August 2024 BRA Banter

Ashley Henneghan, PhD, RN, FAAN from The University of Texas at Austin and Dr. Kathleen Van Dyk from UCLA will be with us to discuss cognitive changes after chemotherapy.

Together, they recently published an article on this topic, you can check it out here to get a preview of what will be discussed.

• Date: August 21
• Time: 12pm CST
• Location: Zoom (RSVP below to get the link)

All About Ashley:

As a nurse, Dr. Henneghan's clinical experience has focused on alleviating unwanted symptoms and optimizing wellness for persons with chronic diseases including cancer. She received her BSN from Pennsylvania State University in 2008, and her MSN (2014) and PhD from the University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing in 2017. Before joining the faculty at UT Austin, she spent a year as a Postdoctoral Fellow at MD Anderson Cancer Center in the Neuroimaging Lab in the Department of Neuro-Oncology.

The substantive, sustained impact of Dr. Henneghan's work focuses on defining and improving cognitive and psychosocial outcomes in cancer survivors. Cognitive and psychosocial outcomes can emerge during or after cancer treatment and are troublesome to survivors. Her research is aimed at defining, treating, and ultimately preventing cognitive and psychosocial symptoms in cancer survivors. This is a critically important area given that cancer affects in 1 in 2 adults during the lifetime and increasingly more of these individuals are living beyond cancer treatment. She applies biobehavioral and precision health methods to advance knowledge and develop targeted integrative interventions to optimize functioning and quality of life following cancer treatment. This is aligned with national and international health priorities specifically, to delineate underlying mechanisms of symptoms and to advance science through the integration of biological and behavioral sciences.

Dr. Henneghan is passionate about investing all that she can in the future of our nursing profession through education and by mentoring students and providing training experiences that could facilitate the development of leaders in nursing. She teaches Introduction to Nursing Research (N 264) and mentors undergraduate, medical, and graduate students. 

All About Kathleen:

Assistant Professor, Dept. of Psychiatry 

Division of Geriatric Psychiatry 

University of California, Los Angeles

Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior 

David Geffen School of Medicine

Dr. Van Dyk is a clinical neuropsychologist and researcher whose work has focused on aging and supporting cognitive health in cancer survivorship. Because of her clinical work with patients with CRCI, her research aims at understanding risk for cognitive decline, applying the most useful assessment methods to help understand the nature of cognitive problems, and how to develop effective support plans for patients with CRCI.