Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine

The Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine aims to improve health through behavioral change and the integration of behavioral and biomedical science using clinical, community, and laboratory-based research.

The Centers' research bridges biomedical, sociobehavioral, and population/public health scientific disciplines. Faculty members are committed to both basic research on discovering the mechanisms underlying behavioral factors in health and illness (e.g., examining the stress response among children and adolescents, neuroimaging of AIDS and other medical conditions), as well as to applied research on the translation of these discoveries for clinical and community health improvement.

Programs range from those that focus on primary prevention (e.g., promoting tobacco cessation, preventing weight gain, increasing physical activity, and HIV/AIDS prevention) to improving the effectiveness of treatment and enhancing quality of life in populations such as cancer survivors and patients enrolled in cardiac rehabilitation programs.

Areas of research:

• Cancer survivorship
• Cardiovascular behavioral medicine
• Diabetes research
• Genetics and Behavioral Medicine
• Health communications and technology
• Health disparities research
• HIV/AIDS research
• Maternal-infant-child studies
• Motivating behavior change
• Neurobehavioral mechanisms
• Nicotine and substance abuse
• Physical activity promotion
• Qualitative health research methods
• Sleep Medicine
• Weight control