Tamara Sher, PhD

Dr. Tamara Sher (she/her) is a Professor in the Department of Psychology and now serves as the Director of Clinical Training (DCT). She obtained her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill under the mentorship of Dr. Donald Baucom, a leader and pioneer in the field of Cognitive Behavioral Couples Therapy (CBCT). Although Dr. Sher joined the faculty of RFUMS in 2020, she has been an academic in a variety of settings throughout her career beginning with her internship and junior faculty appointment at Rush University Medical Center and most recently at Northwestern University. She is a licensed clinical psychologist and has maintained a private practice throughout her career which has allowed her decades of clinical experience to inform her research questions, teaching and mentorship.

Dr. Sher’s research focuses on couples and health. Specifically, she is interested in how health/illness affect couple’s processes and how couple functioning affects the health/illness of the individuals within the couple.

Dr. Sher will not be accepting students for the 2024/2025 academic year.

Publications

Books

Schmaling, K.B., & Sher, T.G. (Eds.). (2000). The Psychology of Couples and Illness: Theory, Research and Practice. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Books.

Referred Articles

Lee, J., Miller, S.A., Hughes, S.M., Sher, T.G., & Kruger, D.J. (2024). Pillow Talk: The Roles of Biological Sex and Attachment Dimensions in Postcopulatory Sleep Onset. [Manuscript submitted for publication]

Kumaria, S., Fivecoat, H., Li, J., Scott, B., & Sher, T. G. (2024). Pressurizing or encouraging: Health behaviors among long‐distance couples. Family Process. https://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12975

Hlubocky, F. J., Cella, D., Sher, T., & Daugherty, C. K. (2023). Impact of death anxiety (DA) on the psychological well-being and survival of patients with advanced cancer (ACP) in phase I trials and their spousal caregivers (SC). Journal of Clinical Oncology, 41, e24213-e24213. https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2023.41.16_suppl.e24213. BMJ Open, 13(2). https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-068623

Whitaker, M., Aguirre, MC., Chavez, MG., Beaulieul, E., Arones, Y.B., Gershenoff, D., Hinton, K., Klein, N., Uwizeye, J.M., Napia, E., Ramons, C., Tavake-Pasi, O.F., Villalta, J., Wolfsfeld, C., Witte, B., Maybield, E., Simmons, D.L., Clark, L., Sher, T.G., Smith, T.W., Baucom, K.J.W. (2023). Couple-based lifestyle intervention to prevent type 2 diabetes: protocol for a randomized pilot trial

Du Bois, S., Grotkowski, K., Guy, A. A., Thomas, E., Chockalingam, M., & Sher, T. G.(2023). Exploratory Factor Analysis of the Romantic Relationship Stress Scale. The Family Journal, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/10664807231154016

Weber, D.M, Baucom, D.H., Wojda-burlij, A.K., Carrino, E.A., Dubois, S.N., & Sher, T.G. (in press). Relationship jet lag in long-distance and geographically close relationships: The impact of relationship transitions on emotional functioning. Couple and Family Psychology.

Du Bois, S. N., Woodward, H., Manser, K., Saigal, S., Santic, F., Tully, T., & Sher, T. G.(2021). Examining Relationship-Level Predictors of Individual-Level Health in Long Distance Relationships. Family Journal, 1. https://doi.org/10.1177/10664807211054151

Puranachaikere, T., Sahebi B., Kumaria, S., Aiello, C., Sher, T.G. (2021). Extension of the marriage benefit to long-distance marriages: Comparative evidence from East Asia. The Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand.

Hlubocky, F.J., Sher, T.G., Cella, D., Wroblewski, K.E., Peppercorn, J. & Daugherty, C.K (2021). Anxiety shapes expectations of therapeutic benefit in phase 1 trials for patients with advanced cancer and spousal caregivers. JCO Oncology Practice, 17 (2).

Gremore, T. M., Brockstein, B., Porter, L. S., Brenner, S., Benfield, T., Baucom, D. H., Sher, T.G. & Atkins, D. (2020). Couple-based communication intervention for head and neck cancer: a randomized pilot trial. Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer. doi:10.1007/s00520-020-05848-5

Aguirre, M.C., Brown, H., Gershenoff, D., Hinton, K.L., Huntzinger, O.M., Klein, N., Ramos, C., Tavake-Pasi, O.F., Witte, B., Wolfsfeld, M., Sher, T., Simmons, D. L., Smith, T.W., Clark, L., & Baucom, K.J.W. (2020). The role of advocacy in adapting the Diabetes Prevention Program for couple-based delivery that reaches marginalized groups. the Behavior Therapist, 43(7), 261-265.

Dubois, S.N., Yoder, W., Ramos, S.D., Grotkowski, K., and Sher, T.G (2019). Unexpected gender moderation of marital satisfaction-health associations in long-distance relationships. The Family Journal. First published online 2/20/19.

Andand, L., DuBois, S.N., Sher, T.G., Gratkowski, K.G. (2017). Defying tradition: Gender roles in long distance relationships. The Family Journal. First published online 11/5/17 (http://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/qPNN4nRZtmcRjHz6kdvH/full).

*Du Bois, S.N., Sher, T., Grotkowski, K., Aizenman, T., Slesinger, N., Cohen, M. (2016). Going the distance: health in long-distance relationships. The Family Journal. Vol.24(1), pp.5-14

Invited Book Chapters and Reviews

Lan J., Sher T.G. (2019) Cognitive-Behavioral Family Therapy. In: Lebow J., Chambers A., Breunlin D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. Springer, Cham

Sher, T. G., Rubin, R. D., Kruepke, M. D., & Menon, S. V. (2019). Public health and family psychology. In B. H. Fiese (Ed.-in-Chief), K. Deater-Deckard, M. Celano, E. N. Jouriles, & M. A. Whisman (Assoc. Eds.), APA handbook of contemporary family psychology: Vol. 2. Applications. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Sher, T., Niznikiewicz, M., & Mu, W. (2019). Supervising Ethical Issues in Couple and Family Therapy. In J. Lebow, A. Chambers, & D. C. Breunlin (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy (pp. 1-5). Cham: Springer International Publishing.