Rachel Werk, MD
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics
Research Program
- Non-Programically Aligned (NPA)
Cancer-Focused Research
My main research interests focus on health behaviors, quality of life, and neurocognitive deficits of pediatric cancer patients and survivors. Early in my career, I examined the predictors of health risk behaviors among adolescents and young adults (AYA) that could predispose them to future cancers. This inspired involvement and leadership in projects assessing risky behaviors and predictors of anxiety in AYA cancer survivors. Witnessing how a cancer diagnosis can alter a child's entire world perspective, l also examined how a cancer diagnosis and treatment could affect a child's spiritual and neurologic development. I then examined the predictors of post-traumatic stress symptoms among adolescent Hodgkin Lymphoma survivors who had been treated on a Children's Oncology Group Phase III trial. Recently, my research endeavors have consisted of evaluating and intervening on neurocognitive deficits among pediatric cancer patients and survivors. These include assessing the validity of a novel screening tool for referral for neuropsychological evaluation, developing and implementing an educational intervention for parents of pediatric cancer patients and survivors, and assessing the relationship between serum markers and neurocognitive deficits among this population.