January 28, 2026
As a childhood cancer survivor turned behavioral oncology researcher, Peter Fantozzi, a PhD student in Clinical Child Psychology at the University of Kansas, brings a personal perspective to his work. His experiences have shaped a research career focused on understanding how cancer affects children, adolescents and families during treatment and long after remission. A trainee member of The University of Kansas Cancer Center, Peter is helping advance innovative approaches to supportive care and digital health interventions. In this Q&A, Peter talks about his journey, his research interests and the impact he hopes to make in the field.
What inspired you to pursue a career in cancer research?
I discovered the importance of cancer research at the age of 11, when I was diagnosed with a form of bone cancer called Ewing sarcoma. Undergoing treatment gave me a deep appreciation for the scientists and healthcare workers who devoted their careers to supporting children like me and our families. When I was a teenager, two of my close friends who were also treated for bone cancers relapsed. These friends were people I looked up to, so it was difficult to reconcile the fact that although we underwent similar treatments, our lives unfolded very differently.
These experiences inspired me to pursue a career in cancer research. I now integrate principles from developmental psychology, behavioral science and medicine to broaden our understanding of why the life trajectories of young people for cancer diverge. Ultimately, I hope this work translates into more personalized interventions that improve the health and well-being of patients and families.
What is your research focus?
I credit my start in research to my freshman English professor, Dr. Jacqueline Sadashige, at the University of Pennsylvania. For our final research paper, she advised each student to pursue a question that could sustain a full research career. I chose to examine how cancer experiences often lead to new values and fluctuations in quality of life, and how these transformations eventually shape the way patients and families think, behave and interact. Ultimately, it was Dr. Anna Marie Medina at Gonzaga University who set me on a path toward specializing in clinical psychology after encouraging me to publish my undergraduate survivorship research.
After earning my master’s degree at the University of Chicago under the supervision of Drs. Scott Hunter and John Schneider, I worked as a research coordinator in Dr. Matthew Hocking’s behavioral oncology lab at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. There, our work examined how treatment for pediatric brain tumors affects survivors’ friendships due to disruptions in brain structure and cognitive function. Learning about the interplay between the biological, psychological and social effects of cancer sparked an interest in behavioral health interventions to mitigate the burdens of cancer. Along those lines, I now work as a health coach for parents of young children undergoing treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia on Dr. Carolyn Bates’ NOURISH-ALL study, the goal of which is to increase family engagement in health-promoting behaviors.
I’ve spent the past year translating the knowledge I gained through each of these opportunities into a dissertation that focuses on identifying treatment targets for increasing physical activity among adolescent and young adult sarcoma survivors. I’m excited about this work because it combines survivors’ perspectives of the challenges they face—through interviews and measures of patient-reported outcomes—with continuous data from smartphones and wearables.
This approach should allow us to better capture real-time interactions between physical activity, environmental influences and fluctuations in symptoms of chronic health conditions. My goal is for the findings to inform a scalable digital health intervention that increases physical activity by delivering personalized support when it’s most needed, thereby preventing future late effects, improving daily function and enhancing overall quality of life.
Which aspects of the trainee membership benefits are most valuable to you in advancing your career?
I’m really excited to tap into the grant writing support made available to trainees at the cancer center. My hope is to submit an F31 training grant this summer to fund my dissertation, and I’m eager to use these resources to gather feedback and improve the strength of my proposal. I also value the opportunities to attend seminars through the cancer center and its Cancer Prevention and Control research program, which have provided exposure to a broad spectrum of cancer research initiatives. It’s been exciting to learn about the different areas of cancer research throughout the cancer center.
Have you had the opportunity to collaborate with experienced KU Cancer Center researchers within the program?
Absolutely! I can’t say enough good things about Dr. Bates, her lab and the impact she has had on my development as a scientist. She’s been an invaluable resource and her wealth of knowledge about the unmet needs of youth impacted by cancer has helped refine my priorities as I continue to develop my line of research. Her expertise has also helped me design a more rigorous dissertation and it’s been a rewarding process to see the project take shape.
More broadly, the cancer center’s collaborative culture has enabled me to work with scientists beyond its immediate walls. Their expertise has been essential to the development of my dissertation. This flexibility has allowed me to team with Dr. Christopher Cushing, who is an expert in digital health technologies in the Department of Clinical Child Psychology at the University of Kansas, and Dr. Robert Gibler at the University of Kansas Medical Center, who brings expertise in evidence-based approaches to addressing functional barriers to physical activity. This level of faculty investment for research conducted at the center speaks volumes about the university’s broad culture of collaboration.
What are your long-term career goals?
In the simplest terms, the goal of my work is to help people affected by cancer live well. That process begins with prioritizing preventative care to ensure children remain innocent to the challenges they may otherwise come to face. In cases where health conditions secondary to treatment have already taken root, investing in treatments that mitigate their burden are critical for ensuring quality of life as they grow older. I aim to pursue both solutions as a behavioral oncology researcher. To do so, part of my training is focused on learning how to harness the power of digital technologies for the continuous capture of meaningful information about the daily experiences of children and families. This research will hopefully lead to more personalized interventions that immediately deliver support when issues arise, therefore preserving feelings of agency and hope.
As my career progresses, I hope to continue working in environments that prioritize interdisciplinary collaborations and encourage intellectual risk-taking. Advances in science and technology are creating new opportunities to address the complex ways cancer affects the mind and body, and I believe that the most promising solutions will be the product of collaborations between experts across different scientific disciplines.
What advice would you give to someone considering a career in cancer research?
Prioritize relationships with people who will sustain you throughout what can, at times, be a competitive and demanding career path. In my experience, it can be frustrating to know that while the problems affecting people’s lives are urgent, the solutions often emerge slowly. If you choose a career in cancer research, I believe one of the best things you can do for both your well-being and your long-term impact is to work with people who make it possible to enjoy the daily process of research.