NCI Hosts 17th International Meeting on Psychosocial Aspects of Hereditary Cancer
, by Elise Tookmanian, Ph.D.
In May 2023, the NCI hosted the 17th International Meeting on Psychosocial Aspects of Hereditary Cancer (IMPAHC) at the Shady Grove campus. The meeting was co-chaired by Allison Werner-Lin, Ph.D., A.M., Ed.M., L.C.S.W., senior advisor to the Clinical Genetics Branch (CGB), and Dr. Jada Hamilton, Associate Attending Psychologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and former NCI Cancer Prevention Fellow. The NCI Planning Committee for the meeting included Sharon A. Savage, M.D., CGB Director, Rowan Forbes Shepherd, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow in CGB, and Camella Rising, Ph.D., M.S., R.D.N., research fellow in CGB, as well as William Klein, Ph.D., Associate Director of the NCI Behavioral Research Program (BRP) and Chloe Huelsnitz, Ph.D., M.P.H., NCI Cancer Prevention Fellow in the BRP. There were presentations by current DCEG fellows, which are listed below. Emily Pearce, M.P.H., predoctoral fellow in CGB, received a Student Travel Award for her presentation.
Browse the full IMPAHC program and agenda.
Camella Rising presents her talk, "Body image, health behaviors, and health-related quality of life in young people with inherited multi-organ cancer risk: A call for mindful self-compassion-focused interventions."
Rowan Forbes Shepherd presents his talk, "Understanding scanxiety among individuals with Li-Fraumeni syndrome undergoing periodic cancer screening: A qualitative study."
From left to right: Jennifer Young, Rowan Forbes-Shepherd, Allison Werner-Lin, Camella Rising, Ashley Thompson, Chloe Huelsnitz, Catherine Wilsnack, Emily Pearce, and Sharon Savage.
Keynote Panel
Dr. Shepherd - "A focus on the mental health of young people with inherited cancer syndromes: A mixed-method study of Li-Fraumeni syndrome"
Invited Talk
Dr. Rising - "Body image, health behaviors, and health-related quality of life in young people with inherited multi-organ cancer risk: A call for mindful self-compassion-focused interventions"
Parallel Paper Session
Ms. Pearce - “Social media as a tool for expressing and managing medical uncertainty in Dyskeratosis Congenita"
Dr. Shepherd - "Understanding scanxiety among individuals with Li-Fraumeni syndrome undergoing periodic cancer screening: A qualitative study"
Poster Session
Dr. Rising - "Caregiver experiences navigating telomere biology disorder-related social support with family and friends"