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Nurse Researcher Grants

Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation’s Nursing Grants Program is designed to improve the quality of life for young cancer patients and their families.  ALSF added the Nursing Grant program to an already successful and innovative pediatric research grant program in 2007.  We recognize the importance of investing in research that enables nurses to find better ways to care for children undergoing cancer treatment.

Nurse Researcher Discovery Grant

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Discovery Grant: Independent Nurse Researcher - This award is designed for an experienced nurse researcher. Demonstration of a career plan that shows commitment to pediatric cancer nursing is a critical component of a successful application. These applications are expected to be from experienced investigators to investigate topics and issues related to the quality of nursing care and the quality of life for children with cancer. Awards may not be used to supplement other support in a large project.

>> Download Discovery: Independent Nurse Researcher Grant Guidelines

Nurse Researcher Fellowship Grant

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​​The Nursing Research Fellowship is not accepting applications.

Nursing Research Fellowship - The Fellowship aims to support early career nurse researchers who will be guided in their projects by a mentor and their institution. The fellowship’s goal is to train PhD and Master’s level nurse researchers to initiate and lead a multi-site research project.  With support from an experienced nurse research mentor identified by ALSF, fellowship recipients will develop a team within their own institutions as well as partnerships at other institutions to implement their proposed research study. A formal curriculum focuses on developing multi-site investigator skills as part of the Fellowship.

>> Download Nurse Researcher Fellowship Application Guidelines

>> Download Nurse Researcher Fellowship Curriculum

Clinical Site Partners for Nurse Researcher Fellowship Project: Additional sites will be selected to collect clinical data for the newly funded nurse researcher fellowship project. Sites that best meet the needs of the funded project will be selected by the Principal Investigator with guidance from the Fellowship mentors. Selected site partners are also invited to participate in the Fellowship curriculum, if desired.

>>Download Clinical Site Application for Fellowship Project Guidelines

University of Alabama at Birmingham

Background

Principal Investigator Name: 

Wendy Landier, RN/PhD

Project Title: 

A Nurse-Led Structured Discharge Teaching Intervention for Parents of Newly Diagnosed Pediatric Oncology Patients

Year Awarded: 

2016

Cancer Research Category: 

Category of Grant: 

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe: 

Institution: 

University of Maryland

Background

Cancer treatment causes circadian rhythm (24-hour biological rhythms) dysregulation in adults. Circadian activity rhythms (CAR), the rhythms of our daily movement, are a useful measure of our circadian rhythms. In adult cancer patients, dysregulated CAR is associated with greater fatigue, and decreased quality of life and responsiveness to therapy, and often continues during survivorship.

Principal Investigator Name: 

Valerie E. Rogers, PhD

Project Title: 

Circadian Rhythms, Fatigue and Bright Light Therapy in Adolescent Cancer Survivors

Year Awarded: 

2015

Cancer Research Category: 

Category of Grant: 

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe: 

Institution: 

University of Wisconsin - Madison

Background

Despite advances in pediatric oncology treatments and technology, some children with cancer may die while receiving oncology treatments or from their disease. It has been reported that many children who die a cancer-related death may die while experiencing two to eight poorly controlled symptoms. Prevention of suffering, including effective symptom management, in children dying of cancer is a central value for clinicians in pediatric oncology.

Project Goal

Principal Investigator Name: 

Kathleen Montgomery, PhD & Jennifer Madden, RN/MSN

Project Title: 

Prospective Symptom Assessment in Children with Advanced Cancer

Year Awarded: 

2015

Cancer Research Category: 

Category of Grant: 

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe: 

Institution: 

Duke University

Co-Investigator:  Marika Horn, MSN, Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital 

Background

Principal Investigator Name: 

Cheryl Rodgers, RN, PhD

Project Title: 

Symptom Patterns during Pediatric Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Recovery

Year Awarded: 

2014

Cancer Research Category: 

Category of Grant: 

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe: 

Institution: 

University of Minnesota

Co-Investigator:   Ulf Bronas, PhD, University of Minnesota

Background

During cancer treatment children are less active than their health peers. This inactivity persists into survivorship and can negatively affect health and quality of life. Physical activity may also improve fatigue, a prevalent and distressing symptom during treatment. Improving health behaviors during treatment can have lifelong benefits for cancer survivors.

Project Goal

Principal Investigator Name: 

Mary Catherine (Casey) Hooke, PhD

Project Title: 

KAM: Kids are Moving; An Exercise Program for Children with Cancer

Year Awarded: 

2014

Cancer Research Category: 

Category of Grant: 

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe: 

Institution: 

University of Calgary

Background
Adolescents experiencing cancer are simultaneously developing their sexual identity. This area has been largely overlooked in nursing research.  This study investigates the sexuality of adolescents experiencing cancer. Unique in this proposal is that adolescents will be the direct informants rather than just the population under investigation.

Principal Investigator Name: 

Nancy Moules, PhD

Project Title: 

Sexuality in Adolescents with Cancer

Year Awarded: 

2013

Cancer Research Category: 

Category of Grant: 

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe: 

Institution: 

Duke University Medical Center

Background
An exploration of 'why' individual symptom differences occur is critical to understanding symptom experiences during childhood leukemia treatment; this will allow us to identify who may be most susceptible to treatment toxicities. This project explores why symptoms experienced in children with leukemia exhibit extreme variations in toxicity.

Principal Investigator Name: 

Marilyn Hockenberry, RN, PhD

Project Title: 

Nitrosative Stress And Symptom Severity During Childhood Leukemia Treatment

Year Awarded: 

2013

Cancer Research Category: 

Category of Grant: 

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe: 

Institution: 

University of North Carolina

Background
Children can have psychosocial responses to ongoing traumas involved in being diagnosed, treated and monitored for cancer and treatment-related problems, which in turn could cause bodily responses like systemic inflammation, arterial stiffness and thus risk for cardiovascular (CV) disease. This is especially concerning for children whose therapy included an anthracyline; anthracylines have been linked with CV problems for a long time and CV disease is the leading non-cancer cause of death among childhood cancer survivors.

Principal Investigator Name: 

Sheila Santacroce, PhD

Project Title: 

Arterial Stiffness in Children who Recently Completed Cancer Therapy

Year Awarded: 

2013

Cancer Research Category: 

Category of Grant: 

Medical, Nurse Researcher, Quality of LIfe: 

Institution: 

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