Arizona Cancer Center physician/scientist receives prestigious $3.68 million NCI research grant
April 23, 2009
TUCSON, Ariz. – Arizona Cancer Center physician/scientist Karen Weihs, MD, has been awarded a $3,682,256 research project grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to study emotion and depression in breast cancer survivorship. This is Dr. Weihs’ first R01 grant.
The five-year study will enroll 450 women with newly diagnosed breast cancer starting in 2010 and will monitor them closely through their treatment and survivorship. The goal of the study is to determine what biologic, psychological and social characteristics may protect the patients from clinical depression, says Dr. Weihs, medical director of psychosocial oncology at the Arizona Cancer Center and an associate professor of psychiatry at The University of Arizona. She also practices psychiatry, providing individual and family psychotherapy, as well as pharmacotherapy services to cancer patients.
“Our patients will be assessed for genetic factors that may combine with stress to increase the risk for depression. We are particularly interested in differences in the overall stress of these patients’ lives and the ways they cope with the emotional turmoil of the first year after breast cancer. We want to understand how close relationships may buffer the effects of stress,” Dr. Weihs says.
Serving as co-principal investigator on the study will be Annette Stanton, PhD, professor of psychology and psychiatry/biobehavioral sciences and member of UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.
For the past 10 years, Dr. Weihs has been investigating how close relationships affect a woman’s mental and physical health after she is diagnosed with breast cancer. Her clinical practice is focused on mental health care for cancer patients. Dr. Weihs joined UA in 2005 from George Washington University.
The Arizona Cancer Center is the state’s premier National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center. With primary locations at The University of Arizona in Tucson and in Scottsdale, the Center has more than a dozen research and education offices throughout the state and 300 physician and scientist members working to prevent and cure cancer. For more information, go to www.arizonacancercenter.org