Nao Hagiwara, Ph.D., is a Professor of Public Health Sciences and Director of the Program on Health Disparities and Community Engagement Research at the University of Virginia (UVA). She joined the Department of Public Health Sciences at UVA in August 2023. The core goal of her research program is to develop theory-driven interventions that optimize the quality of patient-provider communication.
With a training background in basic experimental social psychology, Dr. Hagiwara grounds her applied health research in social psychology theories of social cognition, social perceptions, and impression formation. As Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator on numerous NIH-funded projects, Dr. Hagiwara stands at the forefront of research on the role of healthcare providers’ attitudes and beliefs in patient-provider communication. Additionally, Dr. Hagiwara explores the complexities surrounding the management of chronic stress among individuals from a wide range of social groups, investigating the diverse circumstances and resilience strategies that enable them to confront and navigate the social adversities.
To date, her work has appeared in flagship journals, including The Lancet, as well as popular media outlets, such as CNN and New York Times. Dr. Hagiwara is the Incoming President of Social Personality & Health Network (SPHN).
Education:
Postdoctoral Fellowship, Behavioral Oncology, Karmanos Cancer Institute, 2012
Ph.D., Social Psychology, Michigan State University, 2010
M.S., Social Psychology, Michigan State University, 2006
B.A., Psychology & Sociology (double majors), 2004
Contact Information:
Tel: (434) 924-8784
Email: nh6ty@virginia.edu
Fontaine Research Park
Expertise:
Patient-provider communication; Social/health psychology; Mixed methods research designs; Social cognition
Recent Honors & Awards:
Outstanding Academic Title Award, CHOICE (2024)
Fellow, Society for Personality and Social Psychology (2024)
Research in Diversity Award, Social Personality & Health Network (2023)
Fellow, Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (2023)
Excellence in Scholarship Award (Mathematics and Sciences), College of Humanities and Sciences, Virginia Commonwealth University (2023)
Outstanding Scholarship Award, Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University (2023)
Recent Publications:
(A complete list of published work is available at MyBibliography and Google Scholar.)
- Hagiwara, N., & Gallo, J. (In press). From policy to practice: Data sharing challenges and opportunities for mixed methods research in the era of U.S. open science initiatives. Journal of Mixed Methods Research. doi: 10.1177/155868982412984
- Hagiwara, N., Duffy, C., Cyrus, J., Harika, N., Watson, G., & Green, T. (2024). The nature and validity of implicit bias training for healthcare providers and trainees: A systematic review. Science Advances, 10, eado5957.
- Jindal, M., & Hagiwara, N. (2024). Strides in racial bias training. JAMA Network Open, 7(3), e242164.
- Hagiwara, N., Dovidio, J. F., Stone, J., & Penner, L. A. (2020). Applied racial/ethnic healthcare disparities research using implicit measures. Social Cognition, 38, 69-98.
- Hagiwara, N., Kron, F. W., Scerbo, M. W., & Watson, G. S. (2020). A call for grounding implicit bias training in clinical and translational frameworks. The Lancet, 395(10234), 1457-1460.