Curbow named chair of the department of rehabilitation counseling

Leading public health psychologist Barbara Curbow, Ph.D., has been named chair of the department of rehabilitation counseling in the College of Public Health and Health Professions. She succeeds former Chairman Horace Sawyer, Ed.D., who is retiring.

Curbow most recently served as an associate professor in the department of health, behavior and society at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

One of Curbow’s first challenges in her UF post will be guiding the department through the transition to a new name and the addition of two areas of study. Pending approval from university administration, the department will take the name community and behavioral health sciences to reflect the addition of public health divisions in environmental health and social and behavioral sciences to the existing program in rehabilitation counseling.

“A goal of mine is to find a way to integrate the interests of the faculty and students so this is a single working group instead of three separate divisions,” Curbow said. “There are many ways in which these disciplines can overlap.”

Curbow’s research interests include risk communications, cancer prevention and control and occupational health psychology, with projects focusing on issues such as adolescent girls and smoking, mammography screening, quality of life issues for patients with cancer, and job-related stress.

Curbow ranks involvement in graduate education high on her list of achievements.

“I am proudest of the fact that I have mentored 25 doctoral students who are now scattered all over the country,” said Curbow, who has also served on 75 doctoral dissertation committees. “I take great personal satisfaction in having a hand in training them in the psychology of public health.”