Dr. Stephanie Hooker is Research Investigator at HealthPartners Institute with a background in clinical health psychology and public health. She also holds an academic appointment as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health.

Dr. Hooker’s research interests are in behavioral and psychosocial influences on health and disease. The long-term goal of her research program is to develop interventions for health behavior change and well-being that can be delivered in healthcare and community settings. Specifically, her research has focused on understanding theory-based psychosocial determinants of health behaviors (e.g., physical activity, sleep). Then, her work uses these observational findings to develop behavioral interventions for health behavior change and behavioral health concerns to prevent and treat a variety of health conditions, including obesity, type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and opioid use disorder.

Dr. Hooker completed her PhD and MPH degrees at the University of Colorado Denver. Prior to joining the Institute in 2019, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Primary Care Behavioral Health at the University of Minnesota Department of Family Medicine and Community Health. She is licensed to practice psychology in the state of Minnesota and is board certified in lifestyle medicine (Dip ACLM) and behavioral sleep medicine (DBSM).

Conducting Institute resarch since 2019.

Education and training:

• BAS, Psychology, University of Minnesota Duluth, 2009, summa cum laude, with distinction
  
• MS, Clinical Psychology, Syracuse University, 2011
• MPH, Applied Biostatistics, Colorado School of Public Health, 2015
• PhD, Clinical Health Psychology, University of Colorado at Denver, 2017
• Clinical Internship, Rush University Medical Center, 2016-2017
• Postdoctoral fellowship in Primary Care Behavioral Health, University of Minnesota

Affiliations/other offices held:
Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota Department of Family Medicine & Community Health
Research Investigator, Health and well-being
Research Investigator,  Behavioral health
Research Investigator,  Community and population health 2019 -

Research interests include:
Health behavior change, well-being, behavioral interventions, cardiovascular health, health-promoting behaviors, health-risking behaviors

Current research activities and funding:

• Co-principal investigator on a randomized clinical pilot trial to assess the preliminary efficacy of a lifestyle medicine program to improve cardiovascular health (The HeartBeet Clinic)
• Leading projects to develop theory-based digital behavior change interventions to increase physical activity and improve diabetes self-management
• Site PI on a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)-funded multi-site clinical trial examining the long-term effectiveness and safety of the anti-obesity drug phentermine
• Co-investigator on a Minnesota Department of Human Services-funded project on delivering medication-assisted treatment and adjunctive behavioral interventions for opioid use disorder in primary care
• Co-investigator on a National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)-funded trial (PI: O’Connor) of a clinical decision support tool to encourage active weight management for patients with Type 2 Diabetes
• Co-investigator and stakeholder engagement team member on PCORI-funded study (MPI: O’Connor and Neugebauer) examining the effectiveness of medications for Type 2 diabetes
• Co-Investigator on a National Institute of Mental Health funded project to implement a suicide risk model in behavioral health care (PI: Yarborough)

Related websites 
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=61sdcDUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Stephanie-Hooker-2
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4222-7046