Main Navigation

Pediatric Oncology Branch Home > Pediatric Psycho-Oncology Professionals > Profiles > Marilyn Stern

Headline Title

Pediatric Psycho-Oncology Professionals

Marilyn Stern

 

First Name: Marilyn

Last Name: Stern

Position Title: Professor, Departments of Psychology, Pediatrics

and Social & Behavioral Health &  Director, Counseling Psychology Program

Job Responsibilities: Research, Administration and Teaching/Training

Education/Training: Counseling Psychology

About Me/My interests: My primary interests in pediatric psychosocial oncology have been in adolescents with cancer, communication, and transition to survivorship; developing interventions to reduce childhood and adolescent obesity and the vulnerable child syndrome. My current work in this arena focuses on identifying those factors related to optimal development among children and adolescents transitioning off active cancer treatment, with the aim of developing interventions to optimize their adaptation to survivorship. We are currently working on two related projects: 1) adapting an intervention we have found to be effective with overweight/obese children for parents of pediatric cancer survivors who are overweight/obese and 2) examining strategies to improve adolescent cancer patient communication with their health care providers as they transition off active treatment.

Over the course of my career, I have been the recipient of federal, foundation, and local grants to fund my research. I have also been recognized for my scholarship, having been: elected Fellow of the American Psychological Association (Divisions of Health Psychology, Pediatric Psychology and Counseling Psychology), a recipient of the Dorothy Booz Black Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Counseling Health Psychology, named an Outstanding Alumni, University at Buffalo Graduate School and awarded a senior Fulbright scholarship for international work (twice in my career). I have also chaired or served as a member on 61 students’ thesis and dissertations.

Training Opportunities: Yes, graduate Ph.D training program

My Contact Information:

Address: Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, PO Box 842018; Richmond, VA 23284-2018
Email: mstern@vcu.edu

Phone: 804-827-0400

Topics of Interest for Collaboration: Pediatric obesity; Adolescent cancer; Communication; Survivorship

Publications that may be of interest to others:  

Foster, R.H., Stern, M., Russell, C., Shivy, V., Bitsko, Dillon, R., M., Klosky, J., & Godder, K. (in press). Examining the influence of optimism and perceived health vulnerability on parent-adolescent attachment among survivors of pediatric cancer. Journal of Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology.

Mazzeo, S., Kelly, N, Stern, M., Gow, R., Serdar, K Evans., R., Jones, R., & Bulik, C. (in press). Nourishing Our Understanding of Role Modeling to Improve Support and Health (NOURISH): Design and Methods, Contemporary Clinical Trials.

Stern, M., Krivoy, E., Foster, R. Bitsko, M., Toren, A., & Ben Arush, M. (2010). Psychosocial Functioning and Career Decision-Making in Israeli Adolescent Cancer Survivors. Pediatric Blood and Cancer. 55,708-713

Bitsko, M., Stern, M., Dillon, R., & Russell, C., Laver, J. (2008). Happiness and Time Perspective as Potential Mediators of Quality of Life and Depression in Adolescent Cancer.  Pediatric Blood and Cancer. 50(3), 613-619.

Stern, M., Mazzeo, S. E., Gerke, C., Porter, J., Bean, M., & Laver, J. (2007). Gender, Ethnicity, Psychosocial Factors and Quality of Life Among Severely Overweight, Treatment Seeking Adolescents, Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 32, 90-94.

 

return to the top