Valle, postdoctoral fellow, wins SBM’s outstanding dissertation award

Dr. Carmina Valle

Carmina Valle, PhD, MPH, has been selected to receive the Society of Behavioral Medicine Outstanding Dissertation Award for 2013. Valle, a December 2012 graduate of the Gillings School of Global Public Health’s Department of Nutrition, will accept the award on March 21 at the annual meeting of the Society in San Francisco.

Now a postdoctoral fellow in the cancer health disparities training program at the Gillings School, Valle said she is grateful and honored to receive the award.

“My dissertation wouldn’t have been possible without the guidance and support of many people,” she said. “I am especially thankful to my chairs – Dr. Deborah Tate and the late Dr. Marci Campbell – and committee members Drs. Deborah Mayer, Marlyn Allicock, Jianwen Cai and Dianne Ward – and to the UNC Cancer Control Education Program. I’m also appreciative that the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) recognizes the importance of addressing the needs of young adult cancer survivors. In a way, this award honors the memory of Dr. Campbell, my original dissertation chair and a longtime SBM member.”

Research from Valle’s dissertation, “Examining the Use of Online Social Networking to Improve Physical Activity Behaviors among Young Adult Cancer Survivors,” is scheduled to be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Cancer Survivorship.

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