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$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 healthcare 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

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