Chloe Peterson ’25 never anticipated she could make a difference in the lives of cancer patients and their families — without leaving her Bentley classroom.  

“As a Data Analytics major, I’m used to working with large datasets, and it’s easy to forget that those numbers often represent real people with real experiences,” she explains. But after completing an Honors Capstone course with Helen Meldrum, an associate professor of Natural and Applied Sciences, last spring, Peterson says she’s experienced a “profound shift in perspective that’s added a new layer of empathy and understanding to my work.”  

Under Meldrum’s mentorship, Peterson and four other students from Bentley’s Honors Program — Jillian Hendriksen ’25, Reiley Perreault ’25, Mya Rivard ’24 and Christian Savastano ’25 — served as business consultants for Cancer Help Desk, a virtual startup that launched in August 2023 to provide personalized education, guidance and support to individuals dealing with cancer. Through its online platform, the nonprofit connects patients and caregivers with experienced oncology nurses and other medical experts who can answer questions, identify local resources and suggest individualized treatment options to discuss with healthcare providers, a process collectively known as cancer navigation.

Two of Cancer Help Desk’s co-founders, CEO Rebecca Driscoll and Chief Patient Officer Deb Christensen, reached out to Meldrum — a well-regarded figure within the cancer care community, owing to her 35-plus year career as a healthcare consultant, primarily with oncology-focused organizations — for help identifying ways to increase awareness of and support for their organization. Meldrum, in turn, enlisted her students to help think through the nonprofit’s challenges.

According to the National Cancer Institute, approximately 40% of Americans will be diagnosed with cancer at some point during their lifetimes. Longstanding inequities in the U.S. healthcare system, however, prevent many cancer patients from receiving timely access to quality care — in particular, Americans living in rural areas, which offer fewer prevention, detection and treatment facilities. Additional research has shown that other social determinants of health, such as race, gender and economic status, contribute to significant disparities in cancer incidences and outcomes.

Cancer Help Desk aims to address this imbalance by offering any patient or caregiver, regardless of their income, identity or geographical location, a free, 2.5-hour consultation session with a certified oncology nurse. “Cancer care is overwhelmingly challenging, and it can often feel like no one is listening,” Driscoll explains. “By offering compassion and clinical expertise, we ensure that patients understand all available testing and treatment options and ultimately feel empowered to advocate for their own care.”  

For many of the students, discovering the complexities of cancer care proved eye-opening: “I was shocked to discover how splintered cancer care is, even among oncology specialists,” says Savastano, a Corporate Finance and Accounting major who, as a participant in Bentley’s Advanced Standing in Finance program, will graduate this May with both a bachelor’s and master’s degree. “Given cancer’s prominence as a public health issue, I was also shocked to learn how many patients in America struggle to find high-quality or even consistent care.”

With input from Driscoll and Christensen, the students created a survey consisting of both multiple choice and open-ended questions to help them better understand cancer patients’ needs and experiences. After identifying 1,000-plus oncology support groups serving primarily rural areas in all 50 states, the team distributed the survey via email and social media. Responses revealed that communication was a significant concern for patients, with 34% of respondents agreeing with the statement “I feel there are treatment options that have not been shared with me.” Respondents also shared frustration about having to coordinate care from multiple doctors and oncology specialists. “I wish I had someone to coordinate with providers … at a certain point, it’s so hard to keep track of tests and appointments,” one respondent noted. And 27% of patients and caregivers reported negative experiences with health insurance companies, including financial anxieties and treatment delays.

While the students were tabulating their survey results, the Biden administration announced it had brokered agreements with leading health insurance companies to expand coverage for cancer navigation services for more than 150 million Americans. This news led to one of the team’s major recommendations for Cancer Help Desk: Collaborating directly with insurance companies. That way, Savastano says, the nonprofit can make its services known to various providers while learning more about differences in cancer care coverage that can help with their client consultations.  

The student consultants also recommended that Cancer Health Desk partner with mental health specialists to provide additional resources for clients’ emotional support, and that the nonprofit apply for corporate and foundation grants to support its long-term operational costs. The team also suggested improvements to the Cancer Help Desk website, several of which — such as featuring consultation information more prominently, adding client testimonials and including photos and bios of the organization’s co-founders and volunteers (“to lend greater credibility by emphasizing the people behind the product,” Savastano explains) — Driscoll and Christensen have since implemented. Both Cancer Help Desk co-founders are grateful to Meldrum and her students for their thorough research and thoughtful analysis.  

The students are similarly appreciative of the experience. “Working with Cancer Help Desk gave me an opportunity to work as part of a diverse team, communicate directly with stakeholders and manage a project with real-world implications,” Peterson explains. And while she acknowledges that “these skills and insights will be invaluable to my future career,” it’s not her primary takeaway.

“I think STEM-related majors often forget that data represents real people with real experiences,” she says. “This experience has shown me how important it is for businesses to make informed, ethical decisions that positively impact society.” 

Written by Molly Mastantuono for Bentley University; used with permission. Find the original article here.

VIU students enrolled in an interdisciplinary team-based research course confronted a mounting issue experienced on campuses across Canada: student hunger. 

Six students – Meagan Sharpe, Jenna Sportak, Riddhiman Saha, Sydney Gallant, Kyle Wickland and Esther Ovie – completed a research project that investigated food security on all three Vancouver Island University campuses through the Community-Based Applied Interdisciplinary Research program. The course is open to third-year undergraduate students as well as graduate students and is entirely student-led, with research projects designed and carried out by the students.

The project 

The year-long project investigated the state of food security amongst the student body at the Nanaimo, Cowichan and tiwšɛmawtxʷ campuses. Part of a larger initiative to tackle student hunger that includes food pantries and emergency financial aid as well as research, $15,000 in funding was provided by The Embark Student Foundation Major Grant Program for the research project. 

“One of the most empowering experiences for me was being able to be on the ground and talking to students, conducting a literature review and disseminating the work we did in the first semester, talking to stakeholders and getting an understanding of what’s going on in our campuses,” says Jenna, a fourth-year Sociology and Women & Gender Studies student.

Collecting the data

The team created food packets to recruit participants for an online survey, the primary method of data collection. The packages included a juice box, granola bar, some chocolate and a fruit snack. Inside each was a card that had a stat obtained from the government of Canada about student food security with a QR code linking to the survey. 

“Our questions focused on what can VIU do as an institution to enhance food security, and what do students need to be food secure?” says Jenna. “We also attended campus events to raise awareness about food security and created a food walkability map. Three of our team members also participated in a secondary university project about food insecurity, The Hunger Hack challenge.”

What they discovered

Of the more than 300 survey respondents, 35 per cent identified as food insecure and 74 per cent said food insecurity is a problem at VIU. Lack of affordable food was also noted, with 77 per cent reporting the cost of food on campus as a barrier. Students said the hours of operation at the cafeteria were inadequate, and there are no on-campus food services open on weekends. 

The team found that international student respondents were at the highest risk of being food insecure. 

“We also found there is a significant lack of culturally appropriate food options and allergen-free options to meet dietary needs,” says Jenna. “For example, someone with celiac disease faces an additional $2 to $3 upcharge for gluten-free bread, so instead of paying $12 to $14 for a sandwich, they end up paying upwards of $15 or more, simply on the basis of needing to meet dietary requirements that are not a choice. Many university students cannot afford that.” 

The team created a walkability map that showed limited affordable food options within a one-kilometer walking radius from the Nanaimo campus. The closest grocery store is a 20-minute walk away. Centralization of food services on campus is a significant barrier for students with back-to-back classes. 

Students identifying as food insecure use short-term coping strategies, the survey found:  

• 47 per cent skip meals, with anywhere from zero to 20 meals skipped per week.
• 42 per cent rely on discounted products.
• 8 per cent said they have resorted to unconventional methods such as stealing food or even dumpster diving. 

“It’s clear that the student body has overwhelmingly identified the cost of food on campus as the most significant barrier,” says Jenna. “We continue to see costs increase, so students are left with little in their pockets and little in their stomachs.”

Solutions

The team has a list of recommendations for improving food security on our campuses including having a student representative at the students’ union and on the Board of Governors who can speak specifically to food security issues.

Other suggestions include an at-cost or sliding scale market on campus, or a small grocery store on campus. 

“Students want to know why we don’t have more small businesses on campus, such as more food trucks or other local businesses like that. And they want the university to implement a program to advertise and sell unused food items from the cafeterias at the end of the day at significantly discounted prices, or free after certain hours,” says Jenna.

Next steps

“Food security has always been a thing for university students, and I think we’re really trying to ensure that that conversation doesn’t go away,” says Jenna. “Our intention is to give this report to the Acting President to be able to better inform where the remainder of the funds that we received from the Embark Grant should go.”

Sydney, Meagan and Jenna will present this research at the Canadian Sociological Association Conference in Toronto June 1 to 6. 

“I’m committed to continuing to advocate for expanded food security initiatives,” says Jenna. “I always thought research wasn’t for me, but being involved in CBAIR gave me a lot of new skills and opened a lot of doors for me. I just feel privileged to have been able to do the work that I did this year, and to get credit for it and to go to the CSA conference in Toronto, to speak about something I am so passionate about.”

Written by Annette Lucas for Vancouver Island University; used with permission. Find the original article here.