Abby R. Rosenberg, MD, MS, MA, is the Chief of Pediatric Palliative Care at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Director of Pediatric Palliative Care at Boston Children’s Hospital, and an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.  She received her MD from Stanford University and completed her pediatrics residency and hematology/oncology fellowship training at the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital.  Her additional training includes a Master of Science in Clinical Research Methods and a Master of Arts in Bioethics, both from the University of Washington. Prior to joining the team at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children’s, she held the Aldarra Endowed Chair for Survivorship and Outcomes Research at Seattle Children’s and directed both the Palliative Care and Resilience Program at Seattle Children’s Research Institute and the Pediatrics section at the Cambia Palliative Care Center of Excellence at the University of Washington.  Her national leadership positions have included the Chair of the American Society of Clinical Oncology Ethics committee, the Chair of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine Scientific Program committee, the Chair of the American Cancer Society’s standing peer-review section for palliative care and outcomes science, and the chair of the Children’s Oncology Group Patient-Reported Outcomes committee. 

Dr. Rosenberg’s scholarship is focused on promoting the quality of life of children, adolescents, and young adults with serious illness.  Specifically, she and her team endeavor to create evidence-based programs to promote patient and family resilience, in turn enabling both children and families to thrive. Dr. Rosenberg has been continuously funded by the NIH for her entire career, and currently holds multiple independent grants to test and disseminate her novel resilience-coaching program. She has published over 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts related to pediatric and AYA palliative care, supportive oncology, and survivorship, and has been an invited speaker at over 80 national and international meetings.  She has received scientific recognition awards from organizations such as the American Cancer Society, the Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO, the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, the National Palliative Care Research Center, the Cambia Health Foundation, and the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations. In 2022, she received the Trish Green Lifetime Achievement Award for Quality of Life research from the American Cancer Society. 

Finally, Dr. Rosenberg is dedicated to training the next generation of survivorship and outcomes researchers.  She has been a leader for multiple NIH-sponsored training grants and programs.  Her mentoring mission is to support the development of women and people who have been historically marginalized trainees in science. In the past 5 years, 100% of her mentees successfully secured level-appropriate extramural funding and academic positions for career their development.  Dr. Rosenberg is the recipient of the 2021 “Excellence in Mentoring Women” award from the University of Washington.  

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Dr. Susan Parsons’ career has combined formal graduate training in health economics and planning, with extensive clinical training and experience in hematology/oncology, and cancer survivorship. Dr. Parsons graduated from Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons with top honors in pediatrics. She completed a residency and chief residency at Boston Children’s Hospital, followed by a fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at the Boston Children’s/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Her research has focused on strategies to improve the patient’s experience with healthcare, reduce regimen-related toxicity, and optimize functioning. Nationally, she serves as a member of the Children’s Oncology Group’s (COG) Steering Committee for Hodgkin Lymphoma (HL) and member of the study team of three frontline clinical trials. In the recently completed high risk pediatric study (AHOD 1331), she led an embedded study on chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy and co-leads a cost effectiveness analysis. In two other trials, she serves as the Quality of Life chair, examining the trajectory of health-related quality of life, symptom burden, and financial toxicity, associated with novel therapy. In 2019 Dr. Parsons was appointed chair of cancer care delivery research (CCDR) for COG and has served as a member of the NCI’s Scientific Steering for CCDR for almost seven years. Within her own research, she is co-founder of the HoLISTIC Consortium (Hodgkin Lymphoma International Study for Individual Care) with the goal of enhancing patient-provider communication on treatment trade-offs in HL. Dr. Parsons is a Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at Tufts University School of Medicine, Director of the Center for Health Solutions within the Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies, and founding Medical Director of the Reid R. Sacco AYA Cancer Program at Tufts Medical Center, providing survivorship care to AYA-aged survivors diagnosed in childhood, adolescence or young adulthood.

Dr. Williams is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery, Division of Supportive Care in Cancer at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Dr. Williams completed her PhD in Epidemiology at the University of Rochester and a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Pediatric Cancer  Control and Survivorship at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Dr. Williams’ research is focused on treatment-related toxicities and late effects among survivors of pediatric, adolescent, and young adult cancer. Specifically, cancer-related neuropsychological and psychosocial sequelae, their underlying mechanisms, and effective interventions. Her current NCI funded research examines accelerated physiologic and biologic aging as an underlying molecular mechanism by which cancer-related sequelae arise in survivors of Hodgkin lymphoma, the most common cancer diagnosed in adolescents. This research provides critical information to help us exploit these pathways to design targeted interventions among high-risk subgroups to mitigate or prevent neurocognitive and psychosocial sequelae. 

Peter is the CEO of Canteen, an Australian not-for-profit organisation that provides free and tailored support to young people aged 12 – 25 years, who are impacted by cancer. Peter has been with Canteen since 2012.

Peter is continually struck by the sense of possibility and vulnerability that can be present during adolescence and early adulthood. This has inspired him to work with young people for over 30 years across across homelessness, mental health, community health, and now cancer. He was Deputy CEO at headspace – national youth mental health foundation and then, as a Director at Australian Healthcare Associates, he undertook evaluations of federal and state initiatives across organ and tissue donation, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, mental health, disaster recovery and drug and alcohol.