Monica Webb Hooper, Ph.D.

Deputy Director
Office of the Director
Monica.Hooper@nih.gov
301-402-1366

Dr. Monica Webb Hooper is Deputy Director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD). She works closely with the Director, Dr. Pérez-Stable, and the leadership, to oversee all aspects of the institute and to support the implementation of the science visioning recommendations to improve minority health, reduce health disparities, and promote health equity.

Dr. Webb Hooper is an internationally recognized translational behavioral scientist and clinical health psychologist. She has dedicated her career to the scientific study of minority health and racial/ethnic disparities, focusing on chronic illness prevention and health behavior change. Her program of community engaged research focuses on understanding multilevel factors and biopsychosocial mechanisms underlying modifiable risk factors, such as tobacco use and stress processes, and the development of community responsive and culturally specific interventions. Her goal is to contribute to the body of scientific knowledge and disseminate findings into communities with high need.

Before joining NIMHD, Dr. Webb Hooper was a Professor of Oncology, Family Medicine & Community Health and Psychological Sciences at Case Western Reserve University. She was also Associate Director for Cancer Disparities Research and Director of the Office of Cancer Disparities Research in the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Dr. Webb Hooper completed her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of South Florida, internship in medical psychology from the University of Florida Health Sciences Center, and her Bachelor of Science from the University of Miami.

Selected Publications

• Rodgers-Melnick, S.N., & Webb Hooper, M. (Epub 2020). Implementation of tobacco cessation services at a comprehensive cancer center: a qualitative study of oncology providers’ perceptions and practices. Support Care Cancer. doi:10.1007/s00520-020-05749-7.
• Schüz, B., & Hooper, M. (2020). Addressing underserved populations and disparities in behavior change. In M. Hagger, L. Cameron, K. Hamilton, N. Hankonen, & T. Lintunen (Eds.), The Handbook of Behavior Change (Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology, pp. 385-400). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108677318.027.
• Webb Hooper, M., Nápoles AM, Pérez-Stable EJ. COVID-19 and Racial/Ethnic Disparities. JAMA. Published online May 11, 2020. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.8598.
• Montgomery, L., & Webb Hooper, M. (in press). Sex differences in the association between marijuana and menthol cigarette use among African American cigarette smokers. Substance Use and Misuse.
• Webb Hooper, M., Calixte-Civil P., Verzijl, C., Brandon, K. O., Asfar, T., Koru-Sengul, T., Antoni, M. H., Lee, D. J., Simmons, V. N., & Brandon, T. H. (in press). Associations between perceived racial discrimination and tobacco cessation among diverse treatment-seekers. Ethnicity & Disease.
• Robinson, C. D., Wiseman, K. P., Webb Hooper, M., El-Toukhy, S., Grenen, E., Vercammen, L., Prutzman, Y. (in press). Engagement and short-term abstinence outcomes among African Americans and Caucasians in the National Cancer Institute’s smokefreetxt program. Nicotine & Tobacco Research. pii: ntz178. doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntz178. [Epub ahead of print]
• Webb Hooper, M., Mitchell, C., Marshall, V., Cheatham, C., Austin, K., Sanders, K., Krishnamurthi, S., & Grafton, L. L. (2019). Understanding multilevel factors related to urban community trust in healthcare and research. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16 (18), 3280; doi:10.3390/ijerph16183280
• Webb Hooper, M. (2019). Racial/ethnic differences in physiological stress and relapse among treatment seeking tobacco smokers. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(17), 3090; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16173090
• Webb Hooper, M., Carpenter, K., & Salmon, E. E. (2019). Web-based tobacco cessation interventions and digital inequality across U.S. racial/ethnic groups. Ethnicity & Disease, 29(3), 495-504.
• Webb Hooper, M. (2019). Achieving health equity through science, policy, and partnerships. Ethnicity & Disease, 29(2), 317-320. doi:10.18865/ed.29.S2.317.

Page updated April 21, 2022