Karly Murphy

Assistant Professor
Psycho-oncology; adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivorship.
Lab website: Psycho-Oncology Lab
Telephone: 312-503-2870
Fax: 252-328-6283
Office: Rawl 344A
Email: murphykar22@ecu.edu
Mailing Address
104 Rawl Building
Department of Psychology
East Carolina University
Greenville, NC 27858-4353

Willing to consider taking a doctoral student in 2025-26

  • Yes – I am particularly interested in taking on a student with interests in digital mental health, young adult cancer survivorship, and/or psycho-oncology care delivery

Education

  • Postdoctoral Research Associate in Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine (2022)
  • Postdoctoral Fellow in the Behavioral and Psychosocial Research Training Program in Cancer Prevention and Control, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine (2020)
  • PhD, Clinical Psychology, Seattle Pacific University (2018)
  • APA-accredited Predoctoral Internship in Clinical Psychology, University of Florida (2018)
  • MS, Psychological Science, Seattle Pacific University (2014)
  • BA, Psychology, Hope College (2011)

Research Interests

Dr. Murphy is a clinical health psychologist with expertise in psycho-oncology. She is particularly interested in adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivorship. As such, her program of research focuses on the development, evaluation, and implementation of interventions that improve psychosocial wellbeing and health outcomes among AYA cancer survivors. Much of her work uses interventions that can be delivered remotely to ensure their scalability and reach. Currently, she is the PI of an NCI-funded study in which she has taken an iterative user-centered design approach to develop an engaging digital tool to help AYA cancer survivors cope with symptoms of depression. This tool draws from topline evidence-based interventions for treating depression (e.g. cognitive-behavioral therapy, mindfulness) and is tailored to the needs and preferences of AYA cancer survivors. Dr. Murphy will soon launch a full factorial trial to determine which intervention components (or combination of components) will yield the maximum improvement in depressive symptoms in this population. In addition to this ongoing work, Dr. Murphy’s interests include: (1) developing and testing interventions for AYA cancer patients and survivors that target additional outcomes such as clinical trial participation, social connection, and transitioning from treatment to survivorship; (2) devising equitable implementation and dissemination strategies to ensure that efficacious psychosocial interventions reach the AYA cancer patients and survivors who need them most; and (3) expanding access to psychosocial care for cancer patients and survivors in eastern North Carolina.

Service Positions

Grant Funding

  • NCI R00CA248701 (PI: Murphy) – iManageAYA: Preparation and Optimization of a mHealth Intervention for Managing Depressive Symptoms in Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Survivors. 2023 – 2026
  • NCI K99CA248701 (PI: Murphy) – iManageAYA: Preparation and Optimization of a mHealth Intervention for Managing Depressive Symptoms in Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Survivors. 2022 – 2023

Selected Publications

Click here for a full list of publications. Recent publications include:

  • Murphy, K.M., Siembida, E., Lau, N., Berkman, A., Roth, M., & Salsman, J.M. (2023). A systematic review of health-related quality of life outcomes in psychosocial intervention trials for adolescent and young adult cancer survivors. Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology, 104045. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.critrevonc.2023.104045
  • Hibler, E., Tanaka, Y., Akhter, N., Murphy, K.M., Perlman, K., Lloyd-Jones, D., Carnethon, M., & Khan, S. S. (2023). Risk of Incident Heart Failure Among Young Adult Cancer Survivors. Cardio Oncology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaccao.2023.03.009
  • Murphy, K.M., Chen, E., Ip, E.H., Rosenberg, A.R., Snyder, M.A., & Salsman, J.M. (2022). Properties of the Shift and Persist Questionnaire in Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Patients and Survivors: Validity, Consistency, and Interpretability. Quality of Life Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-022-03219-7
  • Murphy, K.M., Sauer, C., Yang, D., Hass, N., Novakovic, K., Helfland, B., Nadler, R., & Victorson, D. (2022). The development of iManage-PC, an internet-delivered symptom monitoring and self-management tool for men with clinically localized prostate cancer. Cancer Nursing 45(1):E309-E319. https://doi.org/10.1097/ncc.0000000000000948
  • Berkman, A.M, Murphy, K.M., Siembida, E.J, Lau, N., Salsman, J.M., & Roth, M.E. (2021). Inclusion of patient-reported outcomes in adolescent and young adult phase III therapeutic trials: An analysis of cancer clinical trials registered on ClinicalTrials.gov. Value in Health 24(12):1820-1827. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jval.2021.06.012