Dr. Colleen Cuthbert, PhD, RN
Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Tier II Canada Research Chair in Patient and Family Centered Cancer Survivorship
Faculty of Nursing announces its first Canada Research Chair
UCalgary Nursing’s first-ever Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Tier II Canada Research Chair (CRC) was announced in late July of 2020. Alumna Dr. Colleen Cuthbert (BN’06, MN/NP’08, PhD’17) began as a tenure-track assistant professor in 2019 and accepted the CRC in Patient and Family Centered Cancer Survivorship for five years with the possibility of one renewal.
Cuthbert’s role as CRC Chair is to ensure the continuation of quality research in this area. Her clinical practice experience as a nurse practitioner in oncology largely focused on follow-up cancer care and symptom management with a keen interest in survivorship issues.
Cancer survivorship has recently gained attention because of the growing number of people living through a cancer diagnosis who have unique health needs; they require support in multiple domains to achieve optimum health and quality of life. Cancer survivorship research has been identified as a national research priority with the goal of developing more knowledge, increased capacity and garnering more funding to address the challenges faced by survivors, their families and the health system. Cuthbert’s goal is to develop innovative approaches to survivorship care.
Colleen Cuthbert: Patients as Partners in Cancer Research
PROSTAID Calgary
Collaborators/Partners
- Alberta Health Services
- Oncology Outcomes
- Alberta Cancer Foundation
In the News
Keeping Caregivers Healthy
Being a Killam scholar means that my work is recognized as important and worthy of support from the Killam Trustees. Given the passion that I have for my research topic, and for improving the lives of cancer patients and their families, it is very meaningful to have others within the larger academic community agree that this is an important topic. I am also inspired by the hard work and dedication of other Killam scholars, and this motivates me to ensure that my research efforts live up to the same quality and calibre.
Research shows physical activity can improve caregivers' well-being
We all know physical activity improves physical fitness and psychological health, can help prevent disease, and enhances our overall well-being. Little research exists, however, on its benefits to family caregiver populations.
Traditionally, support has focused on education about self-care or on counselling. “Research over the last 30 years has demonstrated that family caregivers — that is, family or friends providing unpaid care to a loved one with illness — are at increased risk for a myriad of physical and psychological health problems as a direct result of being in the caregiver role,” explains Cuthbert.
Adapting research to a virtual format COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a substantial impact on our research operations and activities, as it has for many other research programs. Prior to the pandemic, our group was in the midst of organizing the final stage of a two-year long priority setting partnership. Priority Setting Partnerships (PSPs) bring together clinicians, patients and carers to identify and prioritize unanswered questions related to specific areas of health and care that could be addressed by future research.