Powered by Pablove Grant Recipient

Dr. Bona has been a Pablove Childhood Cancer Grant recipient from 2015-2017. She is an instructor in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Bona received her M.D. from Yale University School of Medicine, and completed her residency in Pediatrics at Boston’s Children’s Hospital and Boston Medical Center. Dr. Bona’s research is focused on understanding the contribution of poverty to pediatric outcomes. The guiding idea underlying her research is that family poverty, specifically material hardship such as food, housing, and energy insecurity – is prevalent in the childhood cancer population and has an effect on child health outcomes.

What is Dr. Bona currently researching?

Development of a Material Hardship Intervention: “While childhood cancer does not discriminate and affects kids from all walk of life, my research focuses on understanding how poverty affects childhood cancer outcomes. Research has shown poverty is correlated with negative health outcomes, including death, in pediatric primary care and chronic illness. Poverty’s impact on pediatric oncology outcomes is less understood. My research has included studies identifying the prevalence of material hardship in pediatric oncology families as well as the impact of income-poverty on the survival of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. I am currently working on an embedded investigation of concrete material hardship in a multicenter clinical trial for children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.” – Dr. Bona

View the illustration of Dr. Bona’s research by Rachel Ignotofsky