Researcher Spotlight: Adam DuVall, MD

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

Chike Springer Foundation Scholar

Adolescents and young adults with cancers such as lymphoma have unique emotional and psychosocial needs as a result of their disease and treatment. While survival outcomes rates are high, these burdens can lead to long-term, negative consequences and high rates of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Dr. DuVall’s research is focused on optimizing the use of app based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to meet the specific experiences of young people with lymphoma to help improve social-emotional outcomes in this population.

Dr. DuVall earned his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, where he also earned a Master of Public Health. He is currently an assistant professor at the University of Chicago, where his work focuses on improving both survival and quality-of-life outcomes for young people with cancer. “All of my patients inspire my research and help direct the area that I study,” he says. “Whether it be mental health outcomes, sexual health, or other psychosocial outcomes, the incredible young people I am privileged to care for in clinic tell me what is most important to them and drive my desire to improve these domains of their life and care through innovative research.”

Looking ahead to the future, Dr. Duvall is excited to continue his work on efforts to amplify the patient voice in lymphoma research, particularly for adolescents and young adults. “The focus on quality of life in addition to quantity while integrating new agents into the therapy for lymphoma by amplifying the patient voice through patient-reported outcomes gives me great hope,” he says. “It will allow us to focus our interventions that we are currently developing to improve our patients’ outcomes when they are most vulnerable during and after therapy to maximize our impact.”