Staff: Susan Czajkowski, PhD
Susan Czajkowski, PhD
czajkows@mail.nih.gov
240-276-5871
Susan M. Czajkowski, Ph.D. is currently a special volunteer with the National Cancer Institute (NCI). From November 2015 to June 2024, was Chief of the NCI's Health Behaviors Research Branch (HBRB). She is an expert on psychosocial and behavioral risk factors for disease, including the development and testing of interventions for behavioral risk factors such as obesity, physical inactivity, adverse diets, and non-adherence to medical regimens; the roles of social support and depression in disease risk and recovery; and the assessment of health-related quality of life and psychosocial functioning in patients with chronic diseases.
Prior to joining the NCI, Dr. Czajkowski was a Program Director at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, where she managed research initiatives testing of interventions to improve adherence to lifestyle and medical therapies in patient populations, including in minority patients and the medically underserved, and was project officer for the Enhancing Recovery in Coronary Heart Disease (ENRICHD) Patients Study, a large, multicenter randomized clinical trial to evaluate the effects of treating depression and low social support on survival and recurrent events in myocardial infarction patients.
Dr. Czajkowski was also the lead project officer for the NIH-funded Obesity Related Behavioral Intervention Trials (ORBIT) network, a cooperative agreement program supporting seven research sites across the U.S. with the goal of translating findings from basic research on human behavior into more effective interventions to alter obesity-related health behaviors (e.g., diet, physical activity). As part of the ORBIT consortium, Dr. Czajkowski led the development of the ORBIT model for designing and testing behavioral treatments for chronic diseases (http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/hea/34/10/971). Dr. Czajkowski is a Fellow in the Society of Behavioral Medicine, and recently served as President of the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research (2014 - 2015)
Current and/or past BRP mentees include Pat Boyd, Sydney O'Connor and Naomi Greene.
Scientific Interests
- Psychosocial and behavioral risk factors and interventions
- Behavioral treatment development
- Adherence to medical and behavioral regimens
- Obesity
- Health-related quality of life
Selected Publications and Presentations
- Czajkowski SM, Powell LH, Adler N, Naar-King S, Reynolds KD, Hunter CM, Laraia B, Olster DH, Perna FM, Peterson JC, Epel E, Boyington JE, Charlson ME. From ideas to efficacy: The ORBIT model for developing behavioral treatments for chronic diseases. Health Psychology 2015 Oct; 34(10):971-82.
- Stirratt, MJ, Dunbar-Jacob, J, Crane HM, Simoni JM, Czajkowski S, Hilliard ME, Aikens JE, Hunter CM, Velligan DI, Huntley K, Ogedegbe G, Rand CS, Schron E, Nilsen WJ. Self-report measures of medication adherence behavior: recommendations on optimal use. Transl Behav Med 2015 Dec; 5(4):470-82.
- Bacon SL, Lavoie KL, Ninot G, Czajkowski S, Freedland KE, Michie S, Montgomery P, Powell LH, Spring B; for the International Behavioral Trials Network (IBTN). An International Perspective on Improving the Quality and Potential of Behavioral Clinical Trials. Curr Cardiovasc Risk Rep 2015 Nov. 26 2015; 9(1).
- Bosworth HB, Granger BB, Mendys P, Brindis R, Burkholder R, Czajkowski SM, Daniel JG, Ekman I, Ho M, Johnson M, Kimmel SE, Liu LZ, Musaus J, Shrank WH, Whalley Buono E, Weiss K, Granger CB. Medication adherence: a call for action. Am Heart J 2011 Sep; 162(3):412-424.
- Berkman LF, Blumenthal J, Burg M, Carney RM, Catellier D, Cowan MJ, Czajkowski SM, DeBusk R, Hosking J, Jaffe A, Kaufmann PG, Mitchell P, Norman J, Powell LH, Raczynski JM, Schneiderman N; Enhancing Recovery in Coronary Heart Disease Patients Investigators (ENRICHD). Effects of treating depression and low perceived social support on clinical events after myocardial infarction: the Enhancing Recovery in Coronary Heart Disease Patients (ENRICHD) Randomized Trial. Jac J Com Med 2003 Jun 18; 289(23):3106-16.
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