Vanessa Malcarne is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at San Diego State University and Core Faculty at the SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, with a specialization in Behavioral Medicine. Dr. Malcarne's research focuses on all aspects of chronic illness, from prevention to quality of life, with a special interest in cancer and scleroderma. She is particularly interested in the social, cognitive, and emotional challenges faced by patients post-diagnosis, and in developing and testing interventions to assist patients and their families in meeting those challenges. Other interests include investigating and reducing health disparities, and developing and/or validating instruments for use in research studies. Dr. Malcarne has authored close to 100 peer-reviewed articles and chapters, and her research has been funded for the past two decades by the National Institutes of Health as well as state and local agencies.