Overview
Dr. Mertens' major area of research focus is on the investigation of late effects due to the diagnosis of cancer and its treatment in long term cancer survivors, with an emphasis in the field of pediatric cancer survivorship. Her current research funding is in the development of effective communication and intervention strategies to reduce morbidity and mortality, and thereby increase quality of life in childhood and adolescent cancer survivors.
She currently has grant collaborations with other faculty in the Department of Pediatrics at the School of Medicine and the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. She is affiliated with the Winship Cancer Institute at Emory Healthcare, the Institute of People and Technology at Georgia Institute of Technology, and the Morehouse School of Medicine.
Current Projects
A new NCI-funded initiative, led by Dr. Mertens, was launched with Cancer SurvivorLink to facilitate the adoption of evidence-based guidelines for the surveillance of late effects among pediatric cancer survivors through COG clinics at the national level. Cancer SurvivorLink is a web-based portal designed to serve as a personal health record for pediatric cancer survivors and provides educational material to improve awareness of survivorship issues and best practices in survivor care.