Dr. Keith Bellizzi is a researcher, author, mentor, and educator whose work sits at the intersection of resilience, cancer survivorship, healthy aging, and behavioral science. Trained in HDFS, behavioral medicine, and public health, he joined UConn in 2008 after serving as a Program Officer and Health Scientist at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and completing the prestigious Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program at NCI.
A cancer survivor himself, Dr. Bellizzi has built a career focused on understanding how individuals adapt, grow, and sometimes thrive in the face of adversity. His current research examines resilience trajectories in adults with cancer, frailty and accelerated aging among older cancer survivors, and how social determinants of health shape long-term health outcomes in diverse populations. Author of more than 100 peer-reviewed publications, his work has increasingly focused on mentoring the next generation of scientists and translating resilience research into accessible, evidence-based strategies that help people navigate adversity, change, and personal growth in everyday life.
In 2025, Dr. Bellizzi published Falling Forward: The New Science of Resilience and Personal Transformation, which reached the Top 4 on Amazon’s bestseller list in Behavioral Psychology. The book challenges conventional ideas about resilience and explores how adversity can become a catalyst for growth, meaning, and transformation. Through his writing, teaching, and public speaking, he aims to bridge the gap between science and lived experience by making resilience research practical, relatable, and actionable for broader audiences.
Dr. Bellizzi is Editor of the Cancer and Aging Handbook, Senior Associate Editor of Translational Behavioral Medicine, and Associate Editor for the Cancer and Aging section of Frontiers in Aging. His work has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health and featured in outlets including U.S. News & World Report, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Independent, and Psychology Today.
Outside of academia, Keith enjoys spending time with family, writing and speaking about resilience and personal growth, traveling, tackling home remodeling projects, cycling, and exploring the national parks throughout the United States.