Laura A Siminoff

Laura H. Carnell Professor
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Office
1700 N Broad St

Biography

Dr. Laura A. Siminoff is an internationally renowned public health scientist and an expert in health communication and decision-making. She has conducted seminal research in assisting cancer patients to make informed treatment decisions, understanding the health burdens of family caregivers for late stage cancer patients, and examining the impact that communication plays in the production of health disparities. Dr. Siminoff is regarded as a preeminent researcher of determinants of consent to organ and tissue donation, and has developed interventions that help relieve the shortage of transplantable organs. More recently, she has led studies to understand the ethical and social implications of tissue donation for biobanking and genetic studies.

Dr. Siminoff served as dean of the College of Public Health at Temple University from 2014 to 2022. Originally trained as an anthropologist, her increasing interest in health care led her to pursue a PhD from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Prior to coming to Temple, she was professor and founding chair of the Department of Social and Behavioral Health at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, and the associate director of cancer prevention and control at the Massey Cancer Center at Case Western Reserve University.

Dr. Siminoff continues to be an active investigator with grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Health Resources Services Administration, among others. Over the course of her career she has received approximately $40,000,000 in research funds as principal investigator and is the author of over 200 peer-reviewed and other articles and book chapters. In addition to her research, she is an enthusiastic and committed mentor and has assisted many graduate students, post-docs and junior faculty in launching their careers as independent investigators.

Education

  • BA, Anthropology, McGill University
  • MA, Anthropology, University of New Brunswick
  • PhD, Public Health, Johns Hopkins University

Curriculum Vitae 

Google Scholar: Laura A. Siminoff's Google Scholar profile

Labs: Siminoff Research Group

Selected Publications

  • Litsas, D.C., Mulvania, P.A., Roth, S., & Siminoff, L.A. (2023). A Rapid Scoping Review of the Dual Advocacy Model for Donation Conversations. Prog Transplant, 33(3), pp. 247-255. United States. doi: 10.1177/15269248231189866

  • Thomson, M.D., Houtven, C.H.V., Xu, R., & Siminoff, L.A. (2023). The many "costs" of transportation: Examining what cancer caregivers experience as transportation obstacles. Cancer Med, 12(16), pp. 17356-17364. United States. doi: 10.1002/cam4.6351

  • Gardiner, H., Siminoff, L., Gordon, E.J., Alolod, G., Richardson, B., Schupler, M., Benitez, A., Hernandez, I., Guinansaca, N., Ramos, L., Bergeron, C.D., Pappaterra, L., Norden, R., & Daly, T. (2023). Direct and Indirect Effects of a Web-Based Educational and Communication Skills Intervention "Promotoras de Donación" to Increase Donor Designation in Latinx Communities: Evaluation Study. J Med Internet Res, 25, p. e37140. Canada. doi: 10.2196/37140

  • Alolod, G.P., Gardiner, H.M., Blunt, R., Yucel, R.M., & Siminoff, L.A. (2023). Organ Donation Willingness Among Asian Americans: Results from a National Study. J Racial Ethn Health Disparities, 10(3), pp. 1478-1491. Switzerland. doi: 10.1007/s40615-022-01333-3

  • Siminoff, L.A., Alolod, G.P., Davis, E.E., McGregor, H.R., Litsas, D.C., Sarwer, D.B., Mulvania, P.A., Hasz, R.D., & Gardiner, H.M. (2022). Evaluation of an eLearning System to Train Health Professionals to Communicate about Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation with Donor Families. Prog Transplant, 32(3), pp. 233-240. United States. doi: 10.1177/15269248221107040

  • Chan, W., Pun, J., Dong, D., Siminoff, L., & Dumenci, L. (2022). Reliability and validity of the Cancer Health Literacy Test - Chinese versions: CHLT-30-Chinese and CHLT-6-Chinese. Asia Pac J Clin Oncol, 18(3), pp. 279-286. Australia. doi: 10.1111/ajco.13621

  • Thomson, M.D., Genderson, M.W., & Siminoff, L.A. (2022). Understanding cancer caregiver burden over time: Dyadic assessments of family cohesion, conflict and communication. Patient Educ Couns, 105(6), pp. 1545-1551. Ireland. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2021.10.014

  • Thomson, M.D., Wilson-Genderson, M., & Siminoff, L.A. (2022). The presence of a secondary caregiver differentiates primary cancer caregiver well-being. Support Care Cancer, 30(2), pp. 1597-1605. Germany. doi: 10.1007/s00520-021-06544-8

  • Thomas, E.C., Suarez, J., Lucksted, A., Siminoff, L., Hurford, I., Dixon, L., O'Connell, M., & Salzer, M. (2022). Treatment decision-making needs among emerging adults with early psychosis. Early Interv Psychiatry, 16(1), pp. 78-90. Australia. doi: 10.1111/eip.13134

  • Gordon, E.J., Gardiner, H., Siminoff, L.A., Kelly, P.J., Agu, C., Urbanski, M., Alolod, G.P., Benitez, A., Hernandez, I., Guinansaca, N., Winther, L.R., Bergeron, C.D., Kim, R., Montalvo, A., & Gonzalez, T. (2021). Donor Designation Among Mature Latinas and Lay Health Educators (Promotoras): A Mixed-Methods Study. Health Educ Behav, 48(6), pp. 805-817. United States. doi: 10.1177/1090198120976351

  • Jindra, P.T., Shah, M.B., Shafer, T.J., Buren, C.T.V., & Siminoff, L.A. (2021). Systemic Racism Harms Black Americans' Access to Kidney Transplantation and Full Participation in Organ Donation. Prog Transplant, 31(4), pp. 394-397. United States. doi: 10.1177/15269248211046000

  • Thomas, E.C., Suarez, J., Lucksted, A., Siminoff, L.A., Hurford, I., Dixon, L.B., O'Connell, M., Penn, D.L., & Salzer, M.S. (2021). Facilitating treatment engagement for early psychosis through peer-delivered decision support: intervention development and protocol for pilot evaluation. Pilot Feasibility Stud, 7(1), p. 189. England. doi: 10.1186/s40814-021-00927-8

  • Siminoff, L.A., Mash, D., Wilson-Genderson, M., Gardiner, H.M., Mosavel, M., & Barker, L. (2021). Making a family decision to donate the brain for genomic research: lessons from the genotype-tissue expression project (GTEx). Cell Tissue Bank, 22(3), pp. 431-441. Netherlands. doi: 10.1007/s10561-020-09890-9

  • Rogers, H., Dumenci, L., & Siminoff, L.A. (2021). Might physician-patient gender concordance influence clinical outcomes in primary care? Findings from a large unannounced standardized patient study. JOURNAL of PSYCHOSOMATIC RESEARCH, 145. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2021.110460

  • Zisman-Ilani, Y., Siminoff, L.A., Savoy, M.L., Paranjape, A., Liu, J., Jacob, R.A., Gardiner, H.M., Bass, S.B., Montori, V.M., & Rubin, D.J. (2021). Unmet Communication Needs and Barriers of Black and African Americans with Type 2 Diabetes. DIABETES, 70. doi: 10.2337/db21-519-P

  • Thomas, E.C., Bass, S.B., & Siminoff, L.A. (2021). Beyond rationality: Expanding the practice of shared decision making in modern medicine. Soc Sci Med, 277, p. 113900. England. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113900

  • Siminoff, L.A., Alolod, G.P., Gardiner, H.M., Hasz, R.D., Mulvania, P.A., & Wilson-Genderson, M. (2021). A Comparison of the Content and Quality of Organ Donation Discussions with African American Families Who Authorize and Refuse Donation. J Racial Ethn Health Disparities, 8(2), pp. 485-493. Switzerland. doi: 10.1007/s40615-020-00806-7

  • Patel, J., Dzomba, B., Vo, H., Nessen-Scanlin, S.V., Siminoff, L.A., & Wu, H. (2021). A Health IT-Empowered Integrated Platform for Secure Vaccine Data Management and Intelligent Visual Analytics and Reporting. HEALTHINF: PROCEEDINGS of the 15TH INTERNATIONAL JOINT CONFERENCE on BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING SYSTEMS and TECHNOLOGIES - VOL 5: HEALTHINF, pp. 522-531. doi: 10.5220/0010843700003123

  • Siminoff, L.A., Alolod, G.P., Davis, E.E., Sarwer, D.B., & Gardiner, H.M. (2020). Vascularized composite allotransplantation: Knowledge and attitudes of a national sample of organ procurement organization professionals. Clin Transplant, 34(11), p. e14071. Denmark. doi: 10.1111/ctr.14071

  • Siminoff, L.A., Wilson-Genderson, M., Barta, S., & Thomson, M.D. (2020). Hematological cancer patient-caregiver dyadic communication: A longitudinal examination of cancer communication concordance. Psychooncology, 29(10), pp. 1571-1578. England. doi: 10.1002/pon.5458

  • Siminoff, L.A., Gardiner, H.M., Alolod, G.P., & Wilson-Genderson, M. (2020). Using Online Communication Skills Training to Increase Organ Donation Authorization. Prog Transplant, 30(3), pp. 212-219. United States. doi: 10.1177/1526924820933846

  • Goldberg, D., Doby, B., Siminoff, L., Shah, M., & Lynch, R. (2020). Rejecting bias: The case against race adjustment for OPO performance in communities of color. Am J Transplant, 20(9), pp. 2337-2342. United States. doi: 10.1111/ajt.15865

  • Thomson, M.D., Cadua, A., Matsuyama, R., & Siminoff, L.A. (2020). Cancer caregiver burden and mental health outcomes: Differences by race/ethnicity. CANCER EPIDEMIOLOGY BIOMARKERS & PREVENTION, 29(6). doi: 10.1158/1538-7755.DISP18-A092

  • DuBay, D., Morinelli, T., Redden, D., Rodrigue, J., Ivankova, N., Herbey, I., Holt, C., Siminoff, L., Fouad, M., Su, Z., & Martin, M. (2020). A Video Intervention to Increase Organ Donor Registration at the Department of Motorized Vehicles. Transplantation, 104(4), pp. 788-794. United States. doi: 10.1097/TP.0000000000002880

  • Siminoff, L.A., Bolt, S., Gardiner, H.M., & Alolod, G.P. (2020). Family First: Asian Americans' Attitudes and Behaviors Toward Deceased Organ Donation. J Racial Ethn Health Disparities, 7(1), pp. 72-83. Switzerland. doi: 10.1007/s40615-019-00635-3

  • Alolod, G.P., Gardiner, H., Agu, C., Turner, J.L., Kelly, P.J., Siminoff, L.A., Gordon, E.J., Norden, R., Daly, T.A., Benitez, A., Hernandez, I., Guinansaca, N., Winther, L.R., Bergeron, C.D., Montalvo, A., & Gonzalez, T. (2020). A Culturally Targeted eLearning Module on Organ Donation (Promotoras de Donación): Design and Development. J Med Internet Res, 22(1), p. e15793. Canada. doi: 10.2196/15793

  • Timmermans, S., Yang, A., Gardner, M., Keegan, C.E., Yashar, B.M., Fechner, P.Y., Shnorhavorian, M., Vilain, E., Siminoff, L.A., & Sandberg, D.E. (2019). Gender destinies: assigning gender in Disorders of Sex Development-Intersex clinics. Sociol Health Illn, 41(8), pp. 1520-1534. England. doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.12974

  • Sandberg, D.E., Gardner, M., Kopec, K., Urbanski, M., Callens, N., Keegan, C.E., Yashar, B.M., Fechner, P.Y., Shnorhavorian, M., Vilain, E., Timmermans, S., & Siminoff, L.A. (2019). Development of a decision support tool in pediatric Differences/Disorders of Sex Development. Semin Pediatr Surg, 28(5), p. 150838. United States. doi: 10.1016/j.sempedsurg.2019.150838

  • Mosavel, M., Barker, K.L., Gardiner, H.M., & Siminoff, L.A. (2019). Responsiveness and adaptability in community engaged biobanking research: experiences from a Hispanic community. J Community Genet, 10(3), pp. 395-406. Germany. doi: 10.1007/s12687-018-0397-x

  • DuBay, D.A., Ivankova, N.V., Herbey, I., Redden, D.T., Holt, C., Siminoff, L., Fouad, M.N., Morinelli, T.A., & Martin, M.Y. (2019). An African American Perspective on Familial Notification of Becoming a Registered Organ Donor. Prog Transplant, 29(2), pp. 164-172. United States. doi: 10.1177/1526924819835837

  • Rogers, H.L., Dumenci, L., Epstein, R.M., & Siminoff, L.A. (2019). Impact of Patient Gender and Race and Physician Communication on Colorectal Cancer Diagnostic Visits in Primary Care. J Womens Health (Larchmt), 28(5), pp. 612-620. United States. doi: 10.1089/jwh.2018.6961

  • Kentish-Barnes, N., Siminoff, L.A., Walker, W., Urbanski, M., Charpentier, J., Thuong, M., Sarti, A., Shemie, S.D., & Azoulay, E. (2019). A narrative review of family members' experience of organ donation request after brain death in the critical care setting. Intensive Care Med, 45(3), pp. 331-342. United States. doi: 10.1007/s00134-019-05575-4

  • Timmermans, S., Yang, A., Gardner, M., Keegan, C.E., Yashar, B.M., Fechner, P.Y., Shnorhavorian, M., Vilain, E., Siminoff, L.A., & Sandberg, D.E. (2018). Does Patient-centered Care Change Genital Surgery Decisions? The Strategic Use of Clinical Uncertainty in Disorders of Sex Development Clinics. J Health Soc Behav, 59(4), pp. 520-535. United States. doi: 10.1177/0022146518802460

  • DuBay, D.A., Ivankova, N.V., Herbey, I., Redden, D.T., Holt, C., Siminoff, L., Fouad, M.N., Su, Z., Morinelli, T.A., & Martin, M.Y. (2018). A quantitative appraisal of African Americans' decisions to become registered organ donors at the driver's license office. Clin Transplant, 32(10), p. e13402. Denmark. doi: 10.1111/ctr.13402

  • Thomson, M.D. & Siminoff, L.A. (2018). Managing work and cancer treatment: Experiences among survivors of hematological cancer. Cancer, 124(13), pp. 2824-2831. United States. doi: 10.1002/cncr.31375

  • Siminoff, L.A., Wilson-Genderson, M., Gardiner, H.M., Mosavel, M., & Barker, K.L. (2018). Consent to a Postmortem Tissue Procurement Study: Distinguishing Family Decision Makers' Knowledge of the Genotype-Tissue Expression Project. Biopreserv Biobank, 16(3), pp. 200-206. United States. doi: 10.1089/bio.2017.0115

  • Barbeira, A.N., Dickinson, S.P., Bonazzola, R., Zheng, J., Wheeler, H.E., Torres, J.M., Torstenson, E.S., Shah, K.P., Garcia, T., Edwards, T.L., Stahl, E.A., Huckins, L.M., Consortium, G., Nicolae, D.L., Cox, N.J., & Im, H.K. (2018). Exploring the phenotypic consequences of tissue specific gene expression variation inferred from GWAS summary statistics. Nat Commun, 9(1), p. 1825. England. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03621-1

  • Goldberg, D.S., Shafer, T., & Siminoff, L. (2018). Important Facts About Organ Donation and OPO Performance. Transplantation, 102(5), pp. e249-e250. United States. doi: 10.1097/TP.0000000000002108

  • Dumenci, L., Matsuyama, R.K., Riddle, D.L., Cartwright, L., & Siminoff, L.A. (2018). Validation of the Cancer Health Literacy Test-30 for Populations Without Cancer. Health Lit Res Pract, 2(2), pp. e58-e66. United States. doi: 10.3928/24748307-20180207-01

  • Siminoff, L.A., Gardiner, H.M., Wilson-Genderson, M., & Shafer, T.J. (2018). How Inaccurate Metrics Hide the True Potential for Organ Donation in the United States. Prog Transplant, 28(1), pp. 12-18. United States. doi: 10.1177/1526924818757939

  • Siminoff, L.A., Wilson-Genderson, M., Mosavel, M., Barker, L., Trgina, J., Traino, H.M., Nathan, H.M., Hasz, R.D., & Walters, G. (2018). Impact of Cognitive Load on Family Decision Makers' Recall and Understanding of Donation Requests for the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) Project. J Clin Ethics, 29(1), pp. 20-30. United States. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

  • Wilson-Genderson, M., Barker, K.L., Gardiner, H.M., Mosavel, M., Thomas, J., & Siminoff, L.A. (2018). Authorization of tissues from deceased patients for genetic research. Hum Genet, 137(1), pp. 63-71. Germany. doi: 10.1007/s00439-017-1855-y