Lisa Jacola, PhD, ABPP-CN

Remarkable advances in treatment and supportive care have led to substantial improvements in childhood cancer survival. Unfortunately, many survivors experience physical and psychosocial late effects that compromise quality of life. Neurocognitive late effects are among the most common and consequential late effects of childhood cancer, contributing to diminished quality of life across the lifespan. Addressing these challenges requires an understanding of the developmental, biological, psychosocial, and contextual factors that shape risk and resilience.

The overarching goal of my research program is to optimize neurobehavioral health and quality of life for individuals affected by childhood catastrophic disease, particularly childhood cancer. My work seeks to define neurobehavioral outcomes and identify the developmental, biological, psychosocial and sociodemographic factors that contribute to them in order to design and implement interventions that promote neurocognitive health across the cancer continuum. I am committed to partnering with patients, families and the broader community in research.  

My research has made significant contributions to understanding the neurocognitive and functional consequences of treatment in childhood cancer survivors, particularly among survivors of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). These findings have informed national and international survivorship guidelines and risk-adapted approaches to neurocognitive monitoring. Collectively, this work has advanced a more precise understanding of risk and resilience, helping identify who is most vulnerable to adverse outcomes and when intervention efforts may have the greatest impact. Building on this evidence, I am currently developing and testing scalable interventions to prevent or mitigate neurocognitive problems. A central theme of these studies is that intervening early, near the time when problems develop, will have the greatest impact on improving outcomes. My work leverages remote implementation methods to enhance accessibility and virtual reality to promote engagement. Importantly, intervention studies are designed with input from those with lived experience of childhood cancer. 

A second major focus of my research program is advancing understanding of outcomes among historically understudied and neurodevelopmentally vulnerable populations. Despite a substantially increased risk of acute leukemia and a greater burden of treatment-related toxicity and morbidity, children with Down syndrome have historically been underrepresented in survivorship outcome studies. Early findings from my neurocognitive studies in long-term survivors of childhood acute leukemia with Down syndrome have supported the development of grant-funded, cooperative group studies aimed at characterizing neurobehavioral and quality of life outcomes across the treatment continuum. The goal is to shift the paradigm towards inclusion for survivors of childhood leukemia with Down syndrome by ensuring that these patients are represented in supportive care and survivorship guidelines and included in interventions to improve outcomes. 

Ultimately, my research seeks to advance precision survivorship care by developing patient- and family-centered strategies that prevent or mitigate neurobehavioral challenges, promote neurocognitive health, and optimize quality of life across the lifespan.