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Deborah Watkins Bruner
, PhD, RN, FAAN
Degree and Institution
RN, Widener University
PhD, University of Pennsylvania
Faculty Title
Independence Professor of Nursing Education
Administrative Title
Director, Recruitment, Retention and Outreach Core (RROC) Facility
Department
Research Expertise
Dr. Bruner is best known for her pioneering leadership in the National Cancer Institute (NCI) - supported Cancer Clinical Trials Cooperative Groups. Dr. Bruner is the first and currently only nurse to serve as a Vice Chair of one of the national cooperative groups, the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG). Dr. Bruner has worked for almost two decades with the RTOG and another cooperative group, the Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG). She is past Chair of the RTOG Quality of Life Committee and current Chair of the RTOG Outcomes Committee. She is a founding member of the RTOG and GOG quality of life committees and conducted RTOG's first clinical trial incorporating quality of life. As RTOG Chair for the Outcomes Committee she published the first conceptual framework which has changed the paradigm for incorporation of (nurse-sensitive) symptom and quality of life outcomes into national clinical trials. Dr. Bruner has been appointed to the NCI Clinical Trials Advisory Committee (CTAC) which will set the national cancer clinical trials research agenda. Further, she has recently been appointed as co-chair of the NCI Symptom Management and Quality of Life Steering Committee which has the purpose of reviewing and prioritizing NCI-funded symptom management and quality of life research and helping direct the future of these areas of science.
Dr. Bruner's research has focused on quality of life, patient reported outcomes (PROs) and symptom management across cancer sites with a focus on pelvic tumors, as well as decision-making, preferences and utilities for cancer therapies. Dr. Bruner is also internationally recognized for her research in sexuality after cancer therapy. In the area of recruitment and health disparities, Dr. Bruner has applied a novel scientific methodology in health care, social marketing, to cancer research, and is leading a unique program to study the behavioral aspects of human subjects recruitment to research trials.
Publications
Click here to see my publications
Contact Information
Researcher/Clinician:
Deborah Watkins Bruner
University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
Claire M. Fagin Hall, Room 429
418 Curie Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6096
Office Phone: 215-746-2356
Fax: 215-898-3056
wbruner@nursing.upenn.edu
Assistant:
Suzanne Leimkuhler
Office Phone: 215-746-2320
Appointment Phone: N/A
Fax: N/A
suzannee@nursing.upenn.edu
Mailing Address:
Deborah Watkins Bruner
University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
Claire M. Fagin Hall, Room 429
418 Curie Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6096
Office Phone: 215-746-2356
Appointment Phone: n/a
Fax: 215-898-3056
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