UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing Vice Dean receives UT System STARs award

Lixin (Lee) Song, PhD, RN, FAAN

Lixin (Lee) Song, PhD, RN, FAAN, vice dean of research and scholarship at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) School of Nursing, has received a Translational Science and Technology Acquisition and Retention (STARs) award in the amount of $600,000 to renovate space to leverage her ongoing research and develop a Center for Holistic Care of Cancer Patients and Their Family Caregivers at the institution.

Dr. Song, who joined UT Health San Antonio in September 2022, is also the Hugh Roy Cullen Endowed Professor as well as the  Nancy Smith Hurd President’s Chair in Geriatric Nursing and Aging Studies at the School of Nursing. She has been recognized for her expertise in family-based cancer research through her induction as a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.

“The UT System Translational STARs award will be utilized to thoughtfully redesign research spaces for digital health research and provide adequate protection for participant confidentiality in family/dyad-focused research among patients and caregivers,” Song shared. “The renovation will accommodate a variety of research activities as well as community/stakeholder engagement in a way that would best and most safely enable patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals to participate in research. The equipment will permit us to assess the impact of cancer-related stress and the effects of digital health interventions on study participants’ biopsychosocial health outcomes.”

Song’s research focuses on improving the health outcomes of cancer patients and their family caregivers by developing innovative and transformative family-based, technology-enhanced holistic care programs.

“These programs generate practical, evidence-based solutions for improving the quality of care for cancer patients and their family caregivers and assuaging the negative impacts of the illness and caregiving-related stress in our community,” Song said.

The University of Texas System Board of Regents approved the allocation of funds for multiple types of STARs awards almost 30 years ago to help attract and retain the best-qualified faculty to perform their research at one of the 13 UT System academic and health institutions across the state.



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