Claire A. Spears
Associate Professor Health Policy & Behavioral Sciences- Education
Ph.D. 2011, Louisiana State University, Clinical Psychology
M.A. 2006, Wake Forest University, Psychology
B.S. 2004, Furman University, Psychology and French
- Biography
Associate Professor
Dr. Claire A. Spears is an associate professor in Health Policy & Behavioral Sciences in the School of Public Health at Georgia State University. Dr. Spears’ research focuses on interventions to reduce health risk behaviors and enhance quality of life in underserved populations.
She is particularly interested in mindfulness-based approaches and understanding the mechanisms through which these practices promote healthier behaviors—for example, smoking cessation, lower alcohol use, and healthier diet. Her work aims to promote health equity for underserved communities; expand the study of mindfulness to more diverse populations; and leverage mobile health technology (mHealth) for scalable, just-in-time interventions.
Dr. Spears’ research has been funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), and Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as well as Cancer Research UK, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She completed postdoctoral and faculty fellowships in health disparities research at MD Anderson Cancer Center. She directs the GSU Mindful Living Lab and co-chairs the GSU mHealth Research Collaborative. Dr. Spears serves on the Roster of Experts on Digital Health for the World Health Organization and on the editorial board of the journal Mindfulness.