I am a researcher and licensed psychologist studying how to improve quality of life for people who have or have had cancer. Right after I finished college, I had the opportunity to work as a research assistant at my local cancer hospital. I was the person talking to patients about the side-effects they were experiencing while they were receiving experimental cancer treatments. So many of them told me stories about how their lives changed because of the physical and mental challenges of going through cancer and cancer treatment.

Several of them talked about having “chemobrain” where their thinking, memory, and concentration abilities became foggy or more difficult. They also shared that these things did not fully go away after completing treatment. I heard over and over again, my patients said they talked to their oncologists about chemobrain side-effects and its lasting impact, but they were told there wasn’t much that could be done. I wanted to start a research study to provide evidence to the scientific community regarding the impact of these side-effects and to highlight the potential areas where quality of life could be improved, but I needed more training.

This led me to graduate school where I studied under Catherine Mosher, PhD, an expert in symptom science and behavioral oncology. I am currently conducting a research project using an innovative assessment method to study cancer-related cognitive impairment among young adult cancer survivors. I hope that my results can change how we measure and intervene on this symptom.

By: Danielle Tometich