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Director of Biobehavioral Medicine Program,
University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute
Email: bovbjergdh@upmc.edu
Phone: 412-623-5965
Fax: 412-623-5980
Assistant: Betsy Ryce-Platt, 412-623-1011
Website: http://www.upci.upmc.edu/biobehavioral/leader.cfm
- Visiting Professor, University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry
- Visiting Professor, University of Pittsburgh, School of Arts & Sciences Department of Psychology
- Visiting Professor, University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health
Department of Behavioral & Community Health Sciences

Research Program
Dr. Bovbjerg’s research focuses on biobehavioral factors in cancer, and includes ongoing
studies of the emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and biological consequences of breast cancer
risk; the contribution of biobehavioral factors to side effects of medical treatments (surgery,
radiation, chemotherapy); genetic testing for breast cancer susceptibility; preclinical
. investigations of biobehavioral processes in cancer; and psychobiological and social influences
on cancer screening behaviors.
Leadership Positions and Honors
Outstanding Achievement Award, American Cancer Society, 2004
Fellow, Society of Behavioral Medicine (elected 2006)

Representative Publications 
Wright CE, Valdimarsdottir HB, Erblich J, Bovbjerg DH. Poor sleep the night before an
experimental stress task is associated with reduced cortisol reactivity in healthy women.
Biol Psychol 74(3):319-327, 2007.View Adobe .pdf File . . .
Shakhar K, Valdimarsdottir HB, Guevarra JS, Bovbjerg DH. Sleep, fatigue, and NK cell activity
in healthy volunteers: significant relationships revealed by within subject analyses. Brain
Behav Immun 21:180-184, 2007.View Adobe .pdf File . . .
Higgins S, Montgomery G, Bovbjerg D. Distress before chemotherapy predicts delayed but
not acute nausea. Supportive Care in Cancer 15(2):171-177, 2007.View Adobe .pdf File . . .
James GD, Gastrich HJ, Valdimarsdottir HB, Bovbjerg DH. The rate of urinary cortisol
excretion at work is persistently elevated in women at familial risk for breast cancer. American
Journal of Human Biology 2008; 20(4):478-80.View Adobe .pdf File . . .
Wright CE, Bovbjerg DH, Montgomery GH, Weltz C, Goldfarb A, Pace B, Silverstein JH.
Disrupted sleep the night before breast surgery is associated with increased postoperative
pain J Pain Symptom Management 37(3):352-62, 2009.

Click here to watch this presentation . . ."Cancers" ~ June 7, 2008 (Summer Institute)
  Revised 3/16/2009  la/tc

 

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