Susan M. Czajkowski, PhD

• Senior Advisor 27 UNIHTED

• (Retired) Chief of the Health Behaviors Research Branch (HBRB) at NIH’s National Cancer Institute (NCI)

On her work with 27 UNIHTED Dr. Czajkowski writes: 

“My heart breaks as I see how leadership now promotes policies that politicize science and eliminates funding for important lines of research on health disparities, LGBTQ+ health, vaccine hesitancy, and other areas that are critically important to NIH’s mission. I feel compelled to work to redress, in whatever way I can, the wrongs I’m seeing at the NIH and the federal civil service in general. Through my efforts with 27 UNIHTED, I hope to lend my voice and efforts to this important work.”

She is an expert on psychosocial and behavioral risk factors for disease, with special emphasis on developing and testing interventions for behavioral risk factors such as obesity, physical inactivity, adverse diets, and non-adherence to medical regimens. She also evaluates the roles of social support and depression in disease risk and recovery and assesses health-related quality of life and psychosocial functioning in patients with chronic diseases.

Prior to her position at NCI, she was a Program Director at the NIH’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. Dr. Czajkowski is a Fellow in the Society of Behavioral Medicine and a Founding Member of the International Behavioral Trials Network (IBTN), a Fellow in the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research (ABMR), and she served as ABMR President from 2014-2015.