James Zabora, ScD, MSW

2010 Knee/Wittman Outstanding Achievement Award in Health & Mental Health Policy

Dr. James Zabora has served as Dean of the National Catholic School of Social Service at the Catholic University of America since 2002.  As Dean he has fostered a research culture and worked to enhance the School’s stature and impact. In the last four years, in collaboration with faculty, he has implemented three new centers and redesigned three others. He and a faculty member have received funding from the Susan B. Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer Research in collaboration with Nueva Vida to study the program's effectiveness in providing services to Latinas with cancer. In the past he and another faculty member developed a coalition with the Child and Family Services Administration, the School, Howard University, and the University of D.C. to secure funding equal to full-time tuition for 5 NCSSS students for training graduate students for child welfare.

Prior to becoming Dean at Catholic, he had a 20 year career in oncology social work at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. During much of this time he was head of the Department of Patient and Family Services. As an administrator, he served as Associate Director in the Comprehensive Cancer Center with a special focus on community programs and research. Along with Mr. Matthew Loscalzo, Dr. Zabora developed what has been called the best psychosocial services for cancer patients and their families in the United States.

He was also the administrator of the Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program for low-income women living in Baltimore City. In this role, he was a lead author of the Baltimore City Cancer Plan for Johns Hopkins under the Cigarette Restitution Fund for the State of Maryland. As a result of the success of these initiatives, he was appointed Co-Director of the Baltimore City Cancer Plan and Co-Director for Community Outreach and Education of the Urban Environmental Health Center in the School of Public Health. Dr. Zabora has also continued his research on cancer prevention and control, psychosocial screening, problem-solving education, and quality of life among cancer patients and their families.

Dr. Zabora is the Editor of the Journal of Psychosocial Oncology, and the author of more than 70 papers and book chapters on cancer prevention, psychosocial screening and community program development, quality of life, and problem-solving education. His research has won a number of awards at Johns Hopkins, and in 2002, his research team received the Annual Quality of Life Research Award from the National Office of the American Cancer Society. Over the past twenty years, Dr. Zabora has presented over 300 invited lectures across the United States, Canada, Asia, Australia, and Europe.

He has received numerous awards, including the Jennifer Brager Award for Cancer Research (three times) from Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, the National Leadership Award from the Association of Oncology Social Work, the Community Recognition Award from the Clergy United for the Renewal of East Baltimore, a Special Community Service Award from The Hispanic Apostolate, Baltimore, MD, and the Trish Greene Quality of Life Research Award from the National Office of the American Cancer Society. He has  also received The Jimmie Holland Distinguished Leadership Award from the American Psychosocial Oncology Society and The Ida M. Cannon Award for Distinguished Leadership from The Society for Social Work Leaders in Health Care.

Dr. Zabora has a leader in numerous professional organizations, including the Association of Oncology Social Work (President) and the American Cancer Society.  He is active with the Metro DC Chapter of NASW and has been elected an NASW Social Work Pioneer®.