Harvard Catalyst Profiles

Contact, publication, and social network information about Harvard faculty and fellows.

Elyse R Park, Ph.D.

Title
Institution
Department
Address
Phone
Profile Picture
Other Positions
Title
Institution
Department

Biography
1991
Academic Scholarship
2004 - 2004
Making a Difference Grant
2005 - 2005
Health Affairs Author of top 25 most read articles of 2005
2006 - 2006
Partners in Excellence Award
2006 - 2006
Behavioral Medicine Excellence in Mentorship Award
2008 - 2008
Meritorious Presentation
2010
Clinical Innovator Award
2016 - 2019
Mentor Award Nominee
2017
100 Awardee
2020
Ruth McCorkle Mentoring Award

Overview
I am a clinical health psychologist who joined the faculty at MGH and HMS, where I provide clinical care, conduct research, and supervise trainees. I was recruited to serve as the behavioral scientist for the MGH Department of Medicine’s Tobacco Research and Treatment Center (TRTC). With experience developing and integrating tobacco treatment programs into primary care settings, I accepted the opportunity to promote TRTC’s mission of integrating and assessing tobacco treatment services into medical clinics. This provided a unique opportunity to build bridges with the Departments of Psychiatry and Oncology.

Area of Excellence: Investigation. Since 2001 my research has focused on designing and testing behavioral interventions for medical populations, especially on integrating brief systems-based behavioral interventions into oncology and primary care settings. I also have expertise in developing and analyzing qualitative research exploring cancer preventive perceptions and behaviors, cancer treatment decisions, and the influence of race and ethnicity on cancer preventive behaviors and treatment decisions. My contributions are reflected in my 180 peer-reviewed publications, national and international presentations, external funding (NIH, American Cancer Society, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Livestrong), and collaborations.

In my smoking cessation research, I have led investigations of smoking cessation interventions among childhood cancer survivors, lung cancer patients, patients undergoing lung screening, and obstetric patients. With NCI funding, I conducted an NCI R03-funded pilot study at MGH to assess the feasibility and efficacy of a behavioral and pharmacological smoking cessation intervention for early stage lung cancer patients; due to its promising results, I received an NCI R01 to conduct a multi-site randomized controlled trial, partnering with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to examine integration of tobacco treatment into cancer care. With successful results, I have just received an R01 to implement this treatment into NCI-affiliated community-based cancer settings nationwide. An American Cancer Society (ACS) training grant supported my research examining risk perceptions of individuals undergoing lung cancer screening. Based on trial results, I received NCI funding to conduct an efficacy-implementation R01 trial a Partners systems-wide smoking cessation intervention treatment delivery.

My work on tobacco and health promotion treatment for cancer patients has led to numerous national positions. In 2009 I served on the Steering Committee for Smoking Cessation Initiatives at NCI Cancer Centers. I reviewed the American Association for Cancer Research Policy Statement Assessing Tobacco Use by Cancer Patients and Facilitating Cessation. I served as the behavioral expert manuscript reviewer for American College of Radiology Publications Committee ACRIN and on the Associate Board of Editors for Tobacco Regulatory Science. I recently served on an NCI panel to develop a grant supplement mechanism to promote cancer center’s development of systems-based identification of tobacco treatment. I am a member of the NCCN’s Guidelines for Smoking Cessation for cancer patients and the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s Tobacco Taskforce. I serve on the American Cancer Society’s National Lung Cancer Round Table as a Task Group member of the Provider Outreach and Tobacco Task Groups. I serve as co-chair the ECOG-ACRIN Health Promotion Subcommittee within the Cancer Control and Survivorship Committee, to advance a program of health promotion research within the community-based oncology clinics in the National Clinical Trials Network. I have delivered grand rounds, spoken at national and international academic meetings and been an invited presenter at national meetings of the NCI, IOM, the NCCN, and the Department of Health and Human Services. I was the standing Chair of the American Cancer Society’s national peer review Psychosocial and Behavioral research committee and have served as an ad hoc reviewer for NIH review committees as well as for various foundations.

Clinical Expertise. Trained in clinical health psychology and behavioral medicine programs, I have seen cancer survivors patients and survivors for brief cognitive-behavioral/mind-body treatments since 2011. For over the past decade, I have co-led weekly clinical group supervision for the MGH behavioral medicine interns and postdoctoral fellows.

I have developed clinical motivational protocols and treatment manuals for 8 clinical trials and am the primary author on the MGH Benson Henry Institute’s treatment protocol- the Stress Management and Resiliency Training- Relaxation Response (SMART-3RP) program, which is the basis of the Institute’s clinical program, national training program, and nationally funded clinical trials. I am particularly proud that I have transformed and translated my clinical research into clinical programs at MGH. Over the past several years I have developed three clinical/clinical research programs at MGH: a cancer survivorship resiliency program at 3 MGH Cancer Center sites, the MGH Cancer Center Smoking Cessation Service, and the MGH Division of Clinical Research’s Qualitative Research Unit.

Teaching. I provide ongoing clinical research supervision to MGH trainees across diverse disciplines. I serve as a mentor for training and research grants awarded to MGH junior faculty in many medical disciplines. I have mentored MGH Psychology trainees to win student presentations at national medicine conferences, external funding awards, and NIH Loan Repayment Program awards. For my mentoring work I have been recognized nationally, receiving an NCI mid-level mentor award to promote patient-oriented research. Recently, I have been nominated for the HMS John J. Potts, Jr. M.D. Mentoring Award and was a 2017 honoree for the MGH Cancer Center’s The One Hundred.

Research
The research activities and funding listed below are automatically derived from NIH ExPORTER and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing items. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.
  1. R56AT011869 (PARK, ELYSE R.) Sep 14, 2023 - Aug 31, 2024
    NIH
    Adaptation of virtual group interventions to promote resilience among English and Spanish speaking parents of children with Learning and Attentional Disabilities (LAD)
    Role: Principal Investigator
  2. R01CA276825 (KIRCHHOFF, ANNE C) Jun 14, 2023 - May 31, 2028
    NIH
    A Randomized Controlled Trial to Improve Health Insurance Literacy and Surveillance among Young Adult Cancer Survivors
    Role: Co-Principal Investigator
  3. (Park, Elyse R) Jan 1, 2019 - Dec 31, 2022
    American Cancer Society
    Understanding and Improving Health Insurance Coverage Experience of Childhood Cancer Survivors
    Role Description: To conduct the first study to identify and address barriers to accessing affordable quality coverage and health care for childhood cancer survivors
    Role: PI
  4. R01CA218123 (HAAS, JENNIFER S;PARK, ELYSE R. ;RIGOTTI, NANCY A) Apr 16, 2018 - Mar 31, 2024
    NIH
    Assessing the integration of tobacco cessation treatment into lung cancer screening
    Role: Principal Investigator
  5. R01CA214427 (OSTROFF, JAMIE S;PARK, ELYSE R.) Feb 1, 2018 - Jul 31, 2023
    NIH
    Implementing A Virtual Tobacco Treatment in Community Oncology Practices
    Role: Principal Investigator

Featured Content

Bibliographic
Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.
Newest   |   Oldest   |   Most Cited   |   Most Discussed   |   Timeline   |   Field Summary   |   Plain Text
PMC Citations indicate the number of times the publication was cited by articles in PubMed Central, and the Altmetric score represents citations in news articles and social media. (Note that publications are often cited in additional ways that are not shown here.) Fields are based on how the National Library of Medicine (NLM) classifies the publication's journal and might not represent the specific topic of the publication. Translation tags are based on the publication type and the MeSH terms NLM assigns to the publication. Some publications (especially newer ones and publications not in PubMed) might not yet be assigned Field or Translation tags.) Click a Field or Translation tag to filter the publications.
Updating...
This operation might take several minutes to complete. Please do not close your browser.
Local representatives can answer questions about the Profiles website or help with editing a profile or issues with profile data. For assistance with this profile: HMS/HSDM faculty should contact contactcatalyst.harvard.edu. For faculty or fellow appointment updates and changes, please ask your appointing department to contact HMS. For fellow personal and demographic information, contact HMS Human Resources at human_resourceshms.harvard.edu. For faculty personal and demographic information, contact HMS Office for Faculty Affairs at facappthms.harvard.edu.
Park's Networks
Click the
Explore
buttons for more information and interactive visualizations!
Concepts (572)
Explore
_
Co-Authors (198)
Explore
_
Similar People (60)
Explore
_
Same Department 
Explore
_
Physical Neighbors
_
Funded by the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences through its Clinical and Translational Science Awards Program, grant number UL1TR002541.