Funding from the Princeton Medical Center Foundation and the Princeton Health Innovations (PHI) Committee will establish a clinical health psychology postdoctoral fellowship at the Penn Medicine Princeton Cancer Center (PMPCC). The fellowship will provide integrated behavioral health services to patients with cancer to improve health outcomes, and will have significant financial benefits for patients, families, and the hospital.

Patients with cancer—and their caregivers—experience distress and would benefit from mental health services to supplement their medical treatment. Clinical research has shown that behavioral health services in cancer care settings improve patient outcomes. Due to the high demand for behavioral health services and a shortage in trained providers, patients and caregivers who experience depression, anxiety, anticipatory grief, or other mental health symptoms related to their illness could wait weeks or months for an outpatient psychologist appointment. This need extends beyond cancer and includes patients seen in primary care, the gastroenterology clinic, and on consultation-liaison services.

To address a vacancy of clinical health psychologists at the Princeton Medical Center, a clinical health psychology postdoctoral fellowship will be established to help patients with cancer and their caregivers connect with therapists the same day they request help. Not only will this fellowship help improve health outcomes for patients, but it will also help reduce healthcare costs for patients and families and reduce emotional burnout for healthcare workers.

This project is led by clinical health psychologist Rebecca Boswell, PhD, and PC3I Faculty Ramy Sedhom, MD. Dr. Boswell received the Princeton Health Innovations (PHI) grant to train a clinical health psychology postdoctoral fellow to provide integrated behavioral health services and evaluate improvements in patient care and system impacts of this service. Dr. Sedhom recently secured a grant to establish a Geriatric Oncology program at the Penn Medicine Princeton Cancer Center that will also integrate mental health services for older adult patients with cancer and their caregivers.