Betsy Bates Freed, PsyD, a native of Colorado, received her BA in creative writing and education from Denison University in Granville, Ohio, and her MA and PsyD from Antioch University Santa Barbara. A medical journalist for more than 25 years, her professional interests include child and adolescent psychology, health psychology, and end-of-life care. Her research has focused on psychosocial support for men with prostate cancer and the impact of work-related losses on adjustment to cancer (the subject of her dissertation).

Betsy works with children and adolescents at the Santa Barbara County Alcohol, Drug, and Mental Health Children’s Clinic and leads groups at the Cancer Center of Santa Barbara for children and adolescents whose parents have cancer. She writes a weekly blog on psychosocial issues in cancer care for The Oncology Report. Dr. Freed teaches a graduate workshop on academic writing.