Dr. Belinda Borrelli
Director of Behavioral Science Research and Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Health Services Research Dr. Belinda Borrelli has been very busy since she joined Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine (GSDM) in September 2014. Since then she has submitted three National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant proposals, conducted a meta-analysis which will be published in the next month, and has had seven other papers accepted for publication in peer-reviewed journals. She has received several speaking invitations, presented at several national and international conferences, was asked to be a guest editor for a high impact scientific journal, and was invited to be a “TEDMED Research Scholar.”
Dr. Borrelli is a clinical psychologist who specializes in motivating behavior change. Her research has focused on: developing and testing treatments to motivate health behavior change across a variety of areas, including smoking cessation and secondhand smoke reduction; improving oral health and dietary behaviors; and, promoting adherence to medications and treatment regimens for chronic diseases including sleep apnea, cystic fibrosis, and asthma. She specializes in integrating theory-based treatments into public health contexts, and targeting underserved populations such as Latinos, Native-Americans, those with low income, inner city youth and adults, people with mobility impairments, medically ill populations, and older adults. She is a Co-Principal Investigator with Professor and Associate Dean for Global & Population Health Dr. Michelle Henshaw on a project funded by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) aimed at motivating low income parents to engage in pediatric oral health behaviors, with the goal of cavity prevention.
Recently, Dr. Borrelli has begun research on utilizing electronic health (eHealth) and mobile health (mHealth) platforms to initiate and sustain health behavior change. She has been Associate Editor of Health Psychology since 2010 and was invited to be a guest editor of a special issue titled, “eHealth and mHealth: Methodology, Assessment, Treatment and Dissemination Studies” along with co-editor, Associate Professor at the University of Virginia Dr. Lee Ritterband. Hundreds of manuscripts were received in response to a call for papers, which speaks to the growth in this area of research.
The term “eHealth” generally refers to the use of information technology, such as the Internet, digital gaming, virtual reality, and robotics, in the promotion, prevention, treatment, and maintenance of health care, while “mHealth” refers specifically to mobile and wireless applications including text messaging, apps, wearable devices, remote sensing, and the use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter. The benefits of eHealth and mHealth interventions include availability and accessibility, cost-effective delivery, scalability, utilization of personalization and tailoring, provisioning of real-time strategies to users in their everyday settings, and ability to adjust intervention intensity to meet the user’s needs. This special issue recognizes the rapidly evolving uses of technology in health care, and the lack of evidenced based treatment that can be integrated into people’s everyday lives.
In addition, Dr. Borrelli was invited to be a “TEDMED Research Scholar” for the 2015 TEDMED conference series. TEDMED was created by the founder of the popular TED (Technology Entertainment and Design) conferences to specifically focus on disciplines related to health and medicine. As a “Research Scholar”, she will fulfill an advisory and curatorial role in reviewing potential speakers for this prestigious scientific meeting.
During her time at GSDM, Dr. Borrelli has participated in a variety of research activities. This spring, she became a member of the Research Committee, a panel of GSDM faculty who oversee and facilitate pre-doctoral, post-doctoral and faculty research at the School. She gave a guest lecture for an oral health class in the School of Medicine’s Graduate Medical Sciences program, and was a faculty judge for this year’s Science Day. Dr. Borrelli also gave a presentation titled, “Translating Basic Science and Health Behavior Theory to Improve Public Health” at the annual GSDM Research Retreat on April 13, 2015.
“GSDM is extremely fortunate to have such a talented and dedicated individual on our research faculty,” said Dean Jeffrey W. Hutter. “I would like to congratulate Dr. Borrelli on her recent achievements. We are looking forward to many years of continued success.”