Jennifer Steel , Ph.D.

  • Director, Center for Excellence in Behavioral Medicine
  • Director, Quality of Life Program for the UPMC Liver Cancer Center
  • Associate Professor of Surgery, Psychiatry, and Psychology

Education & Training

  • Washington State University, Ph.D.

Research Interest Summary

Psychoneuroimmunology; Chronic Illness Interventions

Research Interests

My research interests center on the biological and genomic mediation between psychosocial/behavioral factors and disease progression.  I am also interested in developing interventions to reduce morbidity in patients with chronic illness and their family caregivers.

Representative Publications

Steel JL, Geller DA, Gamblin TC, Olek M, & Carr BI.  Depression, immunity, and survival in patients with hepatobiliary carcinoma. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2007 Jun 10; 25(17): 2397-2405. PubMed PMID: 17557953

Reddy SK, Steel JL, Chen HW, Demateo DJ, Cardinal J, Behari J, Humar A, Marsh JW, Geller DA, Tsung A.  Outcomes of curative treatment for hepatocellular cancer in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis versus hepatitis C and alcoholic liver disease. Hepatology, 2012 Jun; 55(6): 1809-19. PubMed PMID: 22183968.

Hart SL, Hoyt MA, Diefenbach M, Anderson DR, Kilbourn KM, Craft L, Steel JL, Cuijpers P, Mohr DC, Berendsen M, Spring B, Stanton AL.  Meta-Analysis of the efficacy of interventions for depressive symptoms in adults diagnosed with cancer.  Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 2012 Jul; 104(13):  990-1004. PubMed   PMID: 22767203

Steel JL, Dunlavy A, Friday M, Kingsley K, Brower D, Unruh M, Tan H, Shapiro R, Peltz M, Hardoby M, McCloskey C, Sturdevant M, Humar A.  A national survey of living donor advocates:  A need for practice guidelines.  American Journal of Transplantation, 2012 Aug; 12(8):  2141-2149. PubMed PMID:  22548793

Magge D, Gooding W, Choudry H, Steve J, Steel J, Zureikat A, Krasinskas A, Daouadi M, Lee KK, Hughes SJ, Zeh HJ 3rd, Moser AJ.  Comparative effectiveness of minimally invasive and open distal pancreatectomy for ductal adenocarcinoma. JAMA Surgery, 2013; 148: 525–531. PubMed PMID: 23426503. 

Jhamb M, Liang K, Yabes J, Steel J, Shah N, Unruh M.  Prevalence and correlates of fatigue in CKD and ESRD: Are Sleep Disorders a Key to Understanding Fatigue? American Journal of Nephology, 2013; 38(6): 489-95. PubMed PMID: 24335380

Tsung A, Geller DA, Sukato D, Sabbaghian S, Samer T, Steel JL, Marsh W, Reddy S, David B. Robotic versus laparoscopic hepatectomy:  A matched comparison. Annals of Surgery, 2014 Mar; 259(3): 549-555. PubMed PMID: 24045442.  Statistician

Steel JL, Geller DA, Kim KH, Butterfield LH, Spring M, Grady J, Sun W, Marsh W, Antoni M, Dew MA, Helgeson V, Schulz R, Tsung A.  A web-based collaborative care intervention to manage cancer-related symptoms in the palliative care setting. Cancer, 2016 April; 122(8): 1270-1282. PubMed PMID:  26970434

Chen Q, Terhorst L, Lowery A, Tsung A, Buysse, Geller DA, Marsh JW, Steel JL. Sleep problems in advanced cancer patients and their caregivers:  Who is disturbing whom?  Journal of Behavioral Medicine, Aug 22. [Epub ahead of print].  PubMed PMID:  31435891

Steel JL, Cheng H, Pathak R, Wang Y, Miceli J, Hecht CL, Haggerty D, Peddada S, Geller DA, Marsh W, Antoni M, Jones R, Kamarck T, Tsung A. Psychosocial and behavioral pathways of metabolic syndrome in cancer caregivers. Psycho-Oncology,  2019 Aug; 28(8):1735-1742.  PubMed PMID:  31206896

Accepting Graduate Students

No

Program(s)