Researching the Cost of Cancer: How Financial Toxicity Affects Cancer Patients and their Families

In the United States, cancer is among the most expensive medical conditions to treat. National costs for cancer care were estimated to be $190.2 billion in 2015. Several studies show that cancer patients and survivors are more likely to experience financial toxicity than people without cancer. For Dinesh Pal I. Mudaranthakam, PhD - assistant professor in the Department of Biostatistics & Data Science at the University of Kansas Medical Center, director of Research IT at The University of Kansas Cancer Center, and member of the cancer center’s Cancer Prevention and Control research program - this issue is personal. Growing up in India, he witnessed family members and friends grapple with the high costs of cancer treatment and the adverse effects it may have later. Dr. Mudaranthakam recently led two studies to better understand the toll a cancer diagnosis has on an individual’s finances, career and overall health. On this episode of Bench to Bedside, Dr. Roy Jensen, vice chancellor and director of KU Cancer Center, welcomes Dr. Mudaranthakam to the podcast to discuss financial toxicity and his research into what this means for cancer patients and their families.

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Links from this episode:

Learn more about Dr. Mudaranthakam’s research into financial toxicity Read an interview with Dr. Mudaranthakam on BioNexusKC Read about Dr. Mudaranthakam’s research in JNCI Cancer Spectrum Direct links to Dr. Mudaranthakam’s published research here and here