Reducing Cancer Symptom Burden and Bringing Care Closer to Home

Our group focuses on research that links cancer control with behavioral science and develops and tests new approaches to cancer care delivery that improve clinical outcomes and access to cutting-edge cancer care. We work to understand and reduce cancer symptom morbidity and the access challenges of travel for care to cancer centers. Our intent is to improve cancer treatment experience and bring cancer care closer to home.

We design and develop technology-enabled interventions to improve quality of life for people with cancer and their family caregivers. We have created and tested a remote monitoring and care management platform, Symptom Care at Home, that demonstrated exceptional reductions in patient symptom burden and improvements in family caregiver well-being. With this automated system, we can monitor and improve care to cancer patients and their families at home, including those living in remote rural or frontier communities.

Our group has extended this work by developing and testing the first oncology-based hospital-at home-program, Huntsman at Home, that provides advanced, hospital-level, home-based care for those experiencing the acute effects of treatment and cancer. We tested this care delivery model in the Salt Lake urban area beginning in 2018 and since 2021, we have adapted the program for those living in rural and remote communities in Southeastern Utah. In 2024, we were awarded an ARPA-H PARADIGM project to expand Rural Huntsman at Home and test advanced technology capabilities through a mobile vehicle. This will allow us to demonstrate and evaluate a model of decentralized cancer care where a meaningful portion of cancer treatment, including clinical trials, can be received in rural and remote communities, increasing access to care and decreasing travel burdens.