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In the battle against cancer, new drugs and therapies make the news. Behind the scenes, pediatric nursing researcher Janice Withycombe PhD MN RN CCRP knows that better care leads to better outcomes for young cancer patients, their families, and clinicians.
"Children with cancer will teach you how to live," says Withycombe, assistant professor in the School of Nursing. "Children are incredibly resilient. One way that we can help them through treatment is to recognize and treat symptoms that can impact their quality of life."
Upon joining Emory in 2015, Withycombe found a strong mentor in oncology nursing researcher Deborah Bruner PhD RN FAAN and a strong connection with the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Aflac Cancer Center, one of the largest and best in the country.
"Childhood cancer is rarer than adult cancer. In order to do our best work, pediatric oncology researchers have to band together," Withycombe says.
Accurate and effective communication is at the heart of her research, which focuses on symptom identification and management in children undergoing cancer treatment and patient/family education for children newly diagnosed with cancer.