Janine Giese-Davis received her B.A. in English Literature and B.S. in Psychology from Colorado State University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Oncology, Division of Psychosocial Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, at the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She is also affiliated with the Department of Psychosocial Resources at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre, Calgary, Alberta. And she also holds an Adjunct Associate Professorship in the Department of Psychology, University of Calgary.In Calgary, she leads the research effort on Cancer Survivorship on behalf of the provincial CancerBRIDGES team, an effort that is part of the Enbridge Research Chair in Psychosocial Oncology. The goal of this research program is to provide evidence-based clinical programs for cancer survivors throughout Alberta.Her research has focused on mind/body interactions that affect psychological, physiological, and survival outcomes for people with cancer.
In her past research, she has specifically focused on women with breast cancer and particularly on emotion regulation and expression in group therapy and peer counseling interventions. Her research spans both basic and applied settings.
She created the Emotion Coding Lab–Stanford in 1996 in which we code emotional expression from videotape using the Specific Affect Coding System-Cancer (SPAFF for Breast Cancer), Specific Affect Coding-Text (SPAFF for Text), and facial coding using the Facial Action Coding System (FACS).
In addition, the lab created coding schemes for and coded types of Topic discussions in support groups, Narratives (types of stories) in support groups, and Face, Body, Voice, and Content in a study of self-conscious emotions in breast cancer recovery. We have coded behavior for a broad array of research and industry projects.
Over 230 students have completed internships in this coding lab, most of them have gone on to graduate school or medical school.
Her studies have included brain wave (ERP) and autonomic psychophysiology, endocrine, immune, metabolic function, and sleep measures.
She has also emphasized the importance of community/research collaborations throughout her career, working with The Wellness Community–National; The Cancer Support Community, San Francisco, CA; WomenCARE, Santa Cruz, CA; and the Kozmetsky Global Collaboratory-Stanford.
Her work includes mentoring undergraduates, graduate students, and post-doctoral fellows.
She is currently re-establishing her lab, The Emotion Coding Lab–Calgary.
She has also launched a small business venture, iEMPATH, LLC, located in Palo Alto, CA, USA, iempath.com.