Kate Carey ’80 has many roles: day-to-day, she’s
professor of psychology at Syracuse University and an adjunct faculty
appointment at Upstate Medical University. In addition to teaching,
Kate specializes in clinical health psychology, a new discipline
that focuses on the relationships among behavior, health and disease.
She studies use of alcohol and other addictive substances. With her
husband Michael ’80, also a professor of psychology at Syracuse
University, she has received numerous grants from the National Institutes
of Health and has published several hundred research papers in professional
journals.
"Health psychologists and other behavioral scientists
continue to be amazed at a simple truth: it is difficult to change
harmful health behaviors once they are established," says Kate. "Despite
this axiom, however, our research indicates that behavioral interventions
that strengthen a person’s motivation
for change (for example, by providing people with accurate normative information
and feedback and benefits that accrue from health behaviors) and enhance specific
behavioral skills needed for change can assist people in their self-improvement
efforts."
Kate is used to dual roles: she had a double major in psychology and French at
St. Lawrence.
After graduating from St. Lawrence, Kate earned her Ph.D.
in clinical psychology from Vanderbilt University. Kate is well credentialed
to serve as associate editor of Psychology of Addictive Behaviors and
of a special issue devoted to binge drinking. She has received an Independent
Scientist Award from the National Institute of Drug Abuse, is a Fellow
of the American Psychological Association and has been invited to the
National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences in India to lecture
and consult with Indian scientists on behavioral research related to
substance use and HIV.
