Dr. Mary Jo Gilmer Studies the Family Experience of Childhood Cancer

Mary Jo Gilmer, PhD, MBA, RN-BC, FAAN, is a Professor of Nursing and Professor of Medicine (Paediatrics) at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. She currently serves as the Co-Director of the Pediatric Palliative Care Research Team at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University. Her research interests include parent-sibling bereavement, parent-child communication, and interventions to reduce suffering in children with cancer.

Funded studies include interviews with bereaved parents and siblings after a child died of cancer. The long-term goal of this research is to reduce the suffering and morbidity of families affected by cancer and the loss of a child through controlled, longitudinal research on the psychosocial outcomes of these families. Dr. Gilmer’s current research is focused on the role of animal-assisted therapy with children newly diagnosed with cancer and their families and was recently featured on CNN. One potential outcome is expansion of a nurse-driven model of care aimed at improving long-term psychosocial health for children and their parents. For more information, contact IFNA member Mary Jo Gilmer.