Cecelia Valrie, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Director, Health and Development Lab
Health Psychology
Tenured
Faculty
Education
- Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- M.A. in Developmental Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- B.A. in Psychology and Mathematics, East Carolina University
Research Interests
Dr. Cecelia Valrie uses health and developmental psychology techniques and theories to study persistent pain, sleep, and heath inequities in people living with sickle cell disease and Black youth. She is also focused on testing and improving implementation and dissemination of effective interventions to improve health outcomes and promote health equity in these populations. Dr. Valrie is working on translating her research through collaborations with health care providers, community members and groups, and youth and their families to create programs that can work in health care, community, school and home settings. She uses a mix of methodologies, including survey, interviews, and mhealth technology (e.g., ecological momentary assessments and sleep actigraphy) that allows for time-sensitive assessments in the environments people live in. It also spans the range of bio-behavioral research (e.g., focused on individual factors and processes) to community-engaged research (e.g., informed by, in partnership with, or lead by community members).
Select Publications
- Shipman-Lacewell, J., Hagiwara, N., Green, T., Jones, H., Belgrave, F., & Valrie, C. (in press). Sleep and fatigue as mediators of racial discrimination and internalizing symptoms in Black adolescent-caregiver dyads. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology.
- Pascale, A., Sisler., I., Smith, W., & Valrie, C. (2023). Intraindividual pain variability metrics for youth with sickle cell disease: Relations to health outcomes. Pediatric Blood and Cancer, 70(4): e30194.
- Valrie, C. R., Alston, K., Morgan, K., Kilpatrick, R., Sisler, I., & Fuh, B. (2021) Pediatric Sickle Cell Pain-Sleep Relationships: The Roles of Positive and Negative Affect. Health Psychology, 40(11): 793-802.
- Valrie, C.R., Thurston, I., & Santos, M. (2020). Introduction to the Special Issue: Addressing Health Disparities in Pediatric Psychology. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 45(8): 833-838.
- Valrie, C. R., Alston, K., Fuh, B., Redding-Lallinger, R. & Sisler, I. (2020). Sleep moderating the relationship between pain and health care use in youth with sickle cell disease. Clinical Journal of Pain, 36(2): 117-123.
Links
- VCU Center for Cultural Experiences in Prevention
- VCU iCubed Culture, Race and Health Transdisciplinary Core
- VCU Center on Health Disparities
Courses
- Psyc 412: Health Psychology
Awards
- Outstanding Community Engagement Award 2023, Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University