Cheryl Woods Giscombe, PhD, RN, PMHNP-BC, FAAN

Senior Associate Dean and Chief Wellness Officer & Levine Family Distinguished Professor of Quality of Life, Health Promotion, and Wellness

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
School of Nursing
Campus Box #7460
Administrative Office Building
104 Airport Drive
Office: 2508
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7460

Cheryl Woods Giscombe is the Melissa and Harry LeVine Family Distinguished Term Professor in the School of Nursing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing with a secondary faculty appointment (Professor) in the Department of Social Medicine at the UNC School of Medicine. She is currently the Senior Associate Dean and Chief Wellness Officer.

Dr. Giscombe is a social and health psychologist, psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner, and certified holistic health coach. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, and she is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research, and the Mind & Life Institute. She has also served on national boards and working groups for national and international organizations including, but not limited to the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, the American Nurses Association, the Association of American Medical Colleges, the American Psychological Association, the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation, and the National Institute on Nursing Research, with a focus on topics related to well-being and health professions education, the resilience of healthcare professionals, health equity, and mental health. Dr. Giscombe is an Inaugural Fellow/Design Partner for the Harvard Macy Institute’s Art Museum-Based Health Professions Education Fellowship and she is a lecturer for the Harvard Macy Institute and Harvard Medical School continuing education courses focused on art-based practices to promote resilience and well-being.

Dr. Giscombe’s research focuses on biopsychosocial factors that influence health and health disparities through psychological stress and coping pathways. Her research has been consistently funded since 2004 by the American Psychological Association, the Josiah Macy Institute, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Giscombe has been appointed to two National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Review Committees and the AAMC commissioned committee on the Fundamental Role of the Arts and Humanities in Medical Education. Dr. Giscombe is a previous President of the International Society of Psychiatric Nurses, and she serves as a collaborator for a World Health Organization/Pan-American Health Organization project investigating nursing research capacity in the Caribbean.

Dr. Giscombe is currently the Principal Investigator of the Harmony Study, which is focused on reducing cardiometabolic risk in African American women and funded by the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, and she is one of three, collaborative Principal Investigators for the National Center of Complementary and Integrative Health’s T32 predoctoral and postdoctoral Training Program in Integrative Health at the UNC Chapel Hill School of Medicine. She has expertise in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, and other reflective practices designed to generate self-reflection and compassion for self and others.

Dr. Giscombe is also the Chair and Standing Committee member of the Biobehavioral Mechanisms of Emotions, Stress, and Health Study Section of National Institutes of Health. As a Josiah Macy Faculty Scholar, Dr. Giscombe developed the Interprofessional Leadership Institute for Behavioral Health Equity. In addition, she is a founding Executive Committee Member of the International Society of Contemplative Research. She served as a member of the international conference planning committee for their 2024 conference in Padua, Italy and co-chair for the international conference planning committee for the 2025 conference in Chapel Hill, NC.

Dr. Giscombe serves as the Director of the Giscombe Health, Equity, and Arts Lab where she gets to execute her passion related to mentoring the next generation of scientists. Her research, practice, and teaching activities integrate mindfulness practices in clinical, community, and educational settings to promote optimal health, and well-being for all. She is the author of The Black Woman’s Guide to Coping with Stress: Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Skills to Create a Life of Joy and Well-Being (New Harbinger, 2024).

Dr. Giscombe is a native of North Carolina and a graduate of the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, North Carolina Central University, Stony Brook University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Giscombe is particularly grateful for her family, friends, and mentors who support and inspire her both professionally and personally.