Meet Dr. Siminoff
LAURA A. SIMINOFF, PH.D.
Laura H. Carnell Professor of Public Health
Laura A. Siminoff, Ph.D., joined Temple University in March 2014 following her tenure as professor and founding chair of the Department of Social and Behavioral Health in Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Medicine, where she also served as associate director of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the Massey Cancer Center.
As a nationally recognized public health social scientist, Dr. Siminoff’s research focuses on cancer treatment decision-making, informed consent, health communication, health disparities, bioethics, and issues of organ and tissue donation. She is a leader in multimethod research, applying empirical social science methods to bioethics-related issues.
Dr. Siminoff’s research has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health for more than 20 years. She joined Temple University with a funding record that is among the most outstanding in the nation. In 2005, she was recognized for ranking above the 95th percentile of all faculty with NIH awards for the past 25 years. She is the author of more than 150 articles and is the coauthor of a textbook on the use of empirical methods in bioethics.
Before joining the faculty at Virginia Commonwealth, Dr. Siminoff held faculty appointments at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Medicine (1996-2006) and the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health (1989-1996). She earned a Ph.D. in public health from the School of Hygiene and Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in 1988 after receiving a master’s degree in anthropology from the University of New Brunswick (1978) and a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from McGill University (1975).
An accomplished academic leader and administrator, Dr. Siminoff is leading the College of Public Health strongly positioned in the education, research, health, and social service arenas.
Today, we are an integrated college both in terms of education and research, across this spectrum of disciplines, which is not the traditional way that public health higher education institutions typically function. But if we consider where we are moving as a nation and as a field, I think this is the way to move forward and puts CPH ahead of the curve.