Lynne Wagner, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medical Social Sciences and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Wagner is a member of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University (RHLCCC) and she is the Director of Supportive Oncology at RHLCCC at the Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation.
Dr. Wagner joined the Center on Outcomes, Research and Education at NorthShore University HealthSystem (formerly Evanston Northwestern Healthcare) as a clinical research scientist in 2000 and she joined the Department of Medical Social Sciences at the Northwestern University Feinberg Medical School in 2009. Dr. Wagner is a licensed clinical psychologist. She received her doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology from DePaul University, completed a clinical internship at the University of Chicago Hospitals and a clinical research fellowship at the Center on AIDS Intervention Research in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Dr. Wagner's research focuses on improving quality of life for adults with cancer through conducting research in cancer symptom management, measuring patient-reported outcomes in cancer clinical trials, and developing and validating patient-reported outcomes measures to assess quality of life from the patient perspective. As Chair of the National Cancer Institute-funded Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) Patient Outcomes and Survivorship Committee, Dr. Wagner provides leadership at the national level in overseeing the measurement of patient-reported outcomes in cancer clinical trials and in advancing a program of psychosocial and cancer survivorship research. Through ECOG, Dr. Wagner serves as the lead investigator or co-investigator on cancer clinical trials to assess health-related quality of life throughout treatment for various types of cancer. In recognition of her accomplishments in this role, Dr. Wagner also serves on the NCI-supported Symptom Management and Quality of Life Steering Committee and the Lymphoma Steering Committee. Dr. Wagner has served as a reviewer on the NCI Clinical Community Oncology Program grant review panel. She recently served on the Clinical Community Oncology Program Research Priorities Committee to provide the National Cancer Institute with expert input on future directions for research. She is currently serving as a track leader on the American Society of Clinical Oncology Scientific Planning Committee. Dr. Wagner has been nominated to represent the American Psychosocial Oncology Society on the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer and in this role, she has contributed to advancing psychosocial screening as a requirement for member institutions. Additional national leadership roles include ongoing service as an expert panel member on the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Cancer-Related Fatigue Panel and on the Distress Management Panel and serving as an RHLCCC and ASCO representative on the Alliance for Quality Psychosocial Cancer Care.
Dr. Wagner is the lead investigator or co-investigator on numerous National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health and American Cancer Society-funded research studies. She has authored or co-authored over 35 peer-reviewed publications, over 10 textbook chapters, and has presented at numerous scientific conferences and continuing medical education events. Dr. Wagner's research has focused on understanding the trajectory of cognitive function throughout treatment for cancer (ie. "chemo-brain") and developing a questionnaire and an item bank supported by a cancer supplement to the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS), a National Institutes of Health Roadmap Initiative, to assess perceived cognitive function. In the past year, Dr. Wagner has co-authored five peer-reviewed publications (Lancet Oncology, Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, Journal of Supportive Oncology, Supportive Care in Cancer, JNCCN). Dr. Wagner is currently involved in research collaborations with clinical investigators from the Northwestern University Feinberg Medical School from the Departments of Preventive Medicine, the Buehler Center on Aging, and the School of Medicine including Hematology/Oncology, Neuro-Oncology, and Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. Wagner's recent collaboration with key investigators from the Northwestern University Brain Tumor Institute has led to three conference presentations and ongoing research studies examining quality of life among adults with malignant gliomas and their caregivers. Additional research interests include the development of patient-reported outcomes measures to assess cancer and treatment-related symptoms and the development and evaluation of psychosocial interventions to reduce anxiety, fear of recurrence and distress.
As the Director of Supportive Oncology at RHLCCC, Dr. Wagner provides leadership for the inter-disciplinary team of nineteen supportive oncology providers, including psychologists, social workers, dietitians, patient navigators, and health information specialists. In addition, she provides psychosocial oncology clinical services through RHLCCC adult oncology clinics, including the STAR program for adult survivors of pediatric cancers. In this role, Dr. Wagner has supported the launching of the Maggie Daley Center for Women's Cancer Care including the development of psychosocial oncology services at the newly opened center and the acquisition of philanthropic funding to support psychosocial, rehabilitation, and integrative medicine services for adults with cancer treated at RHLCCC. In her role as Director of Supportive Oncology, Dr. Wagner is bridging the clinical need for psychosocial screening of cancer patients with the measurement science and informatics expertise in MSS through leading an initiative to conduct electronically-based psychosocial screening of adults with cancer presenting for treatment at RHLCCC.
