Rate My Professor Cecelia Valrie

Cecelia Valrie, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University, with a primary affiliation in the Health Psychology PhD Program and secondary affiliation in the Clinical Psychology PhD Program's Child/Adolescent concentration. She is also affiliated with the Departments of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, and serves as Director of the VCU Health & Development Lab. Valrie earned her Ph.D. and M.A. in Developmental Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her B.A. in Psychology and Mathematics from East Carolina University. She was a faculty member in the Department of Psychology at East Carolina University for 11 years before joining the VCU faculty in 2017.

Valrie's research applies health and developmental psychology techniques and theories to investigate persistent pain, sleep disturbances, and other health outcomes among individuals living with sickle cell disease, with a particular emphasis on youth and young adults. Her work examines risk and protective factors, tests and refines interventions to enhance health outcomes, and employs methodologies such as surveys, interviews, ecological momentary assessments, and mHealth technologies. Funded by agencies including the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the American Society of Hematology, and the National Institutes of Health, her projects include a 2022 NIH HEAL Initiative grant of $420,357 titled “Predicting Pediatric Sickle Cell Disease Acute Pain Using Mathematical Models Based on mHealth Data.” She has received the NIH HEAL Award for Interdisciplinary Collaboration in 2024 and the Outstanding Community Engagement Award from the VCU Department of Psychology in 2023. Valrie's publications appear in journals including Pediatric Blood & Cancer, Health Psychology, Clinical Journal of Pain, Journal of Pediatric Psychology, and American Psychologist. Key works include "Investigating home-based opioid use among youth with sickle cell disease using ecological momentary assessment" (2024, Pediatric Blood & Cancer), "Family and parent influences on pediatric chronic pain: a developmental perspective" (2014, American Psychologist, 587 citations), "A systematic review of sleep in pediatric pain populations" (2013, Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 299 citations), and "Daily stress and mood and their association with pain, health-care use, and school activity in adolescents with sickle cell disease" (2003, Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 224 citations). Through collaborations with healthcare providers, community organizations, individuals with sickle cell disease, and families, her bio-behavioral and community-engaged research supports interventions across clinical, school, community, and home settings.