2026 Psychopharmacology in Cancer Care: An Update for Clinicians of All Disciplines

2026 Psychopharmacology in Cancer Care: An Update for Clinicians of All Disciplines is organized by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) and will be held on Sep 26, 2026.

Description:
Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Psycho-Oncology Education & Training Institute (POETI) is pleased to present the 2026 Psychopharmacology in Cancer Care course, an established educational program offered for more than a decade and designed for clinicians across disciplines who care for patients with cancer.

Cancer patients commonly experience depression, anxiety, and other distressing psychological and physical symptoms related to their illness or its treatment. While oncologists and general practitioners often prescribe psychiatric medications, these conditions remain commonly underdiagnosed and undertreated, and many oncology settings lack dedicated psycho-oncology specialists. As a result, patients may experience unmanaged symptoms between visits, underscoring the critical role of psychologists, nurses, and social workers in recognizing symptoms, monitoring medication effects, and providing frontline psychosocial support.

This annual course provides an evidence-based overview of psychopharmacologic management of anxiety, depression, delirium, sleep disturbances, pain, fatigue, and appetite changes in adult cancer patients. The program also examines emerging therapies — including ketamine, medical cannabis, and psilocybin — highlighting their potential benefits, risks, and clinical considerations, while emphasizing the essential role of clinical social work in comprehensive care.

Participants will learn to differentiate psychological responses to medical illness from psychiatric disorders and medical presentations of psychiatric conditions. The course will review common medical complications related to psychiatric conditions and their treatments, and provide foundational guidance on medications used to manage quality-of-life symptoms across the cancer continuum. Participants will also explore the rationale for selecting or avoiding specific therapies, including benefits, side effects, and drug interactions, to strengthen patient education and clinical decision-making.

Objectives:

1. Describe basic psycho-pharmaco-oncology principles for understanding and treating anxiety, depression and delirium in people with cancer.
2. Discuss basic psycho-pharmaco-oncology principles for understanding and improving quality of life and psychiatric palliative care in people with cancer, including managing cognitive changes, insomnia, fatigue, poor appetite and weight loss, and pain.
3. Identify the use of novel interventions including ketamine, medical marijuana, and psilocybin for depression, anxiety, and pain in people with cancer.