Rate My Professor Mollie Canzon

Mollie R. Canzona is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Wake Forest University. She holds a joint appointment as Associate Professor in the Department of Social Sciences and Health Policy at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Canzona is a member of the Cancer Prevention and Control program within the Wake Forest Comprehensive Cancer Center and serves as affiliate faculty in the Center for Bioethics, Health and Society. She is also affiliated with the Graduate Program in Interpreting and Translation Studies and the Disability Studies Initiative at Wake Forest University.

Canzona received her PhD from George Mason University. Her scholarship applies a life-span developmental perspective to explore patient-provider communication and family dynamics in relation to health behaviors and clinical outcomes. Current research interests encompass sexual and reproductive health communication, end-of-life care, health disparities, and cancer caregiving. Notable publications include 'A conceptual model of fertility concerns among adolescents and young adults with cancer' (Psycho-Oncology, 2021), 'Fertility Preservation Decisional Turning Points for Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer' (JCO Oncology Practice, 2023), 'Talking about sexual health during survivorship: Understanding what shapes breast cancer survivors’ willingness to communicate with providers' (Journal of Cancer Survivorship, 2019), 'Perpetuating the cycle of silence: The intersection of uncertainty and sexual health communication among couples after breast cancer treatment' (Supportive Care in Cancer, 2018), and 'Digital media as a context for dating abuse: Connecting adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies to young adult women’s well-being' (Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work, 2019). Canzona has earned the Zachary T. Smith Faculty Fellowship and the 'Best of the Best' Panel Recognition at the American Psychosocial Oncology Society Annual Convention in 2020. She co-received a pilot grant with Roy Strowd, MD, to investigate social determinants of health influencing glioma outcomes from the Neuro-Oncology and Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the Wake Forest Comprehensive Cancer Center. In 2025, she obtained funding from the American Cancer Society and Wake Forest University Health Sciences for a project examining cultural factors in health communication.