About
Dr. Lisa Vaccaro is a Lecturer at the Sydney School of Health Sciences, University of Sydney. She is affiliated with the Psycho-Oncology Co-operative Research Group (PoCoG) and specializes in psycho-oncology, behavioral sciences, and health psychology. Her research focuses on improving mental health outcomes for cancer patients through innovative care models and advancing understanding of fear of cancer recurrence, advance care planning, and breast density notification.
Key research areas include barriers to community-based psycho-oncology services, shared care models for cancer patients with depression, and patient-provider communication in terminal cancer. She has contributed to studies on immigrant cancer patients' health disparities and the efficacy of therapeutic interventions like Danger Ideation Reduction Therapy (DIRT) for obsessive-compulsive disorders. Her work bridges clinical practice and policy, emphasizing patient-centered care.
Publications span topics including breast cancer screening intentions, healthcare provider knowledge gaps in breast density information, and survival estimation accuracy between oncologists and patients. Her interdisciplinary approach addresses both psychological and systemic challenges in oncology care.