Kate Bergman Carey ’80

Current position: Professor of psychology, Syracuse University; adjunct faculty appointment at Upstate Medical University.

Advanced Education: Ph.D. in clinical psychology, Vanderbilt

Her Work: In addition to teaching, Kate specializes in clinical health psychology, a new discipline that focuses on the relationships among behavior, health and disease. She studies use of alcohol and other addictive substances. With her husband Michael, also a professor of psychology at Syracuse University, she has received numerous grants from the National Institutes of Health and has published several hundred research papers in professional journals.

Honors and Recognition: Kate is associate editor, Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, and editor of a special issue devoted to binge drinking. She has received an Independent Scientist Award from the National Institute of Drug Abuse, is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and has been invited to the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences in India to lecture and consult with Indian scientists on behavioral research related to substance use and HIV.

"Health psychologists and other behavioral scientists continue to be amazed at a simple truth: it is difficult to change harmful health behaviors once they are established," says Kate. "Despite this axiom, however, our research indicates that behavioral interventions that strengthen a person’s motivation for change (for example, by providing people with accurate normative information and feedback and benefits that accrue from health behaviors) and enhance specific behavioral skills needed for change can assist people in their self-improvement efforts."