Dr. Terry Badger awarded V Foundation grant to improve quality of life for Latinas with breast cancer

Terry Badger, PhD, PMHCNS-BC, RN, FAAN, has been awarded a grant from the V Foundation to help improve the quality of life and access to education for Latinas with breast cancer who live in rural areas.

With the support of this one-year, $65,000 grant beginning July 1, Dr. Badger will advance her project “Health Education and Counseling to Improve QOL for Latinas with Breast Cancer.” This project will complement her current American Cancer Society-supported study evaluating telephone-delivered counseling for Latinas with breast cancer and their supportive partners.

“Latinas are a growing and particularly vulnerable population with regard to breast cancer, because they tend to be diagnosed at later stages, to be sicker, and in particular, have fewer easily accessible resources to deal with their psychological distress,” said Dr. Badger. “Untreated distress is associated with poorer health outcomes, so we designed a study to offer support that could easily be accessed by these patients.”

Dr. Badger is a professor and division director of community and systems health science at the University of Arizona College of Nursing and is a member of the UA Cancer Center’s Cancer Prevention and Control Program. Dr. Badger is also part of the Arizona Health Science Center’s Health Disparities Advisory Council.

The mission of The V Foundation is to save lives by finding cures for cancer. Since 1994 when the first grant was awarded, The V Foundation has funded hundreds of grants to the brightest scientists as they pioneer techniques to make breakthroughs in cancer research. Grants are selected by a Scientific Advisory Committee through a highly competitive process; only cancer research projects with the most potential are funded.

Dr. Badger’s research is supported by V Foundation Grant ID: D2015-009.

-Nick Prevenas, June 1, 2015