About Me
I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Implementation Science at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Member of the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center. I also serve as Research Director for the University of North Carolina Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Cancer Program. My research focuses on improving cancer care delivery for AYAs through the development and implementation of interventions and innovative models of care to coordinate multidisciplinary services and resources that address AYAs’ physical, psychosocial, and practical needs. I am particularly interested in interventions to assess and address health-related social needs and improve equity in oncology. Among the first to apply an implementation science lens to AYA oncology, I have spearheaded a body of work on the implementation of specialized AYA cancer care. In this work, I have partnered extensively with local and national nonprofits (e.g., Teen Cancer America, Be Loud! Sophie Foundation) to develop and disseminate guidance to inform the implementation of AYA-specific models of oncology care nationally. More recently, my work focuses on extending advancements in cancer care delivery to community oncology settings, where the majority of patients receive care; for example, I am currently leading a project to enhance social needs screening across the National Cancer Institute Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP).
Methodologically, my research focuses on advancing implementation science methods, including methods for tailoring implementation efforts and scaling interventions across diverse clinical contexts. This work has culminated in the development of Context-Driven Co-Design (CD2), an approach for pre-implementation planning that is currently being tested across a variety of clinical settings. To support my work, I have received funding from the National Cancer Institute, Teen Cancer America, the Be Loud! Sophie Foundation, the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, Wake Forest’s Implementation Science Center for Cancer Control (1P50CA244693-01) and NCORP (UG1CA189824-02).