Resilience is highly relevant in the context of cancer, and understanding how survivors adapt and potentially thrive following their diagnosis and treatment may provide insights into better supports and interventions to promote healthier survivorship. In this paper, we characterize two different ways to conceptualize and study resilience in cancer survivorship, as a trait and as a process.
Lab Alumni Spotlight
Samantha (Guarneri) Kaishian was recently featured on HDFS Alumni Spotlight. Sam was a former undergraduate research assistant for Dr. Keith Bellizzi. She is featured below:
Samantha graduated from UConn in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS). As an undergraduate student she had two very formative experiences that started her on a path toward becoming a healthcare researcher. One was working as a research assistant with Dr. Keith Bellizzi, primarily focused on a study of breast cancer and quality of life. The second was working with Husky Sport, a community-campus partnership between the NEAG School of Education’s Sport Management program and nonprofits in Hartford’s North End, aimed at supporting youth development through sport and relationship building. After much reflection on these experiences, as well as guidance from two very influential mentors in her life, Dr. Bellizzi and Dr. Steven Wisensale, Samantha decided to pursue a Master’s of Public Health (MPH) degree.
Samantha attended the University of Maryland’s (UMD) School of Public Health to concentrate on health policy and be in close proximity to Washington, DC to work on Capitol Hill. As she began her health policy program, she quickly realized she was much more interested in studying the impact of health policy on individuals and the healthcare system than she was in actually drafting legislation. Samantha applied to an internship at Berkeley Research Group (BRG) in the Healthcare Transactions and Strategy practice, where she later took a full-time position following her graduation from UMD in May 2020.
Samantha and her team at BRG work to inform both investors and providers on how commercial payer dynamics, federal policy, and state policy impact healthcare businesses and the broader healthcare system. Since beginning work at BRG, Samantha has worked on over two dozen healthcare related mergers and acquisitions (M&A) across various healthcare sectors. She has also participated in multiple strategy projects with healthcare companies, including an eating disorder provider looking to expand their current business to address access to care issues and a non-profit healthcare data company looking to improve their business to help solve important life science and health policy questions. Samantha is very early on in her career as a healthcare researcher but is incredibly excited to see where it takes her
Graduate Student Presents at SBM 2021
Graduate student Kaleigh Ligus presented Social Connectedness, Pain, Emotion Regulation and Wellbeing in Older Adults in Active Treatment for Cancer at the Society for Behavioral Medicine (SBM) virtual conference on behalf of co-authors Tara Sanft, Crystal Park and Keith Bellizzi.
Book Chapter Commissioned: Transitions in Cancer Survivorship
A book chapter commissioned, “Resilience Trajectories of Cancer Survivors: A Meaning-Making Perspective”, within the textbook “Navigating Life Transitions for Meaning“, an Elsevier publication.
Sytematic Literature Review Published on HPV Vaccines in Boys
Dibble et al. (2019) published a systematic literature in the Journal of Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology (JAYAO) focusing on the importance of HPV vaccination in boys and young adult men, including its barriers from the perspective of boys/men, their parents, and their physicians.
Please click this link for an abstract.
NIH Grant UH3 Has Begun!
Drs. Bellizzi and Park received a multi-year grant (UH3) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2017. After completing a pilot phase with co-sponsors at Yale University, Dr. Tara Sanft, they began active recruitment in early 2019. Recruitment is scheduled to continue until sample saturation is met. For more information, please go to the study webpage, UConn-Yale Cancer Survivorship Study.
CTBHI Awards Dr. Bellizzi & PhD Student Grant to Study BRCA1/2
Dr. Bellizzi and doctoral student Kate Dibble, M.A. of UConn’s Department of Human Development and Family Sciences (HDFS) have received a one-year research grant to study the experiences of women testing positive for BRCA1/2 genetic mutations in undergoing genetic counseling within the United States. The study is a mixed methods, national sample and is one of the first of its kind in outlining the preferences of women testing positive for BRCA1/2 in undergoing individualized or family-based genetic counseling typologies.
New NIH Multi-Year Grant
Drs. Bellizzi and Park received a multi-year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the transition from active cancer treatment to survivorship. They plan to pilot this grant in a one-year phase in 2017, beginning the multi-year recruitment in 2019.