Amanda Kastrinos, PhD
Dr. Kastrinos is a Research Scholar in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She is a caregiving scientist with PhD in health and family communication science and a specialization in human development. Her research program seeks to identify and address the unmet needs of family caregivers of cancer patients, using family communication theory and a lifespan theoretical lens to understand how developmental and relational factors impact caregivers’ psychosocial needs.
Her primary focus is supporting emerging and young adults who care for their parents with cancer, which stems from her own experience caring for her father with advanced cancer at the age of 25. She found that although caregivers in this age group are particularly vulnerable to distress resulting from their role as a caregiver, they are largely absent from caregiving scholarship and lack support that addresses their age-specific challenges.
Her research program seeks to expand the limited body of research examining emerging and young adult caregivers’ experiences and needs to inform the development of age-tailored caregiving support resources. In 2024, Dr. Kastrinos received a K99/R00 award from the National Cancer Institute (K99CA279651) to develop the first caregiving intervention specifically designed to support the unique needs of emerging and young adults who provide care to a parent with cancer