Hi, I am Vanessa Malcarne, and I am pleased to be a Contributing Author for ISN for the book Voices of Scleroderma Volume 2. My article is entitled, Developing Empathy: A Researcher's Perspective on Being Diagnosed with Scleroderma, pages 177-181.

I'm an Associate Professor in Psychology at San Diego State University (SDSU). I am also a core member of the graduate faculty of the SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, and a member of the Moore NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCSD.

My research focus is adjustment to chronic illness in patients, spouses, and children. The diseases I study are scleroderma and cancer. I have published a number of articles on psychosocial adjustment to scleroderma, as well as given many scientific presentations; references to these, along with a summary of my research, can be found at my research website SDSU Department of Pyschology: Dr. Vanessa Malcarne.

Although I can't answer specific questions about people's personal or family problems by email, I am always happy to hear from people interested in my work.