Laura A Siminoff

Laura A. Siminoff is the Laura H. Carnell Professor and Professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the College of Public Health, Temple University. She is also a Member of the Cancer Prevention and Control program at Fox Chase Cancer Center. She served as Dean of the College of Public Health from 2014 to 2022 and continues to be an active researcher and mentor.

Her educational background includes:

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

Dr. Siminoff is a leading expert in health communication and decision-making, with core research interests in cancer treatment decisions, informed consent, health disparities, bioethics, and organ and tissue donation. Her work emphasizes culturally sensitive communication, caregiver burden in advanced illness, and ethical challenges in biobanking. She has developed and evaluated interventions to improve shared decision-making and increase organ donation rates among underrepresented communities.

The 15 most recent publications reflect a consistent focus on communication in healthcare decisions, particularly around organ donation, cancer caregiving, and health disparities. Key trends include longitudinal analyses of caregiver well-being, culturally tailored interventions for Asian American and Black communities, ethical considerations in tissue donation, and innovative eLearning tools for healthcare professionals involved in VCA and organ donation discussions.

Dr. Siminoff has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health for over two decades and has secured approximately $40 million in research funding as principal investigator. She has mentored numerous graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty in launching independent research careers. She is the principal investigator of multiple federally funded projects, including CEaD (Communicating Effectively about Donation), CEaD-VCA, CEaD-A, and VCA-Qual.

She leads the Siminoff Research Group for Informed Healthcare Decision Making and Effective Communication, which conducts interdisciplinary research at the intersection of public health, behavioral science, and clinical ethics. The team focuses on developing and testing communication strategies that empower patients and families to make informed health decisions, especially in high-stakes contexts such as cancer care and end-of-life donation.