Michael Quinn

Senior Research Scientist
Department of Medicine

Michael Quinn, PhD, a Senior Research Scientist with the Department of Medicine at the University of Chicago, is a social psychologist with extensive experience in the design, implementation, and evaluation of health education and behavior change curricula. For the past 23 years, he has served in the role of Educational Specialist with the Chicago Diabetes Research and Training Center. In this capacity, he has been instrumental in leading the development and evaluation of a number of successful, theory-driven behavior change programs, including both clinic-based and community-based nutrition, exercise and weight loss interventions for African-American and Hispanic women with, or at risk for, diabetes. Dr. Quinn’s prior work also has involved the development and evaluation of health behavior interventions targeting urban minority youth. For the past 10 years, Dr. Quinn also has been active in training physicians and mid-level providers to effectively use brief behavioral counseling and motivational interviewing approaches with their patients. Dr. Quinn recently completed a series of community-based studies, in which intervention and evaluation were grounded in social cognitive theory and the transtheoretical model, and which utilized peer testimonials and brief behavioral counseling to significantly impact organ donation intentions. His expertise in behavior change theory and brief, motivational interviewing approaches in the clinical setting are significant assets to this program.