Rate My Professor Mollie Rose Canzona

Mollie Rose Canzona, PhD, serves as Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Wake Forest University and in the Department of Social Sciences and Health Policy at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. She earned her Doctor of Philosophy in Communication from George Mason University. Canzona joined Wake Forest University as an Assistant Professor around 2015 and advanced to Associate Professor. Her scholarship applies a lifespan developmental lens to explore patient-provider communication and family dynamics during health transitions, with a primary emphasis on oncology settings including breast cancer, glioma, and adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer experiences.

Canzona's research specializations encompass family coping strategies in cancer, clinician barriers to sexual health conversations, palliative care transitions, body image and financial hardship in AYA cancer patients, fertility preservation decision-making, care coordination in neurocritical care, and precision oncology patient experiences. Key publications include "Perpetuating the cycle of silence: Family communication about melanoma" (2019), "Experiences of 'openness' between mothers and adolescent-young adult daughters during the mother's breast cancer diagnosis" (2017), "Clinician barriers to initiating sexual health conversations with breast cancer patients" (2018), "Partner presence in clinical conversations about sexual health: Breast cancer survivors', partners', and providers' perspectives of triadic interactions" (2022), and "Designing a Measure of Body Image: Cognitive Interview Findings from an Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Sample" (2024). She has authored 47 publications, accumulating over 998 citations, contributing substantially to psychosocial oncology and health communication. At Wake Forest, she directs the Health, Environmental, and Risk Communication Concentration, co-directs the Committee on Narrative, advises the Take the Fight to Cancer student organization, and serves on committees such as the Community Wellbeing Strategic Framing Working Group, Research Advisory Council, Disabilities Studies Initiative Steering Committee, and Sexual Health Working Group. She reviews for multiple journals and maintains memberships in the National Communication Association, American Psychosocial Oncology Society, and Society of Behavioral Medicine.