Phyllis Butow
Phyllis Butow is a professor in the field of health psychology at the University of Sydney who received an Order of Australia in 2014 She is known for her research in psycho-oncology and understanding the psychological impacts of cancer and diseases.
Early life and education
Butow completed her undergraduate studies with a Bachelor of Arts at Macquarie University, Master of Clinical Psychology at Australia National University, followed by a PhD in psychology at Sydney University.Career
Academic positions
- Professor at the University of Sydney
- Chair at Psychology at the University of Sydney
- Co-Director of the Centre for Medical Psychology & Evidence-based Decision-making at the University of Sydney
- Founding member of the Psycho-Oncology Co-operative Research Group
Research focus
Professor Butow's research primarily focuses on the psychological well-being of cancer patients, doctor-patient communication, and decision-making in cancer treatment.Contributions
Psycho-Oncology Research: Butow has worked in the field of psycho-oncology, specifically, in investigating on the impacts of cancer on patients' mental health. She also founded organisations such as the Australian Psycho-Oncology Co-operative Research Group, with the aims of investigating psychologicals effect of disease and cancer.Publications
Butow has an H-index of 133, over 65,000 citations as at July 2024, according to Google Scholar, and has written more than 300 peer-reviewed articles and several books on health psychology and psycho-oncology, including publications in the journal Nature. Select publications include the following:Journal articles
- Easton, D., Pooley, K., Dunning, A. et al. Genome-wide association study identifies novel breast cancer susceptibility loci. Nature 447, 1087–1093. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05887.
- P.N. Butow, M. Maclean, S.M. Dunn, M.H.N. Tattersall, M.J. Boyer, The dynamics of change: Cancer patients' preferences for information, involvement and support, Annals of Oncology, Volume 8, Issue 9, P857-863,
https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008284006045 .
Books
- Campbell, A., Cumming, S., Morrison, V., Bennett, P., Mullan, B., White, K., Gerrig, R., Zimbardo, P., Wilkes, F., Butow, P.. PHE1IDH Individual Determinants of Health. Frenchs Forest Sydney: Pearson Education.
- Morrison, V., Bennett, P., Butow, P., et al.. Introduction to health psychology in Australia. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: Pearson Education.