Journal of Palliative Care & Medicine
Open Access

Deborah Watkins Bruner

Biography

Dr. Bruner is best known for her pioneering leadership in the National Cancer Institute (NCI) - supported Cancer Clinical Trials Cooperative Groups. Dr. Bruner is the first and currently only nurse to serve as a Vice Chair of one of the national cooperative groups, the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG). Dr. Bruner has worked for almost two decades with the RTOG and another cooperative group, the Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG). She is past Chair of the RTOG Quality of Life Committee and current Chair of the RTOG Outcomes Committee. She is a founding member of the RTOG and GOG quality of life committees and conducted RTOG’s first clinical trial incorporating quality of life. As RTOG Chair for the Outcomes Committee she published the first conceptual framework which has changed the paradigm for incorporation of (nurse-sensitive) symptom and quality of life outcomes into national clinical trials.

Dr. Bruner’s research has focused on quality of life, patient reported outcomes (PROs) and symptom management across cancer sites with a focus on pelvic tumors, as well as decision-making, preferences and utilities for cancer therapies.

Research Interest

quality of life, patient reported outcomes (PROs) and symptom management across cancer sites with a focus on pelvic tumors, as well as decision-making, preferences and utilities for cancer therapies

Publications