Executive Leadership & Expert Bios

Judith Lee Smith, PhD

Senior Behavioral Scientist and Team Lead
Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, NCCDPHP

Judith Lee Smith, PhD, is a Senior Behavioral Scientist and Team Lead in the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control in the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP).Her primary areas of focus are colorectal cancer, cervical cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer and cancer survivorship. Currently, she is the CDC Lead and Principal Investigator on a large multisite randomized controlled trial that is implementing and evaluating an intervention to increase colorectal cancer screening in primary care clinics.

Dr. Smith is also a co-investigator on several projects examining behavioral factors associated with the uptake of cervical cancer screening, prostate cancer treatment decision-making, lack of adherence to mammography screening recommendations, and surveillance screening among colorectal cancer survivors. She collaborates with institutions working with diverse populations including African Americans, Mexican Americans, Japanese Americans, Native Americans and Alaskan Natives, rural populations, and the uninsured or underinsured.

Dr. Smith joined CDC's Division of Cancer Prevention and Control in September 2004 and was previously a NIH Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Chicago in the Department of Medicine and the Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Smith's research interests include investigating the social, cultural, behavioral, and psychological factors that impact cancer prevention and control, health disparities, cancer survivorship, and patient outcomes. Dr. Smith has conducted, presented, and published research examining depression among patients receiving BRCA1/2 genetic counseling and testing, the treatment priorities, coping, and quality of life of head and neck cancer patients, treatment decision making among men with localized prostate cancer, mental illness stigma among cancer patients, the information seeking styles of cancer patients, and the implementation and process of effectiveness trials in primary care settings.

Dr. Smith is also a member and scientific reviewer for the Evidence-based Education and Outreach Task Group for the National Colorectal Cancer RoundtableDr. Smith currently represents NCCDPHP on the Prevention and Control Sub-Committee and the Full Committee for the Charles C. Shepard Award. Dr. Smith was recently awarded the Early Career Award in Behavioral and Social Sciences from CDC's Behavioral and Social Science Working Group in recognition of her work during her tenure at CDC.

To request an interview, call CDC's Division of Media Relations at (404) 639-3286, or e-mail us at media@cdc.gov.