ONCOLOGY SOCIAL WORKERS: CONNECTING THE MEDICAL TO THE PSYCHOSOCIAL
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ancer. If it attacks your body, you will need great physicians. But if it leads to you or family members feeling anxious or depressed, if it forces you to leave your job and lose your insurance, if it drains your savings and threatens your home, if your treatments lead to long-term problems like fatigue or infertility, you will also want to have trusted social workers to support you and to work with your physicians as part of the team, to ensure the best possible outcomes for you and your family. There will be a tremendous need for oncology social workers in the coming decades. People are living longer and are at greater risk for cancer. In particular, 70 million baby boomers are aging; one in two men and one in three women will get cancer at some point in their lives. Meanwhile, from a social work student point of view, cancer covers so much — psychosocially, spiritually and medically — that a student who has worked with cancer patients is prepared to work with almost anything else the profession hands them. The Michigan Social Work PhD program has cultivated a number of national leaders in oncology social work research. Below, we profile three who
16 · University of Michigan School of Social Work
