University of Minnesota oncologists and researchers began tracking late effects of childhood cancer treatments in the early 1980s as survival rates for childhood cancers improved. The Childhood Cancer Survivor Study, a database that now provides the information for nearly all major childhood cancer survival studies in the country to date, was created at the University in 1993. The University's team continues to lead research in this field.

As part of the University's Academic Health Center and Masonic Cancer Center, physicians and scientists here have access to a wealth of resources. They work with colleagues in the Department of Pediatrics, Department of Medicine, Stem Cell Institute, and others to solve complex problems.

Here's what they're working on now:

Alicia Kunin-Batson, Ph.D.
Kunin-Batson, a pediatric neuropsychologist, is working with Joseph Neglia, M.D., M.P.H., on a Web-based project aimed at empowering childhood cancer survivors who are now adolescents or young adults by providing them with personalized information about their treatment history and future health risks. She hopes to determine the best time to provide that information, whether it increases their psychosocial well-being, and whether it helps them feel more comfortable making their own medical decisions. In another study, Kunin-Batson is examining the effects of methylphenidate, a stimulant medication that has been effective for children with developmental attention disorders such as ADHD, on attention and executive functioning after childhood cancer.

Daniel Mulrooney, M.D., M.S.
Mulrooney, director of the Long-Term Follow-Up Clinic (University of Minnesota Physicians), is studying cardiovascular outcomes after childhood cancer treatment, particularly treatment's impact on the blood vessels. Working with colleagues at the University's Vascular Biology Center, he's examining several biomarkers in patients who have had chest radiation along with other chemotherapy drugs to try to identify predictors of potential long-term vascular disease.

Joseph Neglia, M.D., M.P.H.
Neglia, a pediatric oncologist and vice chair of the Department of Pediatrics, is collaborating with Alicia Kunin-Batson, Ph.D., on a second project, this one aimed at discovering how genetic polymorphisms —a biological level below genes—can affect how different people's bodies handle certain drugs or exposures in different ways and how that may affect long-term outcomes. Neglia also is working on a national study examining neurocognitive and neurobehavioral outcomes in children with lymphoblastic leukemia as well as ongoing studies of late cancers occurring 20-plus years after childhood cancer treatment. He is co-leader of the Masonic Cancer Center's Cancer Outcomes and Survivorship Research Program.

Want to Get Involved?

Learn more about the clinical research studies happening at the University.

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The Growing Up After Cancer section of the Masonic Cancer Center Web site was produced by University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication graduate student Nicole Endres. The section's medical content was written under the advisement of Masonic Cancer Center member Joseph Neglia, M.D., M.P.H.