Dr. Monica Webb Hooper is Deputy Director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. She works closely with the Director and leadership, to oversee all aspects of the institute and to advance the mission of promoting the health of populations with health disparities and health equity.
Dr. Webb Hooper is an internationally recognized translational behavioral scientist and licensed 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. She is actively involved in the scientific response to COVID-19, leading large-scale initiatives with the voices of underserved communities in mind.
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. During her time as a professor, Dr. Webb Hooper directed the Tobacco, Obesity, and Oncology Laboratory.
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.