Jennifer McClure, PhD
“We create programs and tools to empower people and help them lead healthier lives. By doing so, we can reduce the need for health care and the growing burden of health care costs for all.”
Jennifer McClure, PhD
Director, Investigative Science; Senior Investigator, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute
Professor, Department of Health Systems Science, Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine
Jennifer.B.Mcclure@kp.org
206-287-2737
Biography
Jennifer McClure, PhD, is director of Investigative Science at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI). She is also a senior investigator and clinical psychologist whose research focuses on developing new interventions to reduce people’s risk of chronic disease and cancer or help them better manage existing chronic disease through:
- Smoking cessation
- Dietary improvement
- Increased physical activity
- Treatment adherence
- Stress management
- Better oral health
- Informed decision-making
Much of Dr. McClure’s research emphasizes creating highly individualized behavioral treatments that can be disseminated on a population level, through health care systems and tobacco quitlines or directly to individuals via digital health tools, such as mobile health (mHealth) apps. Her goal is to design programs that are effective, convenient, engaging, and cost-effective, understanding that to make the leap from research to real world, interventions should meet these criteria.
Dr. McClure is best known for her research creating novel treatments for nicotine dependence, particularly interventions targeted to smokers who are ambivalent about quitting. These individuals may want to quit smoking some day, but are not yet ready to give up tobacco. Most smokers fall into this category, but few interventions are targeted to this important group. Her research has demonstrated the effectiveness of using proactive counseling and online interventions to motivate and support smoking cessation among ambivalent smokers. Her work has also shed light on the potential risks and benefits of using biological indicators of disease or disease risk to motivate quitting. Now she is developing two new mHealth apps to help ambivalent smokers kick the habit: one designed for anyone who smokes and one designed specifically for smokers living with HIV.
Dr. McClure’s collaborative research covers a range of topics from reducing sedentary behavior to comparing the effectiveness of various strategies for assessing and diagnosing high blood pressure.
In recognition of her scientific contributions, Dr. McClure was named a fellow in the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) in 2013 and a fellow in the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco in 2018. In 2019 she joined the faculty of the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J Tyson School of Medicine as a professor in Health Systems Science. Dr. McClure is also an affiliate professor of health services at the University of Washington School of Public Health and an affiliate investigator in the Division of Public Health Sciences at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. She currently serves as the Secretary and Treasurer of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco.
RESEARCH INTERESTS AND EXPERIENCE
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Behavior Change & Behavioral Medicine
Tobacco cessation; pharmocogenomics of nicotine addiction; treatment adherence; population-based behavior interventions; health risk communications; oral health promotion; dietary change; physical activity promotion; informed decision-making; psychoneuroimmunology; HIV
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Health Informatics & Digital Health
Development of eHealth and mHealth intervention tools
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Mental Health
Depression treatment and development of behavior change interventions for people with serious mental illness
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Cancer
Prevention
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Chronic Illness Management
HIV
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Addictions
Prevention and treatment
Recent publications
Eschler J, Kendall L, O'Leary K, Vizer LM, Lozano P, McClure JB, Pratt W, Ralston JD. Shared calendars for home health management. In Proceedings of the 18th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing (CSCW '15). 2015; ACM, New York, NY, USA, 1277-88. doi:10.1145/2675133.2675168.
Kendall L, Eschler J, Lozano P, McClure JB, Vizer LM, Ralston JD, Pratt W. Engineering for reliability in at-home chronic disease management. AMIA Annu Symp Proc. 2014 Nov 14;2014:777-86. eCollection 2014.
Bergen AW, Javitz HS, Krasnow R, Michel M, Nishita D, Conti DV, Edlund CK, Kwok PY, McClure JB, Kim RB, Hall S, Tyndale RF, Baker TB, Benowitz NL, Swan GE. Organic cation transporter variation and response to smoking cessation therapies. Nicotine Tob Res. 2014 Dec;16(12):1638-46. doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntu161. Epub 2014 Aug 20. PubMed
Cano MA, Lam CY, Chen M, Adams CE, Correa-Fernandez V, Stewart DW, McClure JB, Cinciripini PM, Wetter DW. Positive smoking outcome expectancies mediate the association between negative affect and smoking urge among women during a quit attempt. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol. 2014 Aug;22(4):332-40. doi: 10.1037/a0036749. Epub 2014 May 5. PubMed
Lam CY, Businelle MS, Aigner CJ, McClure JB, Cofta-Woerpel L, Cinciripini PM, Wetter DW. Individual and combined effects of multiple high-risk triggers on postcessation smoking urge and lapse. Nicotine Tob Res. 2014 May;16(5):569-75. doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntt190. Epub 2013 Dec 9. PubMed
McClure JB, Peterson D, Derry H, Riggs K, Saint-Johnson J, Nair V, An L, Shortreed SM. Exploring the "active ingredients" of an online smoking intervention: a randomized factorial trial. Nicotine Tob Res. 2014 Aug;16(8):1129-39. doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntu057. Epub 2014 Apr 11. PubMed
Green BB, Anderson ML, Cook AJ, Catz SL, Fishman PA, McClure JB, Reid RJ. E-care for heart wellness: a feasibility trial to decrease blood pressure and cardiovascular risk. Am J Prev Med. 2014;46(4):368-77. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2013.11.009. PubMed
Williams EC, Bradley KA, Balderson BH, McClure JB, Grothaus L, McCoy K, Rittmueller SE, Catz SL. Alcohol and associated characteristics among older persons living with HIV on antiretroviral therapy. Subst Abus. 2014;35(3):245-53. doi: 10.1080/08897077.2014.890997. PubMed
McClure JB. Leveraging the US tobacco quitline infrastructure to promote oral health: feedback from key stakeholders. Prev Med. 2014 Mar;60C:134-135. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2013.12.025. Epub 2013 Dec 28. PubMed
Lam CY, Businelle MS, Cofta-Woerpel L, McClure JB, Cinciripini PM, Wetter DW. Positive smoking outcome expectancies mediate the relationship between alcohol consumption and smoking urge. Psychol Addict Behav. 2014 Mar;28(1):163-72. doi: 10.1037/a0034816. PubMed
Research
Digital tool could help people change smoking habits
A mobile application designed to engage smokers who are ambivalent about quitting shows promising results.
Healthy findings blog
For Women's History Month: Q&A with scientific leaders
KPWHRI’s executive director and scientific division leaders share their career paths, advice.New findings
There’s no place like home … to track blood pressure
Research led by KPWHRI’s Beverly Green, MD, MPH, finds that patients prefer at-home monitoring of blood pressure.
Behavioral Health
Surviving an FFP: COVID-19
Dr. Jennifer McClure shares advice and resources for staying physically and emotionally well during the COVID-19 crisis, and beyond.
research
Oral Health 4 Life: 10 years of research to improve smokers’ health and dental care
As Dr. Jennifer McClure completes the last of three innovative studies, she reflects on how the work began, the difference it may make, and what happens next.
healthy findings blog
Can being accepting and mindful help you stop smoking?
Tobacco remains a public health priority. Jennifer McClure, PhD, discusses her findings comparing ’acceptance and commitment therapy’ to standard care.
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