Stephanie Staras, Ph.D.
Associate Professor And Division Director
About Stephanie Staras
Stephanie A. S. Staras, M.S.P.H., Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics and director of the department’s Division of Health Outcomes and Implementation Science. She is also a faculty member of the University of Florida’s Institute for Child Health Policy.
Dr. Staras is an expert in human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine implementation research. 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 a multi-level intervention to boost HPV vaccine rates among 11- and 12-year-olds in Florida. Dr. Staras’ work highlights the strong association between HPV vaccine initiation and parents’ beliefs about the HPV vaccine’s ability to prevent cancer safely. Additionally, she led one of a handful of studies to assess a direct link between provider recommendations and parent beliefs. By simultaneously targeting parents with reminders and providers with an in-clinic, parent-tailored decision aid, Dr. Staras’ real-world, multi-level implementation trial demonstrated a synergistic increase on HPV vaccine initiation among girls. To target interventions at geographic areas of the greatest need, Dr. Staras is characterizing HPV-related disease burden in the University of Florida Cancer Catchment Area by triangulating data with an environmental scan that includes vaccination records, stakeholder interviews, and a provider discrete choice experiment.
Dr. Staras is a graduate of the highly recognized Mentored Training in Dissemination and Implementation Research in Cancer program sponsored by the National Cancer Institute. Her excellence in research also was recognized by her inclusion in the University of Florida’s 2018-2019 University Term Professorship cohort. Dr. Staras also contributes her implementation science expertise to research grants on meningococcal B vaccination, smoking cessation, and cancer screenings.
Accomplishments
Teaching Profile
Research Profile
0000-0002-0726-1524
Publications
Grants
Education
Contact Details
- Business:
- (352) 294-8299
- Business:
- sstaras@mail.ufl.edu
- Business Mailing:
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PO Box 100177
GAINESVILLE FL 32610 - Business Street:
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2004 MOWRY RD RM 2238
GAINESVILLE FL 32610