Dr. Stephanie Goldstein, assistant professor (research) of psychiatry and human behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School and research scientist at the Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center of The Miriam Hospital, received the 2021 Bruce M. Selya Research Excellence Award, presented for outstanding biomedical research at Lifespan partner hospitals.

Goldstein, who was nominated by Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center colleagues Dr. Rena Wing, Dr. Elissa Jelalian and Dr. J. Graham Thomas, accepted the award at the virtual Lifespan annual meeting on December 8.

Goldstein holds a Ph.D in clinical psychology, with an emphasis on behavioral medicine, from Drexel University, and she completed a post-graduate fellowship at the Warren Alpert Medical School in the Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center.  Her research focuses on the use of electronic and mobile health technology to understand and intervene in health behaviors, particularly those related to obesity and associated conditions. 

Goldstein is one of very few researchers who bridge behavioral science, engineering, and computer science to realize exciting new practical applications of personalized medicine. For example, she collaborated with a colleague in electrical and computer engineering to develop a wrist-worn sensor for an innovative study on dietary adherence behaviors, becoming one of the first researchers to use passive sensing to collect objective adherence data. She is currently extending her work in dietary lapses by developing and evaluating a data-driven electronic/mobile health technology project, using just-in-time adaptive interventions for enhancing dietary adherence. This project is highly innovative, with the potential to transform the fields of adherence research and behavioral obesity interventions.

The Lifespan Board instituted the Bruce M. Selya Award in 1999 to honor Judge Selya, chair of the Lifespan Board from the creation of Lifespan in 1994 until 1999. The award is intended to recognize a rising star in research who has demonstrated excellence through a record of high-quality peer-reviewed publication and ability to attract research funding.  

(Source: Lifespan)