Personal symptom networks to guide survivorship care for childhood cancer survivors
Official title: Using Artificial Intelligence to Estimate Personal Symptom Network for Cancer Survivorship Care
Funded at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital · NIH-11356463 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A new AI-based approach will map how symptoms cluster and interact in childhood cancer survivors to help clinicians tailor long-term care.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R21 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | St. Jude Children's Research Hospital NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Memphis, United States) |
| Project start | June 1, 2026 |
| Project end | May 31, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $491,925 |
| NIH project number | 1R21CA313586-01 |
| Project ID | NIH-11356463 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Childhood cancer survivors experiencing persistent or co-occurring symptoms.
✕Less likely to help
Survivors without significant symptom burden or those not yet engaged in survivorship care may see limited direct benefit.
What this research studies
This project will build personal symptom networks for childhood cancer survivors using an interpretable machine learning framework that accounts for therapy history, genetics, demographics, lifestyle, and neighborhood factors. By modeling how symptoms relate to each other at the individual level, clinicians can identify which symptoms to target first and how changes in one symptom might affect others. The work uses high-dimensional data and aims to translate findings into practical guidance for survivorship care plans. The effort focuses on improving quality of life and reducing the risk of subsequent health problems for survivors.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, patients could receive more personalized survivorship care that targets the most impactful symptom interactions.
How similar studies have gone: Previous research shows that symptom networks can reveal important interdependencies, but this aims to personalize those networks at the individual level.
Where this research is happening
-
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Memphis, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Zhou, Yiwang — St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- Study coordinator: Zhou, Yiwang
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.