Sarah T Hawley, PhD, MPH

Dr. Hawley is a health services researcher focused on evaluating and improving patient centered cancer care across the continuum. Her work focuses on patient-provider communication and shared decision making related to cancer prevention and control. She is especially interested in the development and testing of interventions to improve the decision making experience for patients and families working in collaboration with the University of Michigan Center for Health Communications Research (CHCR) where she is a co-director. Dr. Hawley is a member of the Cancer Surveillance and Outcomes Research team, an interdisciplinary national team of cancer care delivery researchers that conducts both observational and interventional research. In addition to her research, Dr. Hawley is passionate about developing the next generation of health services and cancer researchers. Dr. Hawley is the Associate Director for Training, Education and Career Development in the Rogel Cancer Center . She is also a committed mentor to many trainees and early career faculty developing careers in health services and cancer care delivery.

My research focuses on evaluating and improving patient centered cancer care across the continuum from screening through treatment and survivorship, with a focus on vulnerable and underrepresented populations. Specifically, my work focuses on understanding and improving patient and physician communication and decision-making related to cancer care delivery. I lead work to develop and evaluate tailored, behavioral interventions for improving patient centered cancer care across the continuum, and to evaluate them in clinical trials. I am passionate about mentoring early career faculty in their career development trajectories, including leading several education, training and career development initiatives.