A psychosocial oncology program is a part of a revolution in cancer care at Penn Medicine to address a wider range of cancer patients’ experiences, and includes specially trained psychotherapists at no cost.
2 min. read
Breast cancer unsteadied Pam Fisher. The mass was found early, it was highly treatable, and the pharmaceutical executive was determined to get through cancer the same way she tackled any other challenge: Identify the problem, resolve it, move on.
But when Fisher returned to work in the summer of 2024 after a medical leave of absence, she felt like she had been pushed off an emotional cliff. She doesn’t know if it was an existential crisis or the sudden loss of estrogen from the medication shutting down her ovaries, but she felt adrift, overwhelmed, and unsettled—awash in negative thoughts.
Patients are 10 times more likely to engage in mental health services when the therapy is integrated in a medical clinic, says Rebecca Boswell, center, with therapists at the Psychosocial Oncology Clinic.
(Image: Courtesy of Penn Medicine News)
Her oncologist, Ramy Sedhom, medical director of Oncology and Palliative Care at Penn Medicine Princeton Health, said something that brought tears to her eyes: “How are you doing?”
“It was so powerful for him to ask that question,” Fisher says. “He was the only person who knew what I had been through.”
Sedhom told her about a new Psychosocial Oncology Clinic—a team of specially trained psychotherapists, available at no charge in the most convenient setting for patients. The oncologist recommended Fisher talk with Kara Buda, a psychologist on the same floor.
Fisher told him she didn’t need that. In the environment and culture in which she was raised, “you don’t go see a doctor for your mind. You put your head down and figure it out, and work through it.” The second or third time she had uncontrollable tears in Sedhom’s office, she remembers him taking a more direct approach: “I’m going to get Dr. Buda. Just talk to her.”
The psychosocial oncology program—funded by a $2.6 million gift, co-led by Sedhom and psychologist Rebecca Boswell, and already serving as a model for other sites—is a part of a revolution in cancer care at Penn Medicine to address a wider range of cancer patients’ experiences.
Integrated behavioral health interventions—where psychologists and therapists treat mental health concerns as part of the care team—make sense for multiple reasons, Boswell says.
Mental health support is proven to improve not only psychological symptoms, but also medical outcomes. For cancer patients specifically, research shows that those who seek and receive mental health support have an improved quality of life during care, as well as fewer hospitalizations, better outcomes, and a higher likelihood of successfully completing their treatment, Boswell says.
The clinic has five psychologists and licensed clinical social workers. In addition to providing clinical services, the team is conducting clinical research investigating the best ways to deliver care (asynchronous visits vs. aligned to when patients see their doctor, in-person versus telehealth, etc.) and adaptations of evidence-based psychological treatments to the oncology setting.
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