Judith Pizarro received her B.S. in Psychology from Pacific Union College in 1997, and her M.A. in Art Therapy from Albertus Magnus College in 2002. She is currently working on her Ph.D. in Health Psychology at the University of California, Irvine.
From 1998-2002 Judith worked as a Research Associate and coordinator of the Health, Emotion, and Behavior Laboratory at Yale University. She coordinated studies of framing cancer prevention messages as well as examining fruit and vegetable consumption, mammography, and the initiation of a dialogue between cancer patients and their physician regarding clinical trials participation. Judith worked closely with research collaborators at the National Cancer Institute and the Cancer Information Service in carrying out these projects.

The prevention and early detection of cervical cancer is achieved through women’s regular use of Pap tests. Ascertaining adherence to Pap screening guidelines is often based on self-report, which may be unreliable.