Faculty
 
Guy H. Montgomery, Ph.D.is a licensed clinical psychologist and a nationally recognized leader in clinical health psychology, with a focus on the breast cancer setting. Within Mount Sinai, he holds numerous titles – Professor, Director of the Center for Behavioral Oncology, Director of the Integrative Behavioral Medicine Program, Associate Dean of the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, and Director of Psychological Services at Mount Sinai’s Dubin Breast Center. He is a past president of the American Psychological Association’s Society for Psychological Hypnosis (Division 30), a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, and an Associate Editor of the APA Journal “Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice.” He received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Connecticut in 1995, completed a fellowship Psycho-oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in 1997, and received post-doctoral training in health economics at Columbia University. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, and has received funding from the National Cancer Institute, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, and the American Cancer Society. Dr. Montgomery has extensive experience in studying breast cancer patients’ experiences of cancer and its treatment, and using his discoveries to develop psychosocial interventions to improve patients’ quality of life. Specifically, his research has focused on the use of hypnosis and cognitive-behavioral therapy for symptom management (including pain management) in breast cancer settings. Dr. Montgomery’s work has been recognized not only in scholarly contexts (e.g., conferences, journals), but also in the national and international media. His work has been discussed in multiple media outlets, including: New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Good Morning America, ABC News, CBS News, and NPR. Dr. Montgomery is also committed to mentoring and cancer education, through his stewardship of NIH R25E awards, through his service to NCI Review committees, and through his direct mentoring of pre- and post-doctoral fellows in cancer prevention and control.

Julie B. Schnur, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Population Health Science & Policy (with a secondary appointment in Psychiatry), Co-Director of the Integrative Behavioral Medicine Program, a member of Mount Sinai’s Center for Behavioral Oncology, and a licensed clinical psychologist at Mount Sinai’s Dubin Breast Center. She received her B.A. in psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from St. John’s University, and she completed postdoctoral training in Cancer Prevention and Control at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She has published over 40 peer-reviewed articles, and has received funding from the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society. Dr. Schnur’s program of research is focused on understanding patients’ experiences of cancer treatment and developing psychological interventions to help improve those experiences. Specifically, she focuses on issues such as understanding the nature and impact of cancer treatment retraumatization in childhood sexual abuse survivors, developing and training providers in hypnosis and rational-emotive behavioral therapy for cancer care, developing screening approaches to reduce potential triggering in breast cancer radiotherapy patients, exploring patient adherence to breast reconstruction procedures, and understanding the intersection of radiotherapy and palliative care. To accomplish her goals, her innovative work incorporates both qualitative and quantitative research approaches to ultimately improve cancer care.

Marilla Neves, Psy.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist with expertise in the provision of evidence-based individual psychotherapy, family and couples therapy to English and Spanish speaking patients in context of breast cancer and other serious and chronic illnesses. She currently practices at Dubin Breast Center of the Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital and is an assistant professor of the Department of Population Health Science & Policy and the Department of Psychiatry at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and a member of Mount Sinai’s Center for Behavioral Oncology. She also coordinates the CBO’s Psycho-Oncology Externship program. Dr. Neves’ specific areas of interest include the influence of couple and family dynamics on coping with and adjusting to illness, the effects of illness on couple’s relationship and sexual functioning, parenting in context of illness, and culturally sensitive approaches to psychological care of oncology patients. Dr. Neves is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.

 
Staff

Ashley Berthoumieux, M.S., R.D. is the clinical research manager on our team and manages all regulatory aspects of our clinical trials, including overseeing regulatory compliance with NIH regulations and developing workflow policies and procedures. Ashley also directly supervises the junior research coordinators in our group. Prior to joining the Integrative Behavioral Medicine Program, she worked in clinical research as a coordinator for cardiology and pediatric oncology trials. Ashley is also certified as a clinical research professional through SoCRA and a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist through the Commission on Dietetic Registration. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from Columbia University, has a Master’s degree in clinical nutrition from New York University, and completed her dietetic internship at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. She is interested in behavioral and complementary medicine approaches to reducing symptoms and side-effects, and to increasing adherence to health behaviors. Overall, she is excited to be part of a group focusing on developing and testing cognitive-behavioral approaches to helping improve quality of life in individuals living with cancer and other chronic illnesses.

James Force, M.A. is a senior clinical research coordinator for the Integrative Behavioral Medicine Program. He graduated from Rutgers University with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, and Montclair State University with a Master of Arts in Psychology. James oversees the Program’s online initiatives, including E-Learning programs focused on training cancer care providers in sensitive practice techniques and online survey-based research on breast aesthetics and cigarette demand. He enjoys that his work in the Integrative Behavioral Medicine Program allows him to combine his interests in technology and behavioral research to facilitate patient-centered initiatives and improve cancer care.

Diana Ruiz is one of the bilingual clinical research coordinators on our team. She assists with patient recruitment, data collection, and participant tracking. Diana graduated from Yale University with a Bachelor of Science in Cell Biology. Prior to working at Mount Sinai, she was a research assistant at Yale School of Medicine conducting clinical research on the efficacy of a behavioral treatment for smoking cessation in pregnant Black and Latina women. She also has experience volunteering as a Spanish medical interpreter. Diana cares deeply about addressing health disparities in medicine and improving health outcomes for minority populations. She looks forwards to applying these passion and her background in clinical research to enhance the public health benefits of mammography screenings and promote cardiovascular health in a diverse population.

Isabella Lombardo is one of the bilingual clinical research coordinators in the lab and a recent graduate of Cornell University. She received her B.S. in Human Biology, Health, and Society from the College of Human Ecology. Much of her research has focused on youth development and engagement, so she is very excited to begin this new journey that focuses on bettering the cardiovascular health of a diverse group of women. Some of her past projects have included destigmatizing mental health resources in pediatric settings, conducting needs assessments for Suffolk County Cooperative Extension, and designing curriculums to promote ethical research conduct and scientific literacy in adolescents. She is very grateful to be a part of this incredible team and hopes that her translational research background will provide a unique perspective to the project.

 
Collaborators

Daniel Lydon, M.A. is a research and teaching associate on our team and works closely on our NCI-funded cancer education project which trains psychosocial cancer care providers in rational-emotive behavioral therapy and hypnosis to manage cancer-related fatigue. Prior to joining the Integrative Behavioral Medicine Program, Daniel earned a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from The State University of New York at Albany (2016), and then earned a Master’s degree in psychology from St. John’s University (2018). During his time studying at St. John’s, Daniel developed an immense interest in cognitive-behavioral approaches, in particular REBT. Daniel plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. Overall, he is very excited to be a part of a group focusing on developing and testing cognitive-behavioral approaches to improve quality of life in individuals living with cancer and other chronic illnesses.