Judith Lee Smith, PhD

Judith Lee Smith, PhD, is a Senior Behavioral Scientist and Team Lead in CDC’s Division of Cancer Prevention and Control’s Epidemiology and Applied Research Branch. Dr. Smith joined DCPC in September 2004 and was previously a NIH Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Chicago in the Department of Medicine and the Department of Psychiatry.

Dr. Smith is a co-creator of AMIGAS, a bilingual educational outreach intervention designed to help promotoras (community health workers) and other lay health educators increase cervical cancer screening among Hispanic women who have rarely or never had a Pap test. A recent randomized controlled trial demonstrated the intervention’s effectiveness and cost effectiveness. In recognition of these achievements, AMIGAS was awarded the CDC/ATSDR Honor Award for Health Equity. Currently, Dr. Smith is leading efforts to adapt AMIGAS for African American women and is collaborating with a work group of community health workers and community health worker administrators from across the United States to inform this initiative.

Dr. Smith’s research interests include investigating the behavioral, psychosocial, cultural, and system-level factors that impact cancer-related health disparities and cancer survivorship. Her primary areas of focus are colorectal, cervical, prostate, and breast cancers and cancer survivorship. She collaborates domestically and internationally with various institutions and works extensively with diverse populations including African Americans, Hispanics, rural populations, and the uninsured or underinsured. Dr. Smith is a co-investigator on several studies examining factors associated with cancer screening uptake, predictors of screening adherence, surveillance screening, and health outcomes of cancer survivors.

Dr. Smith chairs DCPC’s Health Disparities and Translation to Practice work groups. She is a member of the national program committee for the 2018 American Psychosocial Oncology Society Conference. She formerly represented CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion on the Prevention and Control Sub-Committee and the Full Committee for the Charles C. Shepard Award. Dr. Smith has also served as a member of technical advisory groups for the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable and the World Health Organization.

Dr. Smith has authored or co-authored more than 50 publications in peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of General Internal Medicine, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Journal of Oncology Practice, Journal of Psychosocial Oncology, Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, Cancer, and Journal of Cancer Survivorship. Some of her more recent articles include—

• 2015 Advancing health equity in cancer survivorship: opportunities for public health.
• 2014 Capsule commentary on Davis et al., Improving mammography screening among the medically underserved.
• 2014 Cervical cancer screening with AMIGAS: a cost-effectiveness analysis.
• 2014 Meeting the information needs of lower income cancer survivors: results of a randomized control trial evaluating the American Cancer Society’s “I Can Cope.”
• 2014 Surveillance instructions and knowledge among African-American colorectal cancer survivors.
• 2013 AMIGAS: Building a cervical cancer screening intervention for public health practice.
• 2013 Assessment of the status of A National Action Plan for Cancer Survivorship in the USA.
• 2013 AMIGAS: A multicity, multicomponent cervical cancer prevention trial among Mexican-American women.
• 2013 Variation in primary care physicians’ colorectal cancer screening recommendations by patient age and health status.
• 2012 Using intervention mapping as a participatory strategy: Development of a cervical cancer intervention for Hispanic women.
• 2012 Physician over-recommendation of mammography for terminally ill women.
• 2011 Tailoring cancer education and support programs for low-income, primarily African-American cancer survivors.
• 2011 Physicians’ colorectal cancer screening discussion and recommendation patterns.
• 2011 Colorectal cancer screening use among insured primary care patients.
• 2009 Addressing cancer survivorship through public health: An update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.