Our researchers

Melissa Henry, PhD

Psychosocial aspects of disease

Access, Biomarkers, Interventions, Mental Health, Oncology, Palliative Care, Prevention, Quality of life

Senior Investigator and Clinician-Scientist, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research
Psychologist, Louise Granofsky Psychosocial Oncology Program, Segal Cancer Centre
Associate Professor, Gerald Bronfman Department of Oncology, McGill University
Associate Member, Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, McGill University

Contact details

(514) 340-8222 ext. 22252

melissa.henry@mcgill.ca

Assistant contact details

Justine Albert,
justine.albert@mail.mcgill.ca

Snapshot

Melissa Henry is an Associate Professor in the Gerald Bronfman Department of Oncology. She is a FRQS Senior Clinician-Scientist and a psychologist in the Department of Psychology and in the Louise-Granofsky Psychosocial Oncology Program of the Segal Cancer Centre at the Jewish General Hospital.

Her research program aims to better conceptualize early determinants of mental health in oncology, leading to the development and testing of interventions to improve the quality of life of cancer patients. Her work combines translational research with a major focus on advanced cancer and head and neck oncology. She developed the FACT/MBIS McGill Body Image Concern Scale – Head and Neck, part of the internationally known FACT Measurement System.

She was Co-Director of Axis 1 on optimizing quality of life and is currently the Director of the Equity and Access Axis of the FRQS-funded Quebec Research Group in Palliative and End-of-Life Care (RQSPAL), a group comprising of over 250 researchers, students, and staff across the province of Quebec. Professor Henry has received funding from the Canadian Institute for Health Research, the Fonds de recherche Sante – Quebec, Genzyme and Roche, and CRDF Global/NCI. She is a board director of the International Psycho-Oncology Society (IPOS) and has received the IPOS Noemi Fisman Award for Lifetime Clinical Excellence. She has served on World Health Organization Committees. Her international work with IPOS and the World Health Organization involves chairing Training Academies designed to build capacity for psycho-oncology in Africa and more broadly for low-middle-income countries.

Important Links :

Melissa Henry's profile at the Gerald Bronfman Department of Oncology, McGill University

Major Research Activities

Melissa Henry’s research focuses on early predictors of mental health trajectories in oncology.

Her specific areas of research include:

Equity in cancer care
Biomarkers of physical symptom burden and distress in oncology
Palliative and end of life care
Global oncology

Recent Publications and References

Genetic predisposition to depression and inflammation impacts symptom burden and survival in patients with head and neck cancer: A longitudinal study.
Henry, M., Harvey, R., Chen, L.M., Meaney, M., Nguyen, T.T.T., Kao, H.-T., Rosberger, Z. Frenkiel, S., Hier, M., Zeitouni, A., Kost, K., Mlynarek, A., Richardson, K., Greenwood, C., Mlynechuk, D., Gold, Ph, Chartier, G., Black, M., Mascarella, M., MacDonald, Sadeghi, N., Sultanem, K., Shenouda, G., Cury, F. & O’Donnell, K.J. (2023, In Press). Journal of Affective Disorders.
Emerging International Directions for Psychosocial Care: Perspectives from Asia and Low and Middle Income Countries.
Watson, M., Dunn, J. & Henry, M. (2021). (pp.813-817). In B Breitbart, P Butow, P Jacobsen, W Lam, M Lazenby & M Loscalzo (Eds.). Psycho-Oncology (4th Edition). New York: Oxford University Press.
McGill Body Image Concerns Scale (MBICS-HNC) for use in head and neck oncology: Full validation with Classical Test Theory and Rash Measurement Theory.
Rodriguez, A.-M., Frenkiel, S., *Desroches, J., *De Simone, A., Chiocchio, F., MacDonald, C., Black, M., Zeitouni, A., Hier, M., Kost, K., Mlynarek, A., Bolster-Foucault, C., Rosberger, Z., Henry, M. (2019). Psycho- Oncology, 28, 116-121.
Prevalence and risk factors of suicidal ideation in patients newly diagnosed with head and neck cancer: Longitudinal study.
Henry M., Rosberger, Z., *Bertrand, L., Klassen, C., Hier, M., Zeitouni, A., Kost, K., Mlynarek, A., Richardson, K., Black, M., MacDonald, C. & Frenkiel, S. (2018). Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, 159(5), 843-852
The Meaning-Making intervention (MMi) appears to increase meaning in life in advanced ovarian cancer: A randomized controlled pilot study.
Henry, M., Cohen, R., Lee, V., Sauthier, P., Provencher, D., Drouin, P., Gauthier, P., Gotlieb, W., Lau, S., Drummond, N., Gilbert, L., Stanimir, G., Sturgeon, J., Chasen, M., *Mitchell, J. *Huang, L.N., *Ferland, M.-K. & Mayo, N. (2010). Psycho-Oncology, 19(12), 1340-1347.

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Our researchers

Melissa Henry, PhD

Psychosocial aspects of disease

Contact details

Assistant contact details

Snapshot

Important Links :

Major Research Activities

Recent Publications and References

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