David M. Latini, PhD

Dr. Latini was an assistant professor of urology at Baylor College of Medicine and chief of the Design and Analysis Program at the Health Services Research & Development Center of Excellence at the Houston VA. Before joining Baylor, he spent six years in the Department of Urology at the University of California, San Francisco.

Dr. Latini is a clinical health psychologist whose work concentrates on cancer survivorship and symptom management for persons living with genitourinary cancer. He completed his PhD in educational psychology at Stanford University and later completed a respecialization diploma in clinical psychology at California School of Professional Psychology. He also has an interest in the psychosocial impact of the monitoring process undergone by men with localized prostate cancer selecting active surveillance and persons with nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer.

An important aspect of Dr. Latini’s work is the focus on understanding how to improve cancer outcomes for underserved groups, particularly people with low health literacy. He is currently funded to develop and evaluate a symptom management patient education program for low literacy men treated for localized prostate cancer. Building on his descriptive and intervention studies in prostate cancer, Dr. Latini is now conducting the basic psychosocial research necessary to understand the patient education needs of nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer patients. Later studies will modify his existing symptom management education program for prostate cancer patients to provide education for bladder cancer patients.

Dr. Latini’s work has been funded by the National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Mental Health, American Cancer Society, Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program, Baylor College of Medicine, Mt. Zion Health Fund, and the pharmaceutical industry. For more information click here.