Rate My Professor Rebecca Ashare

Rebecca Ashare, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University at Buffalo, College of Arts and Sciences, where she holds the positions of Clinical Area Head and Director of Clinical Training. She earned her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University at Buffalo in 2011. Previously, she served as Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. Ashare directs the Enhancing Research in Behavioral Health (ENABLE) Laboratory and is a key member of the Center for Addiction and Artificial Intelligence Research. Her research program centers on understanding mechanisms underlying health behaviors among people at risk for poor health outcomes, the role of health inequities in behavioral health comorbid with medical conditions, and strategies to address adverse clinical outcomes including pain, mental health, neurocognition, and quality of life.

Ashare's investigations include tobacco use among people with HIV, characterized by high smoking prevalence, suboptimal treatment responses, elevated relapse rates, and compounded risks such as cancer and immune dysfunction from HIV-smoking synergy. In cancer care, her work examines cannabis for symptom management, opioid substitution potential, benefits and risks during immunotherapy, and access disparities affecting outcomes. She collaborates with the National Witness Project on community-based participatory research to develop mental health outreach in Buffalo's Black community. Key publications encompass "Differences in Cognition and Smoking Abstinence Rates among People with and without HIV" (Nicotine & Tobacco Research, in press), "Cannabis and opioid perceptions, co-use, and substitution among patients across 4 NCI-Designated Cancer Centers" (J Natl Cancer Inst Monogr, 2024), "Association of smoking with neurocognition, inflammatory and myeloid cell activation profiles in people with HIV on antiretroviral therapy" (AIDS, 2024), and "A Placebo-Controlled Randomized Clinical Trial Testing the Efficacy and Safety of Varenicline for Smokers with HIV" (Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 2019). In 2023, she received a $3.2 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to study cannabis impacts on immunotherapy for cancer patients.