Anny Fenton, PhD
Dr. Fenton is a medical sociologist at Dana Farber Cancer Institute and faculty at Harvard Medical School. She uses interviews and survey data to understand how family caregivers navigate the cultural, economic, and knowledge-based challenges of supporting a family member with cancer. Dr. Fenton focuses on three caregiving populations that are vastly understudied: (1) adult-children caring for a parent with advanced cancer, who often must balance caregiving with careers and young families; (2) Racial/ethnic minority cancer caregivers, who face greater financial burdens and discrimination than non-Hispanic White caregivers; and (3) those caring for rural patients who face scarce and distant healthcare resources.
Dr. Fenton is presently designing and testing the first intervention tailored for adult-child caregivers. The intervention, sponsored by a four-year Sidney Farber Scholar Award, will target caregivers’ and patients’ communication with each other and with their social networks to strengthen their social support. She has also cared for both her parents after their cancer diagnoses while juggling a child and a career.