Director – Michael A. Hoyt, PhD

Michael Hoyt is the Chair & Professor of Population Health & Disease Prevention at UC Irvine Joe C. Wen School of Population & Public Health, and Director of the Biobehavioral Shared Resource (BBSR) of UCI Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, UCI Institute for Interdisciplinary Salivary Bioscience Research (IISBR), and Behavioral Medicine Research Lab. He earned his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Arizona State University and his Master’s degree from the Tufts University School of Medicine-Emerson College program in Health Communication. He completed his clinical internship at the University of Washington, School of Medicine, in behavioral medicine/neuropsychology and a postdoctoral fellowship funded by the National Institute of Mental Health at the University of California, Los Angeles, in health psychology and psychoneuroimmunology.

His research focuses on biobehavioral processes that influence quality of life among individuals facing chronic illness. He conducts both basic and clinical studies to investigate coping processes and other psychological factors involved in mental health, neuroendocrine and immune functioning, and illness adjustment, with a particular emphasis on men and male-specific cancers.

Dr. Hoyt currently serves as President of the International Society of Behavioral Medicine (ISBM), is a Fellow of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA) in the Society for Health Psychology (SfHP). He is a past recipient of the New Investigator Award from the American Psychosocial Oncology Society (APOS) in recognition of his research contributions to psycho-oncology. He has secured competitive funding for his work, including awards from the Livestrong Foundation, the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the Department of Defense (DoD). His work has been published in numerous peer-reviewed scientific journals, including Health Psychology, Psycho-Oncology, Cancer, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, and Annals of Behavioral Medicine.