneliness in Acute and Chronic Illness. Social ties can facilitate overall wellbeing, recovery from acute illness, and self-management of chronic conditions. This call is focused on social isolation and loneliness in the context of acute (e.g., injury, surgical recovery) or chronic (e.g., Alzheimer’s Disease, arthritis, asthma, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis, diabetes) illness. Behavioral Medicine research from all scientific areas and across the translational spectrum is welcome. In fact, research that bridges the intersections of behavioral medicine and other areas of research (e.g., neuroscience, medical practice, nursing, public health, education, health psychology, environmental science) are likely to make a strong contribution.
Please send your inquiries to the Special Issue editors (Allison Marziliano and Michael Diefenbach) at IJBmed@uci.edu. Letters of Intent Deadline: January 31, 2023. Behavioral medicine research continues to thrive and IJBM is truly the global hub for our scientific enterprise! And, don’t forget to join us on Twitter at @IJBMed!
