Associate Chair for Postgraduate Programs & Associate Professor 
Director, Postdoctoral Program
E-mail: dpereira@phhp.ufl.edu
Office: 352-273-6039
Psycho-Oncology
Education
- Ph.D., 1999, University of Miami
Biography
Dr. Deidre Pereira is an Associate Professor in the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology in the College of Public Health and Health Professions. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Miami in 1999 (Clinical Health Psychology). She completed her postdoctoral training on an NIMH-funded training grant on Biopsychosocial Research in Immunology and AIDS from the University of Miami in 2000.
Research Focus
The long range goal of Dr. Pereira’s research program is to improve health outcomes and promote the wellbeing of individuals with chronic and/or life-limiting illnesses, with an emphasis on malignancies that occur commonly or exclusively among women. Grounded in the biobehavioral model of tumor growth and development outlined by Antoni and colleagues (2006), her research seeks to understand the psychoneuroimmunologic (PNI) influences on cancer initiation, recurrence, progression, and mortality, as well as on cancer-related quality of life.
Current Grants
Cognitive Behavioral Effects on Sleep, Pain, and Cytokines in Gynecologic Cancer
R01 CA 138808
08/20/2009 – 08/19/2014
National Cancer Institute
Principal Investigator: Deidre B. Pereira, PhD
Total Costs: $1,677,592
Past Grants
Psychoneuroimmunologic Relations Among Women with Endometrial
Cancer During the Perioperative Period
R03 CA 117480
09/01/2006 – 08/01/2009
National Cancer Institute
Principal Investigator: Deidre B. Pereira, PhD
Total Costs: $141,203
Professional Memberships
- American Psychosocial Oncology Society
- American Psychosomatic Society
- Society of Behavioral Medicine
- Psychoneuroimmunologic Research Society
Courses Taught
- Biopsychosocial Processes in Women’s Health
- Introduction to Clinical Health psychology
Representative Publications
Jensen, S.E., Pereira, D.B., Whitehead, N.E., Buscher, I., McCalla, J., Andrasik, M., Rose, R., & Antoni, M.H. (In Press). Cognitive-behavioral stress management and psychological well-being in HIV+ racial/ethnic minority women with human Papillomavirus. Health Psychology.
Kneipp, S.M., Kairalla, J.A., Lutz, B.J., Pereira, D.B, Hall, A.G., Flocks, J., Beeber, L., & Schwartz, T. (2011). Public health nursing case management for women receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families: a randomized controlled trial using community based participatory research. American Journal of Public Health, 101(9),1759-1768.
Kneipp, S.M., Kairalla, J., Stacciarini, J.M., Pereira, D.B, & Miller, D. (2010). A comparison of depressive symptom severity scores using the Beck Depression Inventory–II and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 in low-income women. Nursing Research, 59(6), 380-388.
Pereira, D.B., Christian, L., Patidar, S., Bishop, M.M., Dodd, S.M., Athanason, R., Wingard, J., & Reddy, V.S. (2010). Spiritual absence and one-year mortality after hematopoietic stem cell transplant. Biology and Blood and Marrow Transplantation, 16, 1171-1179.
Pereira, D.B., Sannes, T., Dodd, S.M., Jensen, S.E., Morgan, L.S., & Chan, E. (2010). Life stress, negative mood states, and antibodies to heat shock protein 70 in endometrial cancer. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 24(2), 210 – 214.
Kneipp, S.M., Kairalla, J.A., Stacciarini, J.M., & Pereira, D.B. (2009). The Beck Depression Inventory II factor structure among low-income women. Nursing Research, 58(6), 400 – 409.
Marion, I., Antoni, M.H., Pereira, D.B., Wohlgemuth, W., Fletcher, M.A., Simon, T., & O’Sullivan, M.J. (2009). Distress, sleep difficulty, and fatigue in women co-infected with HIV and HPV. Behavioral Sleep Medicine, 7(3), 180-193.
Dodd, S.M., Pereira, D.B., Marion, I., Peake, M., Rose, R., Simon, T., Fletcher, M.A., Lucci, J., Maher, K., O’Sullivan, M.J., Efantis-Potter, J., & Antoni, M.H. (2009). Depressive symptoms and cervical neoplasia in HIV+ low income minority women with Human Papillomavirus infection. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 16(2), 181-188.
Antoni, M.H., Pereira, D.B., Marion, I., Ennis, N., Andrasik, M.P., Rose, R., McCalla, J., Simon, T., Fletcher, M.A., Efantis-Potter, J., and O’Sullivan, M.J. (2008). Stress Management Effects on Perceived Stress and Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia in Low-Income HIV Infected Women. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 65, 389-401.
Peake Andrasik, M., Rose, R., Pereira, D.B., & Antoni, M.H. (2008). Barriers to cervical cancer screening among low income HIV-positive African American women. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 19(3), 912-925.
Bandiera, F. C., Pereira, D.B., Arif, A.A., Dodge, B., Asal, N. (2008). Race/ethnicity, income, chronic asthma and mental health: A cross-sectional study using the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Psychosomatic Medicine, 70(1), 77-84.
Jensen, S., Lehman, B., Antoni, M.H., & Pereira, D.B. (2007). Virally mediated cervical cancer in the iatrogenically immunocompromised: Applications for psychoneuroimmunology. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 21(6), 758-766.
Rose, R.C., Peake, M.R., Ennis, N., Pereira, D.B., & Antoni, M.H. (2005). Depressive symptoms, intrusive thoughts, sleep quality, and sexual quality of life in women co-infected with HIV and Human Papillomavirus (HPV). Chronic Illness, 1(4), 281-287.
Pereira, D.B., Antoni, M.H., Danielson, A., Simon, T., Efantis-Potter, J., & O’Sullivan, M.J. (2004). Inhibited interpersonal coping style predicts poorer adherence to scheduled clinic visits in HIV+ women at risk for cervical cancer. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 28, 195-2002.
Pereira D.B., Antoni M.H., Danielson A., Simon T., Efantis-Potter J., Carver C.S., Duran R.E.F., Ironson G., Klimas N., O’Sullivan M.J. (2003). Life stress and cervical squamous intraepithelial lesions in women With Human Papillomavirus and Human Immunodeficiency Virus. Psychosomatic Medicine, 65, 427-434.
Pereira, D.B., Antoni, M.H., Danielson, A., Simon, T., Efantis-Potter, J., Carver, C.S., Durán, R.F., Ironson, G., Klimas, N., Fletcher, M.A., & O’Sullivan, M.J. (2003). Stress as a predictor of genital herpes virus recurrence in women with Human Immunodeficiency Virus. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 54, 237-244.
Byrnes (Pereira), D.B., Antoni, M. H., Goodkin, K., Ironson, G., Asthana, D., Efantis-Potter, J., Simon, T., Munajj, J., & Fletcher, M. (1998). Stressful events, pessimism, and natural killer cell cytotoxicity in HIV+ Black women at risk for cervical cancer. Psychosomatic Medicine, 60, 714 – 722.