Xin Wang MD, MPH

Xin Shelley Wang's clinical and translational research focuses on the measurement of patient-reported outcomes (PROs), the impact of culture and nationality on symptom reporting, and mechanism-driven interventions for cancer-related symptoms. She investigates symptom burden in cancer survivors and in patients who are undergoing active treatment or who have advanced disease. Among those undergoing aggressive therapies, such as concurrent chemoradiation, cancer surgery, and stem cell transplant, her research in the area of cancer-related fatigue and other sickness symptoms has illustrated the important relationship between inflammatory cytokines and the development of major symptom burden―a better understanding of which might lead to mechanism-driven symptom control. She has expertise in conducting longitudinal studies and interpreting the clinical meaningfulness of PRO data. These methods are applicable to both clinical practice and clinical trials.

The symptom assessment tools that Dr. Wang has developed and validated, including the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI), Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI), and various disease-specific and treatment-specific modules and language versions of the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory (MDASI), are widely used in clinical practice and in research in China and other countries.

Dr. Wang is the principal investigator for grants funded by the National Cancer Institute of the US National Institutes of Health and by the American Cancer Society, focusing on the development of PRO-based clinical methods for evaluating the symptomatic benefit and/or burden of cancer treatments and for improving perioperative care. As principal investigator, she leads the project design, oversees progress, and collaborates with research and clinical faculty across the institution.

Dr. Wang received her medical degree in China and practiced oncology there for 10 years. She has published more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals, some in high-impact journals.