St. Jude: How neighborhoods impact children treated for brain tumors
Heather Conklin of the St. Jude Department of Psychology and Biobehavioral Sciences led the study. She said it marks the first time someone in the oncology space has used a neighborhood-level measure rather than a family-specific one to predict cognitive outcomes in children treated for brain tumors. (Courtesy St. Jude Children's Research Hospital)
“It’s been in the last couple of decades — particularly with children treated with brain tumors — that the survival rates have improved so much. And the focus is now not only just on a cure, but also on quality of life after,” said the study’s lead researcher.
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St. Jude Children's Research Hospital pediatric cancerAisling Mäki
Aisling Mäki covers health care, banking and finance, technology and professions. After launching her career in news two decades ago, she worked in public relations for almost a decade before returning to journalism in 2022.
As a health care reporter, she’s collaborated with The Carter Center, earned awards from the Associated Press and Society of Professional Journalists and won a 2024 Tennessee Press Association first-place prize for her series on discrepancies in Shelby County life expectancy by ZIP code.
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