Rachel Pozzar, PhD, RN, a nurse scientist in the Phyllis F. Cantor Center for Research in Nursing and Patient Care Services at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School, has been awarded the 2023 Oncology Nursing Society’s (ONS) Victoria Mock New Investigator Award.

Rachel Pozzar, PhD, RN, has been awarded
the 2023 Oncology Nursing Society’s
(ONS) Victoria Mock New Investigator Award.

This prestigious award is given to a single candidate annually. It recognizes the contributions of new investigators in building a scientific foundation for oncology nursing practice.

Pozzar was recognized for research aimed at overcoming barriers to delivering high-quality supportive cancer care. Pozzar designed the Collaborative Agenda-Setting Intervention (CASI) for patients with gynecologic cancers, which allows for patient-clinician communication to be optimized as part of routine treatment practice. Additionally, she is currently leading a study to identify optimal strategies by which to engage racially and ethnically diverse patients and clinicians in a digital health tool for remote symptom monitoring.

Pozzar will be recognized during the ONS 48th Annual Congress, April 26-30, 2023, in San Antonio, Texas. As part of the award ceremony, she will give a lecture that highlights her work and current research studies.

Pozzar joined Dana-Farber in 2015 as a PhD student, collaborating with the Cantor Center faculty on several research projects. “From the time I joined Dana-Farber, I have had access to the resources and expertise I’ve needed to conduct rigorous and impactful research,” said Pozzar. “The Cantor Center is unique in that it is one of only a few centers for nursing research embedded within a health care institution. Being a part of the Cantor Center has allowed me to benefit from interdisciplinary collaboration with other Dana-Farber faculty while fostering the growth and visibility of nursing science at our institution.”

The ONS Victoria Mock New Investigator Award is named for Dr. Victoria Mock, who was a nursing pioneer in the 1980s whose work focused on fatigue management interventions. She passed away from cancer a few years ago.

Pozzar is the fourth Dana-Farber Cantor Center nurse scientist to win the award. Robert Knoerl, PhD, RN, was the recipient in 2019,  Meghan Underhill-Blazey, PhD, RN, AOCNS was the recipient in 2018 and Mary Cooley, PhD, RN, FAAN was the recipient in 2003.