February 5, 2016

Dr. Jennifer Moss

Dr. Jennifer Moss

Jennifer L. Moss, PhD, has been selected to receive the Society of Behavioral Medicine’s (SBM’s) Outstanding Dissertation Award for 2016.

Moss is a 2015 graduate of the Department of Health Behavior at the Gillings School of Global Public Health. Now a cancer prevention fellow with the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance Research Program, she conducts research on geographic disparities in cancer prevention behaviors.

“My dissertation examined human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination through a variety of lenses, including economics, health disparities, patient-provider interactions, health policies and improving preventive care,” Moss explains. “What I found is that we can improve HPV vaccination (and reduce infectious disease and cancer burden), but we have to think creatively about how and when to intervene.”

“I’m very excited that the Society of Behavioral Medicine has honored my work,” she adds. “I look forward to talking to many more people about the implications of my dissertation research for cancer prevention. I’m especially grateful to the members of my dissertation committee and the families who participated in the surveys I used in my studies.”

Moss’ dissertation is comprised of three manuscripts, two of which are currently under review. The third, titled “Summer Peaks in Uptake of Human Papillomavirus and Other Adolescent Vaccines in the United States,” was published online Dec. 16, 2015, in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

“Dr. Moss has made important contributions to our understanding of the behavioral epidemiology of HPV vaccination,” says Noel Brewer, PhD, associate professor of health behavior at the Gillings School, member of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and Moss’ former adviser. “Her love for big data and complex analyses started with her bachelor’s degree in quantitative psychology. Since then, she has used her considerable analytic skills and smarts to great effect in furthering cancer prevention, both as a graduate student in my lab at the University of North Carolina and as a post-doc at the National Cancer Institute.”

Moss will accept the dissertation award on March 31 at SBM’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C.


Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: David Pesci, director of communications, (919) 962-2600 or dpesci@unc.edu

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