Q and A with Cancer Psychology Expert Lara Traeger
The Sylvester researcher, clinical psychologist and associate professor of psychology at the University of Miami helps her patients and their families navigate their post-diagnosis reality.
A cancer diagnosis invariably leaves patients and their families with a long to-do list, from managing logistical concerns like complicated treatment regimens to emotional ones like big feelings. At Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, support is never far away.
Lara Traeger, Ph.D. ’09, a Sylvester researcher, clinical psychologist and associate professor of psychology at the University of Miami, helps her patients and their families navigate their post-diagnosis reality. Dr. Traeger teaches cancer patients the skills they need to successfully manage their care, cope with side effects and communicate effectively with doctors. Her support extends through to addressing survivorship challenges on the other end of treatment. Dr. Traeger is learning what works best by studying the effectiveness of these behavioral interventions in enhancing quality of life and care.
We sat down with Dr. Traeger to learn more about her lifechanging work.
Can you tell us about your role and research focus at Sylvester?
My focus is on developing, testing and integrating into cancer care evidenced-based interventions that help patients enhance their resiliency and quality of life. We do that through assisting patients in developing skills to master all of the complex activities they have to do on their own to take care of their health while going through cancer care and into survivorship.
One of the most important aspects of my research is my collaboration with clinicians who care for the patients. We don’t do any research until we understand what the clinical issues are that patients and their families and clinicians are facing. We want our research to be clinically relevant and useful.
Can you tell us about a project you’re excited about?
We are about to start a trial to test interventions for patients who have gone through a bone marrow transplant and are facing the complexities of chronic graft versus host disease. It’s a complicated syndrome to live with so we bring together a transplant clinician and a behavioral health specialist. The transplant clinician is delivering medical information and, right alongside them, the behavioral health clinician is helping patients understand that information and apply it to their lives. We are bringing together that synergy between the mind and body.
We are enrolling patients at the University of Miami but also nationally. This is a very isolating condition and if you bring patients together to connect with each other and with experts, can we actually disseminate this nationally and support patients all over the country? This is very exciting.
What other unique studies are you conducting?
One of our new trials helps cancer survivors with sexual health. The patients visit their survivorship clinician to address the biological factors that could contribute to sexual health concerns. Some of these patients get access to a digital application where they can, at their own pace and in the privacy of their own home, learn more about the psychological and social contributors to sexual health concerns and practice strategies to address them.
It’s a hybrid approach of integrating digital health care and in-person health care, and that’s helpful because there are very few clinicians with that expertise and very few institutions that have the resources to support clinicians to deliver this in-person.
What motivates you in your work?
The idea that, with some pretty straightforward and simple strategies, you can help patients become masters of their own health and their own quality of life when they are facing pretty complex self-care tasks. I love bringing in clinicians to learn these strategies, and I like to teach the next generation how to do this kind of research to continue this care.
What was your path to medicine and cancer care in particular?
I’ve been interested in psychology since I was a little girl. After college I worked with patients facing major life stressors, and I became interested in trying to understand how stress impacts the body and how you can intervene. It led me down the path of studying health psychology.
What is one hobby you have that might surprise others?
I’m a mom to a 7-year-old, and her favorite thing to do is ice skating. So the irony of moving from Boston to Miami to spend our Sundays at the ice-skating rink is really funny to me. I love it!
What are you reading lately?
I read a ton of research literature. But I have just gone through the Harry Potter series with my daughter. I’ve rediscovered it through her eyes, and I know it’s not the most intellectual thing to do, but I have really enjoyed it.
Tags: cancer research, Cancer Support Services, cancer survivorship, Cancer Survivorship Program, Dr. Lara Traeger, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center