Jessica Whiteley
Area of Expertise
Health Promotion Interventions, Digital Health, Women's Health
Degrees
PhD, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Clinical Psychology)
MS, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Clinical Psychology)
BA, Bates College (Psychology)
Professional Publications & Contributions
Additional Information
Dr. Whiteley’s research interests are focused on theory-based interventions to promote healthy behaviors such as physical activity, weight management, and smoking cessation, particularly for women and adolescent girls. Her interests have an emphasis on different delivery modalities, with a current focus in the area of digital health so that programs are more easily disseminated for a higher public health impact. A newer area of study is health promotion for breast cancer survivors; she has been an MPI and Co-I on two U54 studies exploring ways to promote physical activity and reductions in sedentary behavior to help manage treatment side effects as well as prevent recurrence and improve survival rates. Dr. Whiteley has been a Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator on more than 15 National Institutes of Health (NIH) studies and she has published nearly 50 peer-reviewed papers and served as a reviewer for a number of scientific journals. In her role as Associate Dean for Research, Dr. Whiteley oversees pre- and post-award grant activity managed by staff in the Office of Research. She provides guidance to faculty and students, assisting them in finding grant opportunities and in preparing both the scientific and administrative sections of grant applications.
Teaching Expertise
- Health Behavior
- Health Counseling Techniques
- Teaching Pedagogy
- Professional Development Seminars