My name is Satomi Sato, Junior Associate Professor in the Division of Health and Behavioral Sciences at the Graduate School of Public Health. After graduating from Bellevue Community College in Washington in the US, I obtained a master’s degree and PhD in Clinical Psychology from Ochanomizu University and hold a license as a practicing clinical psychologist. Previously, I spend 10 years at the National Center for Child Health and Development, Japan, as a clinical psychologist and researcher specializing in childhood cancer. During this time, I also trained at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in the US through the International Outreach Program.  

The core of my research is to examine neurocognitive functioning as a late effect of childhood cancer treatment. I investigate how cancer treatment influences and alters long-term cognitive health, especially the impact on the child’s brain, through a collaborative network of 23 children’s hospitals and institutions in Japan. Research methods are utilized to evaluate the intellectual ability, as well as social behavior, through neurocognitive testing on children with cancer. These findings are being used to inform special educational policy, develop an individual educational plan for children, and provide counseling to parents of children with cancer.

As my research exemplifies, the field of Health and Behavioral Sciences utilizes overarching social science theory in the context of health care and innovative research methods to promote new behaviors that have the potential to improve people’s lives. Behavioral science refers to the psychology concerned with understanding and influencing the thoughts, feelings, emotions and behavior of individuals. Through the Master’s Capstone Project, students interested in this field can develop a project around a theme that examines individual and societal influences on health and well-being.

My hope, as part of the faculty of the Graduate School of Public Health, is to intellectually engage students in their pursuit to enhance their qualities as health professionals and researchers and help them achieve their goals of contributing to the health care of populations domestically and beyond.