Phyllis Butow

Phyllis Butow AM is a professor in the field of health psychology at the University of Sydney^[1] who received an Order of Australia in 2014^[2] She is known for her research in psycho-oncology and understanding the psychological impacts of cancer and diseases.^[1][3]

Butow completed her undergraduate studies with a Bachelor of Arts at Macquarie University,^[1] Master of Clinical Psychology at Australia National University,^[1] followed by a PhD in psychology at Sydney University.^[1]

• Professor at the University of Sydney^[1]
• Chair at Psychology at the University of Sydney^[4]
• Co-Director of the Centre for Medical Psychology & Evidence-based Decision-making (CeMPED) at the University of Sydney^[4]
• Founding member of the Psycho-Oncology Co-operative Research Group (PoCoG)^[5]

Professor Butow's research primarily focuses on the psychological well-being of cancer patients, doctor-patient communication, and decision-making in cancer treatment.^[1]

• Psycho-Oncology Research: Butow has worked in the field of psycho-oncology, specifically, in investigating on the impacts of cancer on patients' mental health.^[1] 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.^[6]

Butow has an H-index of 133, over 65,000 citations as at July 2024, according to Google Scholar,^[7] and has written more than 300 peer-reviewed articles and several books on health psychology and psycho-oncology, including publications in the journal Nature.^[1] Select publications include the following:

• Easton, D., Pooley, K., Dunning, A. et al. Genome-wide association study identifies novel breast cancer susceptibility loci. Nature 447, 1087–1093 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05887.^[8]
• P.N. Butow, M. Maclean, S.M. Dunn, M.H.N. Tattersall, M.J. Boyer,(1997) 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.^[9]

• Campbell, A., Cumming, S., Morrison, V., Bennett, P., Mullan, B., White, K., Gerrig, R., Zimbardo, P., Wilkes, F., Butow, P. (2009). PHE1IDH Individual Determinants of Health. Frenchs Forest Sydney: Pearson Education.^[10]
• Morrison, V., Bennett, P., Butow, P., et al. (2007). Introduction to health psychology in Australia. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: Pearson Education.^[11]

• P-OMICs-flow: Integrating precision oncology into clinical programs, Taylor N, Thomas D, Tucker K, Ballinger M, Zaheed M, Lin F, Goldstein D, Leaney K, Morrow A, Parkinson B, Butow P, et al.^[12]

• Finding My Way-Advanced: Can a web-based psychosocial intervention improve mental quality of life for women with cancer?, Butow P, et al.^[13]

• Carers and Multimorbidity, Juraskova I, Laidsaar-Powell R, Butow P, et al. School of Psychology/Booster Grant
• Remove the Mask: Reducing Anxiety for Cancer Radiotherapy Patients, Keall P, Butow P, et al.^[14]