Monica L. Baskin, PhD

Monica L. Baskin, PhD, is professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology and associate director of community outreach and engagement at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center. She also serves as associate director of health equity at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center and assistant vice chancellor for community health equity within the Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for the Health Sciences at Pitt.

On the Hillman leadership team, Dr. Baskin directs community outreach and engagement in the catchment area served by the cancer center. She also leads screening and prevention studies to quantify and overcome barriers to screening and early detection of cancer in under-represented minority and rural populations across the Hillman network.

Dr. Baskin joins Pitt Med and Hillman from the Heersink School of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), where she served as professor of preventive medicine and inaugural vice chair for culture and diversity in the Department of Medicine. She also served as inaugural associate director for community outreach and engagement at the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB.

For nearly 20 years, Dr. Baskin has led an extensive extramurally funded research program aimed at reducing health disparities in the Deep South. Most of her research has focused on community-based participatory methods that link academic partners to community- and faith-based networks to better understand and address factors associated with healthy eating, physical activity, obesity and cancer prevention and control.

Dr. Baskin has served on the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Accelerating Rural Cancer Control External Advisory Board and as chair of the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Continuous Update Project Global Expert Committee on Cancer Incidence. She is associate editor for Science Advances and past president of the Society of Behavioral Medicine. Dr. Baskin is also a member of the first cohort of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Leaders Program, a member of the Executive Committee of the Council on Black Health, and an authorized facilitator for nationally known training programs on unconscious bias. 

Dr. Baskin earned her Bachelor of Arts in psychology and sociology from Emory University and Master of Science in community counseling and PhD in counseling psychology from Georgia State University; she is also a licensed psychologist.