My Expertise
Dr Ben Smith is a Senior Research Fellow and Cancer Institute NSW Career Development Fellow. Ben’s research aims to ensure equitable access to high quality evidence-based cancer survivorship care for all people living with and beyond cancer. He has a particular expertise in:
- Assessment and treatment of fear of cancer recurrence
- Development, evaluation and implementation of digital health interventions
- Clinical trial participation by culturally and linguistically diverse cancer patients
- Quality of life in testicular cancer survivors
- Treatment decision making in men wth prostate cancer
Keywords
Fields of Research (FoR)
Cancer and related disorders, Health, Clinical and Counselling Psychology, Health and Community ServicesSEO tags
Biography
Dr Ben Smith is a Senior Research Fellow and Cancer Institute NSW Career Development Fellow. Ben’s research aims to ensure equitable access to high quality evidence-based psychosocial cancer care for all people living with cancer. He has a particular interest in fear of cancer recurrence, digital health interventions and underserved populations impacted by cancer, such as culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) and First Nations...view more
Dr Ben Smith is a Senior Research Fellow and Cancer Institute NSW Career Development Fellow. Ben’s research aims to ensure equitable access to high quality evidence-based psychosocial cancer care for all people living with cancer. He has a particular interest in fear of cancer recurrence, digital health interventions and underserved populations impacted by cancer, such as culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) and First Nations communities.
My Grants
Grants (Total $5,772,158; $1,000,062 as CI)
iConquerFear: Demonstrating the potential of an online treatment for fear of cancer recurrence. Smith AB, Bamgboje A, Girgis A, Butow P, Klein B, Salter M. Ingham Institute Breast Cancer Research Grant 2019; $49,968.
Fear of Cancer Recurrence. Dam Lyhne J, Jensen L, Fink P, Frostholm L, Smith AB, Rix B. Trygfonden Living With Chronic Illness 2020. 500,000 Danish krone (approx. $100,000).
CALD population recruitment to MRI radiotherapy clinical trials. Rai R, Phan P, Elwadia D, Pham T, Smith AB. UNSW South Western Sydney Clinical School CALD Engagement Seeding Grants 2020; $20,000.
Enhancing safety and care quality for culturally and linguistically diverse cancer consumers: A consumer engagement approach. Harrison R, Walton M, Manias E, Wilson C, Seale H, Girgis A, Smith B. National Health and Medical Research Council Ideas Grant 2020-2022; $417,809.
Improving the mental health of cancer survivors with an online mindfulness program: a partnership model to impact on cancer care. Livingston P, White V, Orellana L, Botti M, Jefford M, Girgis A, Austin D, Mihalopoulos C, Ugalde A, Russell L, Rasmussen B, Chambers R, Smith B. National Health and Medical Research Council Partnership Project 2020-2022; $715,644.70.
Cancer Implementation Science Community of Practice: Continuing to Build Capacity and Collaborations for Better Cancer Outcomes. Smith AB, Girgis A, Daddich A, Caixeiro N, Rankin N, Rapport F, Fardell J, Sansom-Daly U, Paul C, Donnelly C, Boyle F. Cancer Institute NSW 2019-20; $100,000.
STEP FORWARDS: Piloting of a stepped care model for fear of cancer recurrence. Smith AB, Girgis A, Butow P, Pearce A, O’Dea B, Delaney G. SPHERE Cancer Clinical Academic Group E/MCR seed grant 2019; $49,973.
Targeted Approaches to Improve Cancer Services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. Garvey G, Cunningham J, Whop L, Brotherton J, Girgis A, Olver I, Howard K, Griffiths K, Baxi S, Condon J, Callander E, Guy R, Larkins S, Smith AB, Mein J, Baade P. NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence 2018-2023; $2,499,981.
Development and piloting of a Question Prompt List (QPL) to aid informed treatment decision making in men diagnosed with localised prostate cancer. Smith A, Girgis A, Mancuso P, Sidhom M, Maxwell T, Wong K, Bokey L, Haghigi K, Berry M, Ngo D, Chong P. ANZUP Below the Belt Research Fund 2018-2019; $49,610.
OASIS Centre for Optimal Cancer Survivorship – Capital Works Funding. Delaney GP, Girgis A, Agar M, Bensoussan A, Knight A, Bray V, Smith AB. Australian Cancer Research Foundation 2018-2020; $2,000,000.
Assessing supportive care needs of Indigenous cancer survivors' caregivers’ (IN180100047) Garvey G, Girgis A, Aoun S, Cunningham J, Wakefield C, Shahid S, Smith A. ARC Indigenous Discovery Grant 2018-2022; $689,924.
Addressing variations in care in Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Australia: A multifaceted approach to improve clinician adherence to guidelines. Kanazaki R, Connor S, Girgis A, Smith AB. Pfizer Independent Grants for Learning & Change 2018-2019; $70,000.
iConquer Fear: Adaptation of an evidence-based face-to-face treatment for fear of cancer recurrence to a web-based self-management (eHealth) intervention and evaluation of its usability. Smith AB. Tour de Cure Support Grant 2017-2018; $85,625.
e-TC 2.0: Further development of an online psychological intervention for testicular cancer survivors. Smith AB, Butow P, Grimison P, Olver I, Klein B, Stockler M, Toner G, Tran B, Wootten A. ANZUP Below the Belt Research Fund 2015-2016; $49,577.
The cross-cultural development and validation of an English and French version of the revised Cancer Information Overload scale. Smith AB, Butow P, Mancini J. University of Sydney – INSERM Mobility Funding Scheme 2015; $7,500.
Prospective validation study of a web‐based tool to support treatment decision making in stage 1 testicular cancer patients and their support persons. Lynam P, Hall A, Hensken F, Smith A. Hunter Cancer Research Alliance Implementation Flagship Program Pilot Grants 2015; $20,000.
Test-E: Development and phase 1 testing of a web-based intervention to reduce anxiety and depression in survivors of testicular cancer. Butow P, Olver I, Grimison P, Smith A, Klein B, Wootten A. Sydney Catalyst Translational Cancer Research Pilot and Seed Funding ($50,000) and Cancer Council Australia ($50,000) 2013-2014.
My Qualifications
Mar 2009 - Aug 2014 Doctor of Philosophy, School of Psychology, University of Sydney (USyd)
- Thesis title: “The psychological wellbeing, health-related quality of life, and supportive care needs of Australian testicular cancer survivors: A quantitative and qualitative investigation”
- Supervised by Prof Madeleine King, Prof Phyllis Butow, and Prof Ian Olver
Mar 2003 - Oct 2006 Bachelor of Science with Honours in Psychology, USyd
My Awards
2019: Clinical Oncology Society of Australia, New Investigator in Psycho-Oncology Award
2019: Ingham Institute Early Career Researcher Award
2019: Winner, South Western Sydney Local Health District Quality Awards 2019: Collaboration – Working as a Team. Australia’s first Prostate Cancer Combined Clinic.
2018: UNSW Medicine, South Western Sydney Clinical School Early Career Research Excellence Prize.
2018: Winner, 2018 Australia and New Zealand Urogenital Prostate Cancer Trials Group Travel Fellowship: Rincones O, Smith AB, Sidhom M, Mancuso P, Wong K, Berry M, Forstner D, Bokey L, Girgis A. Robots versus Radiation: Decision support needs of men with localised prostate cancer choosing between robotic prostatectomy and radiotherapy treatment.
2018: Winner, 2018 Australia and New Zealand Urogenital Prostate Cancer Trials Group Best of the Best Nursing/Allied Health: Rincones O, Smith AB, Sidhom M, Mancuso P, Wong K, Berry M, Forstner D, Bokey L, Girgis A. Robots versus Radiation: Decision support needs of men with localised prostate cancer choosing between robotic prostatectomy and radiotherapy treatment.
2017: Ingham Institute Best Community Paper Prize.
2017: Best of ASCO Abstract Award. Beith J, Thewes B, Turner J, Gilchrist J, Sharpe L, Girgis A, Smith AB, Fardell J, Tesson S, O’Connell R, Asher R, Butow P & members of the Conquer Fear authorship group. Long-term results of a phase II randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a psychological intervention (Conquer Fear) to reduce clinical levels of fear of cancer recurrence in breast, colorectal and melanoma cancer survivors. American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting (ASCO). Chicago, Illinois, USA.
2015: ANZUP/Bayer Travel Fellowship.
2015: Sydney Catalyst Postgrad and Early Career Researcher Symposium Award for the presentation demonstrating the best example of consumer engagement
2014: ANZUP-PoCoG ACORD Fellowship.
2011-2013: Australian Rotary Health Ian Scott Mental Health Scholarship ($29,000 pa).
2013: USyd Cancer Research Network (CRN) Postgraduate Travel Grant.
2012: Sydney Catalyst Travel and Education Award.
2011: ANZUP/Novartis Travel Grant.
My Research Activities
Dr Smith is a Dr Ben Smith is a Senior Research Fellow and Cancer Institute NSW Career Development Fellow. He has 10+ years of cancer survivorship research experience (6 post-PhD). His research is focused on improving the accessibility and equity of evidence-based cancer survivorship care. Dr Smith has secured $2.0M in funding as CI, published 64 journal articles (18 first/19 second, i.e. senior author), 3 book chapters and been cited 1396+ times (Google Scholar h-index of 20). In 2019 he won the prestigious Clinical Oncology Society of Australia New Investigator in Psycho-Oncology award in recognition of his accomplishments. Dr Smith has a strong track record in fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) research, with a SciVal Field-Weighted Citation Impact of 1.95, indicating his publications are cited 95% more than the global average for similar publications
My Research Supervision
Supervision keywords
Areas of supervision
I am looking for both ILP/Honours and Postgraduate students to work with on projects/reviews relating to:
- fear of cancer recurrence
- improving cancer outcomes for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) and Indigenous communities
- increasing diversity of clinical trial participants
- evaluation and implementation of digital health interventions
Currently supervising
PhD
Verena Wu (2017- current) - Co-Supervisor
Developing a culturally appropriate self-management resource for Chinese-Australian cancer patients
Johanne Dam Lyhne, MD (2019 - current) - Associate Supervisor
A randomized controlled clinical trial of therapist guided internet-delivered cognitive therapy for colorectal cancer survivors with fear of cancer recurrence
Ria Kanazaki (2017 - current) - Associate Supervisor
Clinical Decision Support Tools to address variations in care in Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Australia
Masters
Martha Gerges (Part-time; 2016-current) - Co-Supervisor
Exploring levels and predictors of health literacy in Arabic immigrant cancer patients and their English-speaking counterparts
Sandra Harvey (2018-current) - Co-Supervisor
Exploring the experiences of fear of cancer recurrence in Arabic women with breast cancer
Honours/Independent Learning Project
Tiyasha Sabud (2020) - Primary Supervisor
An evaluation of the suitability, readability, and quality of online resources for the self-management of fear of cancer recurrence
Location
1 Campbell Street Liverpool NSW 2170
Map reference (Google map)
Publications
ORCID as entered in ROS
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2496-7369