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Ph.D.

Rebecca Ashare

Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry

Rebecca Ashare

Biography

Dr. Ashare is an Associate Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania and has developed a program of translational research related to health behaviors that incorporates tools from the fields of behavioral economics, psychology, and mobile health to understand the mechanisms that underlie behavior change, including cognitive control, decision-making, and stress. She is also a Senior Fellow in the Center for Public Health Initiatives where she teaches core courses in the Master of Public Health program.

 

Dr. Ashare received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the State University of New York at Buffalo and completed her predoctoral clinical fellowship at the Yale University School of Medicine in the Division of Substance Abuse. In 2011, she joined the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Nicotine Addiction (CIRNA) at the University of Pennsylvania as a postdoctoral fellow. Since her appointment to faculty in 2012, Dr. Ashare’s research has evaluated novel intervention strategies across the translational spectrum, from early phase mechanistic studies to understanding barriers to implementation. To date, much of this work has focused on strategies to improve smoking cessation rates among vulnerable populations including smokers with comorbid medical conditions (e.g., HIV) and psychiatric disorders (e.g., depression). Methodologically, her work utilizes technology to deliver mobile health and text message-based interventions and to measure real-time, real-world mechanisms of behavior change (e.g., ecological momentary assessment). As a member of the Abramson Cancer Center and the Center for AIDS Research, she has experience collaborating in interdisciplinary environments and working with community partners. Dr. Ashare’s work has been supported by several NIH-funded awards including 3 R01s.

 

Dr. Ashare lives in Manayunk with her wife and daughter where she can often be found running or biking with her daughter in tow.

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