Meagan Whisenant
PhD, RN
Assistant Professor
Department of Research
Meagan Whisenant, PhD, RN, has worked in oncology nursing for more than 15 years, in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Dr. Whisenant studies symptoms associated with cancer disease and treatment. Her work involves studying the measurement of cancer disease- and treatment-related symptoms, variability in symptom trajectories, and methods for implementing routine symptom monitoring and management in clinical care, including patient-reported outcomes (PRO) instrument development and testing. She utilizes both qualitative and quantitative methods to learn about the symptom experience from the patient and family caregiver perspective and consider approaches for monitoring and managing symptoms across the cancer trajectory.
Education
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Biomedical Informatics, Houston, Texas
Post-Master’s Certificate - Biomedical Informatics
2021
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
College of Nursing and a Hawn Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship
2017-2019
University of Utah College of Nursing, Salt Lake City, Utah
NINR T32 funded Postdoctoral Fellowship - Interdisciplinary Research in Cancer, Aging, and End of Life Care
2016-2017
University of Utah College of Nursing, Salt Lake City, Utah
Post-Master’s Certificate - Nursing Education
2016
University of Utah College of Nursing, Salt Lake City, Utah
Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing
2016
Cizik School of Nursing, The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, Texas
Master of Science in Nursing - Family Nurse Practitioner -Oncology Focus
2006
New York University College of Nursing, New York, New York
Bachelor of Science in Nursing
2002
Clinical/Research Focus
Her current focus is to improve cancer patient outcomes by developing a program of research focused on describing the symptom burden of cancer and methods for implementing routine symptom monitoring and management in cancer care using PRO measures. She is working on determining whether clinical, demographic, or genetic factors may distinguish symptom trajectory groups as well as modeling symptom trajectories in various cancer populations. Identifying distinct symptom trajectories and describing correlates of those trajectories may assist clinicians in targeting symptom management strategies for those most at risk for moderate or severe symptom experiences. Symptom monitoring and management has demonstrated improved cancer patient outcomes, yet best practices have not been established. Collection of symptom data is complicated by the dynamic nature of symptoms, the need for complex data management systems, and the timing of cancer symptoms, which often occur in the home setting and are not reported to clinicians. The use of disease-specific validated questionnaires in capturing PROs is critical for facilitating individualized symptom monitoring, management and treatment decisions. Dr. Whisenant is studying methods for capturing symptom-related data using PRO measures and studying patient-provider communication about symptoms in the outpatient setting.
Publications
- Supportive Care for Dual Caregivers who Care for Their Partner With Cancer and Their Young Children
- Measuring symptom burden in patients with cancer during a pandemic: the MD Anderson symptom inventory for COVID-19 (MDASI-COVID)
- Living With an Advanced Cancer While Parenting Minor Children: A Needs Assessment Study
- Technology-Assisted mHealth Caregiver Support to Manage Cancer Patient Symptoms: A Randomized Controlled Trial
- Development and validation of a patient-reported outcome measure to assess symptom burden after chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy
