Paula Palmer, Ph.D.

Paula Healani Palmer, Ph.D., is Adjunct Associate Professor and Director of Global Health Programs –Designate.  Her research and teaching focus on health promotion and research capacity building in California and developing nations, primarily China and South Asian countries. Her current funded research projects include, the CGU-USC Pacific Rim Transdisciplinary Tobacco and Alcohol Use Research Center, which focuses on preventing tobacco use and alcohol abuse among youth in China; the China Seven Cities Study, a longitudinal study of transition in lifestyles and health-related behaviors in the era of globalization in seven of China’s largest urban areas; an investigation of HIV risk and substance use behavior among rural to urban Chinese migrants, and a longitudinal study of recovery among tsunami victims in India and Sri Lanka.  She is also co-director of the Fogarty International Center – Pacific Rim Global Health Framework program, which brings together 22 academic and public health institutions from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand, and China to develop joint research and training programs that address chronic, non-communicable disease to increase awareness of key global health issues.  A clinical health and community psychologist by training, Dr. Palmer also serves as research coordinator of Weaving an Islander Network for Cancer Awareness, Research, and Training (WINCART), a National Cancer Institute funded community participatory grant to reduce cancer health disparities among Pacific Islanders in Southern California.  She received her B.A. from California State University, Fullerton, and her Ph.D. in Clinical Health Psychology from the California School of Psychology.

Research Interests

Dr. Palmer's work focuses on the impact of cultural influences on health beliefs and practices. Other research interests include developing community and school-based approaches to smoking prevention and studying maternal and child health issues in ethnic minority groups.

Education

• California School of Professional Psychology, Ph.D, 1996

Selected Publications

Unger, J. B., Chou, C.-P., Palmer, P. H., Ritt-Olson, A., Gallaher, P., Cen, S., et al. (2004). Project FLAVOR: 1-year outcomes of a multicultural, school-based smoking prevention curriculum for adolescents. American Journal of Public Health, 94(2), 263-265.

Unger, J. B., Gallaher, P., Palmer, P. H., Baezconde-Garbanati, L., Trinidad, D. R., Cen, S., et al. (2004). No news is bad news: Characteristics of adolescents who provide neither parental consent nor refusal for participation in school-based survey research. Evaluation Review, 28(1), 52-63.

Weiss, J. W., Mouttapa, M., Chou, C.-P., Nezami, E., Anderson Johnson, C., Palmer, P. H., et al. (2005). Hostility, depressive symptoms, and smoking in early adolescence. Journal of Adolescence, 28(1), 49-62.

Johnson, C. A., Unger, J. B., Ritt-Olson, A., Palmer, P. H., Cen, S. Y., Gallaher, P., et al. (2005). Smoking prevention for ethnically diverse adolescents: 2-year outcomes of a multicultural, school-based smoking prevention curriculum in Southern California. Preventive Medicine, 40(6), 842-852.

Shakib, S., Zheng, H., Johnson, C. A., Chen, X., Sun, P., Palmer, P. H., et al. (2005). Family characteristics and smoking among urban and rural adolescents living in China. Preventive Medicine, 40(1), 83-91.