The mission of the Psycho-Oncology Research Program is to use psychology to improve the health and quality of life of people with cancer and their families.
Overview
Dr. Hoerger founded the Psycho-Oncology Research Program in 2013 at Tulane University in New Orleans. He additionally serves as Program Lead of the Tulane Cancer Center's Population Sciences and Disparities Program and Program Co-Lead for the Louisiana Cancer Research Center. Psycho-Oncology examines how psychosocial factors -- thoughts, emotions, behaviors, relationships, and culture -- contribute to cancer outcomes, as well as how the experience of living with cancer affects patients and their families. With the goal of mitigating the emotional and physical burden of cancer, our group has published >115 articles and chapters and trained over 30 scientists, supported in part by $2.8 million in federal, state, and local research funds. We thank the patients, family members, clinicians, community members, and funders that have made this research possible.
Research Priorities
COVID support: We lead the most-access U.S. COVID forecasting dashboard, which shows ongoing high COVID transmission in 2024 and likely for many years to follow. This remains an ongoing threat, especially for people with cancer, and we are international leaders in supporting patients to avoid severe outcomes of COVID.
Palliative care: We are conducting a pivotal RCT designed to help patients gain better access to palliative care and experience improved quality of life.
Tobacco control: Smoking prevention, smoking cessation, and lung cancer screening
Health education and empowerment
Psychosocial factors that affect mental health, quality of life, and mortality
Health disparities based on geography, race, education, and financial status
Health psychology training
Translational psychological science, emphasizing personality, affect, and decision making
