Skip to main content
Go Back to System Level

$25,000 Award

Project Overview

There are roughly 18 million cancer survivors in the U.S. today. However, survivors are often plagued with symptoms that develop as a result of their treatments such as pain, anxiety, depression and insomnia that can lead to a significant decrease in quality of life. The team proposes an innovative approach to symptom management following cancer treatments utilizing a Multimodal Integrative Therapy (MIT) delivered via Virtual Reality (VR) program, authorized by the US Food and Drug Administration for in-home use. The MIT-VR program is designed to improve pain, fatigue, insomnia, sleep and anxiety and involves a combination of immersive VR with auditory guidance to promote the development of cognitive and behavioral self-coping skills for enduring effects. Implementing a successful MIT-VR program for patients with chronic cancer symptoms will benefit both our patients with improved symptom control and UMMC with improved outcomes, patient satisfaction, reduced health care utilization and cost.

Project Team

  • Luana Colloca, MD, PhD, MS – Principle Investigator
  • Julia Terhune, MD – Physician Sponsor
  • Kendyl Carlisle, MD, MS – Project Team Member
  • Katia Matychak, BS, MS – Project Team Member
  • Adria Suhr, BS – Project Team Member

In This Section: