Lindsay Schwartz, MD, MS, a pediatric oncologist at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, received a $25,000 grant from Teen Cancer America to support her project Building an Inclusive AYA Survivorship Pipeline Across Urban, Suburban, and Rural Catchment Areas. 

Many teens and young adults who finish cancer treatment do not receive long-term follow-up care, even though they may face health challenges years later. This project will identify young cancer survivors, particularly those who were treated in suburban and rural cancer settings (Lurie Children's and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine affiliates) who are no longer connected to care and learn directly from them about what support they need. The research team will also talk with doctors and nurses across the suburban and rural hospital affiliate network to understand current gaps in cancer survivorship care for young people. Using this information, the team will design a practical, easy-to-use system to help young survivors reconnect with medical care, support services, and research opportunities. The goal is to make sure young cancer survivors—no matter where they were treated—have equitable access to the long-term care and resources they deserve. 

The project’s collaborators are Alexandra Psihogios, PhD, a clinical psychologist and an assistant professor in the Department of Medical Social Sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and Brynn Fowler, MPH, program coordinator of the Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Program at Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. 

Dr. Schwartz’s research investigates the impact of health behaviors and psychosocial factors on long-term health outcomes of childhood, adolescent, and young adult cancer survivors; evaluates clinical outcomes of young patients with rare types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, who are often ineligible for clinical trials; and studies long-term fertility issues that young patients receiving gonadotoxic therapies may face as cancer survivors. She is also an assistant professor of pediatrics at Feinberg School.

Pediatric research at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago is conducted through Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute.