Dr. Shawna Hudson, a medical sociologist, is a Professor and Research Division Chief in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health and Director of the Center Advancing Research and Evaluation for Patient-Centered Care (CARE-PC) at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.  Dr. Hudson is a full member of the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research. She has a secondary faculty appointment in the  Rutgers School of Public Health  in the Department of Health Behavior, Society and Policy. Dr. Hudson earned her B.A. from Rutgers College and her M.A and Ph.D. in Sociology from Rutgers University. She completed post-doctoral training through a fellowship from the New Jersey Commission on Cancer Research.

Dr. Hudson’s research uses qualitative and quantitative research approaches to explore the intersections of community health, primary care and oncology care. It is chronic disease focused with an emphasis on vulnerable populations, particularly underserved groups including cancer survivors and racial/ethnic minorities in health care settings. Her research aims to increase the capacity of patients, community stakeholders and health care organizations to understand and use evidence based guidelines for preventive health care and chronic disease management. She is Principal Investigator for the Extended Cancer Education for Longer-term Survivors (EXCELS) in Primary Care (R01CA176838) which uses mixed methods to develop and test a mHealth and health coaching intervention for cancer survivors and Adoption, diffusion and implementation of Tobacco 21 policies to address health disparities (R01CA231139) a mixed methods case study of the implementation and impact of policies that raise minimum legal access to tobacco age to 21 across 15 states in the US. Dr. Hudson also participates as co-investigator on numerous studies funded by the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.  Dr. Hudson has participated on numerous review panels and advisory committees. She is the Health Disparities Associate Editor for the  Journal of Cancer Survivorship.  She is a gubernatorial appointed member of the  New Jersey Commission on Cancer Research and a standing member of the NIH Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health Study Section.  She is also the co-chair for the Rutgers Biomedical Health Sciences emerging signature program in Community Health and Health Systems.