PhD, MS, FSBM
Associate Professor and Associate Chair for Research, Health Policy and Management
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
UNC-Chapel Hill
Cancer Prevention and Control
Area of Interest
Dr. Kent is a faculty member at the Gillings School of Global Public Health in the Department of Health Policy and Management and member of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. Her disciplinary perspective is in epidemiology, health services research, and mixed methods.
Her research program examines the psychosocial and financial impact of cancer and other serious illnesses on patients and their caregivers. She develops and implements into practice supportive care interventions, conducts research that informs the development of policies that support caregivers, and uses large data sets to understand patient and caregiver experiences. She conducts this work in collaboration with many interdisciplinary researchers, clinicians, and community coalitions.
At UNC, she runs the Caregiving Collaboratory to provide students and fellows a space for pedagogy, mentoring, and collaboration in caregiving research. With support from The Duke Endowment and the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers, Dr. Kent is currently adapting a social support intervention for caregivers of rural cancer patients to help them both recognize and build their informal support network and connect with formal support resources.
Prior joining the faculty at UNC in 2019, Dr. Kent served as a Program Director and Scientific Advisor for the Outcomes Research Branch at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). There, Dr. Kent worked to establish funding opportunities and research resources to better understand the challenges that caregivers face and develop family-centered interventions for cancer patients and their caregivers.
News and Stories
Cancer center researchers to present latest findings at international breast cancer meeting
The San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium features presentations outlining basic, translational, clinical and community-based study findings focused on advancing the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.
New program will aid family, friends who provide crucial support for patients with cancer
Erin Kent, PhD, and Eliza (Leeza) Park, MD, are co-directing a project to help alleviate the burden that informal care places on caregivers, especially those in rural areas.
