Staras appointed director of HOBI’s Health Outcomes & Implementation Science Division

Photo of Stephanie Staras, Ph.D.Stephanie Staras, M.S.P.H., Ph.D., has been appointed director of the Division of Health Outcomes and Implementation Science (HOIS) in the Department of Health Outcomes & Biomedical Informatics (HOBI). The new division replaces HOBI’s divisions of Health Outcomes and Health Policy and reflects the department’s new emphasis on incorporating implementation science strategies in research.

Staras, who has served as interim division director of HOIS since March 2019, is an associate professor in HOBI and a faculty member of UF’s Institute for Child Health Policy.  She has a nine-year continually funded research program focused on increasing HPV vaccination rates among Florida adolescent girls and boys. She has served as principal investigator on eight implementation research grants, including a 5-year, $2.9 million grant from the NCI in 2019 to evaluate simple interventions to boost HPV vaccine rates in 11- and 12-year-olds in Florida.

Staras is also a graduate of the esteemed Mentored Training in Dissemination and Implementation Research in Cancer program, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

Her excellence in research was recognized recently by her inclusion in UF’s 2018-2019 University Term Professorship cohort.

“I’m honored to have the opportunity to serve as division director and I’m excited about working with our outstanding team of researchers in the HOIS division,” Staras said.