Virginia Sun Lab

The Virginia Sun Lab focuses on assessing and identifying symptom management and quality-of-life concerns and supportive care, including perioperative, needs among cancer patients and their families and caregivers across all phases of survivorship and developing and test telehealth-based interventions that improve patient- and family-centered outcomes.

Research Highlights

Remote Perioperative Telemonitoring for CAR T Therapy

Chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR T) therapy has transformed treatment options for patients with relapsed or refractory hematologic malignancies and is increasingly being delivered in the outpatient setting. Despite its promise, CAR T therapy is associated with potentially life-threatening toxicities that can develop within the few weeks following infusion, making close monitoring critical.

The Sun Lab is leading a Department of War-funded (HT94252510486) randomized clinical trial (multiple principal investigators: Virginia Sun and Saro Armenian) evaluating a multilevel intervention that combines remote patient monitoring with self-management support for patients undergoing outpatient CAR T therapy and their caregivers. The study enrolls 190 patients and their caregivers and aims to determine whether the intervention improves symptom management, self-efficacy, patient activation, quality of life and psychological well-being while reducing treatment-related toxicities, emergency room and urgent care visits and hospital readmissions.

Perioperative Ostomy Self-Management Telehealth Intervention (Periop-OSMT)

Cancer survivors living with ostomies, most commonly those treated for bladder and colorectal cancers, face complex physical, psychological and lifestyle challenges after surgery. Many survivors and their caregivers receive limited preparation for long-term, evidence-based ostomy self-management, including healthy living adjustments, creating a need for effective supportive care.

Supported by the Department of War, this pilot randomized trial (principal investigator: Virginia Sun) is evaluating the feasibility, acceptability and preliminary efficacy of the Perioperative Ostomy Self-Management Telehealth (Periop-OSMT) intervention (HT94252411077). The study enrolls 150 bladder and colorectal cancer survivors with ostomies and their families and caregivers. The primary objective is to improve ostomy self-management and enhance health-related quality of life during the perioperative recovery period (self-efficacy at 13 weeks post-randomization).

Improving Quality of Life in Pancreatic Cancer Survivorship Through Telehealth

As advances in pancreatic cancer treatment extend survival rates, many patients experience long-term debilitating symptoms from the disease and treatment and need complex supportive care. These challenges often affect not only patients but also families and caregivers, whose physical, emotional and psychosocial well-being may be significantly impacted. Despite the robust evidence pointing to the potential benefits of early palliative care, many pancreatic cancer survivors never receive it as part of their survivorship plan due to limited health care resources. Alternative, sustainable and scalable interventions are essential for survivors and families living with metastatic pancreatic cancer.

The Sun Lab is currently conducting a Department of War-funded pilot randomized trial (multiple principal investigators: Vincent Chung and Virginia Sun) to evaluate a telehealth-based self-management intervention for those living with pancreatic cancer and their caregivers (HT94252410833). The study enrolls 136 survivors and their caregivers and seeks to determine the feasibility, acceptability and preliminary efficacy of the intervention in improving symptom management, quality of life and caregiving outcomes while providing a scalable model for survivorship care delivery.

Perioperative Physical Activity in Older Adults Undergoing Lung Cancer Surgery

The population undergoing lung cancer surgery is becoming older and increasingly frail with declines in physiologic reserves, multiple comorbidities, and functional impairments. As postoperative hospital stays become shorter, a greater proportion of the caregiving burden after discharge has fallen on family caregivers (FCGs). Older adults often require significant acute and chronic caregiving needs postoperatively.

The Sun Lab is currently conducting a multisite comparative effectiveness trial (multiple principal investigators: Dan Raz and Virginia Sun) funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI HA-2021C3-24773 ) to test a telephone-based, personalized perioperative physical activity intervention to improve postoperative outcomes for older adults with lung cancer and their FCGs. The trial is enrolling across the COH Clinical Practice Network (Duarte, Orange County and Atlanta) plus 11 additional sites nationally. The study plans to enroll 412 patients nationally to determine the impact of the intervention on patient functional capacity.