Whisenant Receives CPRIT Grant for Breast Cancer Symptom Research

(May 21, 2020) HOUSTON – Meagan Whisenant, PhD, APRN, an assistant professor in the Department of Research at the Cizik School of Nursing at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), has been named one of seven recipients of the First-Time, Tenure-Track Faculty Member Awards by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT), the organization announced yesterday. 

Whisenant will use the $500,000, five-year CPRIT grant to develop systems for collecting real-time symptom data from breast cancer patients in the outpatient setting at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Nellie B. Connally Breast Center. 

The First-Time, Tenure-Track Faculty Member awards help Texas institutions recruit some of the nation’s most promising investigators early in their cancer research careers. Whisenant joined the Cizik School of Nursing in April after serving as an instructor and completing postdoctoral fellowships at MD Anderson Cancer Center and at The University of Utah, College of Nursing. 

“The Cizik School of Nursing is so pleased to have the support of CPRIT to recruit Dr. Whisenant,” said Diane Santa Maria, DrPh, RN, FAAN, the school’s interim dean. “As an emerging nurse scientist, her work in breast cancer symptom detection and response will lead to meaningful improvements in care for so many.” 

A widely published researcher and oncology nurse, Whisenant earned her PhD from the University of Utah, College of Nursing. She holds an MSN from the Cizik School of Nursing and a BSN from New York University. 

Read CPRIT’s press release announcing the grant.