Phyllis Butow is a professor in the field of health psychology at the University of Sydney who received an Order of Australia in 2014 She is known for her research in psycho-oncology and understanding the psychological impacts of cancer and diseases.
Early life and education Butow completed her undergraduate studies with a Bachelor of Arts at Macquarie University, Master of Clinical Psychology at Australia National University, followed by a PhD in psychology at Sydney University.
Career
Academic positions
Professor at the University of Sydney Chair at Psychology at the University of Sydney Co-Director of the Centre for Medical Psychology & Evidence-based Decision-making (CeMPED) at the University of Sydney Founding member of the Psycho-Oncology Co-operative Research Group (PoCoG)
Research focus Professor Butow's research primarily focuses on the psychological well-being of cancer patients, doctor-patient communication, and decision-making in cancer treatment.
Contributions
Psycho-Oncology Research: Butow has worked in the field of psycho-oncology, specifically, in investigating on the impacts of cancer on patients' mental health. She also founded organisations such as the Australian Psycho-Oncology Co-operative Research Group, with the aims of investigating psychologicals effect of disease and cancer.
Publications Butow has an H-index of 133, over 65,000 citations as at July 2024, according to Google Scholar, and has written more than 300 peer-reviewed articles and several books on health psychology and psycho-oncology, including publications in the journal Nature. Select publications include the following:
Journal articles
Easton, D., Pooley, K., Dunning, A. et al. Genome-wide association study identifies novel breast cancer susceptibility loci. Nature 447, 1087–1093 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05887. P.N. Butow, M. Maclean, S.M. Dunn, M.H.N. Tattersall, M.J. Boyer,(1997) The dynamics of change: Cancer patients' preferences for information, involvement and support, Annals of Oncology, Volume 8, Issue 9, P857-863, https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008284006045.
Books
Campbell, A., Cumming, S., Morrison, V., Bennett, P., Mullan, B., White, K., Gerrig, R., Zimbardo, P., Wilkes, F., Butow, P. (2009). PHE1IDH Individual Determinants of Health. Frenchs Forest Sydney: Pearson Education. Morrison, V., Bennett, P., Butow, P., et al. (2007). Introduction to health psychology in Australia. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: Pearson Education.
Selected grants
2023
P-OMICs-flow: Integrating precision oncology into clinical programs, Taylor N, Thomas D, Tucker K, Ballinger M, Zaheed M, Lin F, Goldstein D, Leaney K, Morrow A, Parkinson B, Butow P, et al.
2021
Finding My Way-Advanced: Can a web-based psychosocial intervention improve mental quality of life for women with cancer?, Butow P, et al.
2020
Carers and Multimorbidity, Juraskova I, Laidsaar-Powell R, Butow P, et al. School of Psychology/Booster Grant Remove the Mask: Reducing Anxiety for Cancer Radiotherapy Patients, Keall P, Butow P, et al.
References