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Christabel Cheung

Christabel Cheung

Assistant Professor

christabel.cheung@ssw.umaryland.edu(410) 706.7011

About

Christabel K. Cheung, PhD, MSW is a tenure-track Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work, Member of the University of Maryland Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Director of the Research Assistant Scholars Program at UM SSW. 

Dr. Cheung’s psychosocial oncology research focuses on the issues of cancer survivorship among adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer patients (diagnosed between ages 15-39 years) in the domains of financial hardship and disability; disparities and social determinants of health and mental health; antiracist patient engagement; and embodied research methods—a qualitative approach that she has developed for the social sciences and medicine.  

Dr. Cheung's academic affiliations extend to esteemed research institutions including AYA CARES at Michigan Medicine; the MELD Research Group for the Southern California Cancer Surveillance Program; the STRONG Adolescent and Young Adult Core Outcomes Set Study at The Netherlands Cancer Institute; the Emancipatory Sciences Lab at the University of California, San Francisco; and the University of Hawaii Cancer Center. She contributes as teaching faculty for the National Cancer Institute (NCI)-funded Minority Training Program in Cancer Control Research and the NCI-funded Nathan Schnaper Internship Program in Translational Cancer Research. She has previously served as AYA patient research advocate for the SWOG Cancer Research Network, funded by the NCI to design and implement cancer clinical trials. As a social work practitioner with eight years of experience, she last served as executive director of San Francisco Village, a nonprofit organization within the national village movement for aging in place. As an embodied BIPOC AYA patient scientist and two-time cancer survivor in her young adult years, Dr. Cheung is an in-demand speaker who is recognized for writing one of the first cancer blogs advocating for racially minoritized young adult patients, JadeGangster.com. 

She holds a Bachelor of Journalism from University of Missouri-Columbia; Master of Social Welfare from University of California, Berkeley; and PhD in Social Welfare from University of California, Los Angeles. 

Expertise & Interests

  • Psychosocial Oncology
  • Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Oncology
  • Financial Hardship
  • Social Determinants of Health
  • Health Disparities
  • Health Equity
  • Patient Engagement in Research
  • Embodied Research
Education

Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles
M.S.W. University of California, Berkeley
B.J. University of Missouri-Columbia

Recent Publications

ARTICLES IN PEER-REVIEWED JOURNALS:

Berkman, A.M.,* Choi, E.,* Cheung, C.K., Betts, A.C., Salsman, J.M., Andersen, C.R., Miller, K.A., Milam, J., Battle, A., Peterson, S.K., Lu, Q., Livingston, J.A., Hildebrandt, M.A.T., Parsons, S.K., Freyer, D., & Roth, M.E. (In press). Psychological distress and mental health care utilization among Black survivors of adolescent and young adult cancer. Cancer.

Berkman, A.M., Choi, E., Cheung, C.K., Salsman, J.M., Peterson, S.K., Lu, Q., Livingston, J.A., Hildebrandt, M.A.T, Parsons, S.K., Roth, M.E., (In press). Excess risk of chronic health conditions in Black adolescent and young adult cancer survivors. Journal of Cancer Survivorship.

Cheung, C.K., Miller, K.A., Thomas, B.N., Lee, H., Goings, T.C., Brandon, R.E., Katerere-Virima, T., Helbling, L.E., Simmons, C.D., Ross, V.A., Causadias, J.M., Roth, M.E., Berthaud, F.M., Jones, L.P., Betz, G.D., Carter, J., Davies, S., Gilman, M., Lewis, M.A., Lopes, G., & Tucker-Seeley, R.D. (2024). BIPOC experiences of (anti-)racist patient engagement in adolescent & young adult oncology research and advocacy: An e-Delphi study. Future Oncology. https://doi.org/10.2217/fon-2023-0771

Husson, O., Janssen, S.H.M., Reeve, B.R., Sodergren, S., Cheung, C.K., McCabe, M.G., Salsman, J.M., van der Graaf, W., & Darlington, A.S. (2024). Protocol for the development of a core outcome set (COS) for adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer. BMC Cancer, 24(1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-023-11716-2

Cheung, C.K., Jones, L.P., Lee, H., Bridges, J.N., Tucker-Seeley, R., Vyfhuis, M.A.L., Gianelle, M., Thomas, B.N., Betz, G.D., Waldo, L., Hirsch, A., & Ntiri, S.O. (2023). Anticipatory guidance: Developing a patient navigation pathway to reduce the financial toxicity of cancer. Medical Research Archives. 11(10). https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v11i10.4582

Choi, E., Berkman, A.M., Cheung, C.K., Betts, A.C., Salsman, J.M., Andersen, C.R., Ochoa-Dominguez, C., Miller, K.A., Milam, J., Shah, A., Peterson, S.K., Lu, Q., Livingston, J.A., Hildebrandt, M.A.T, Parsons, S.K., Freyer, D., & Roth, M.E. (2023). Psychological distress and mental health care utilization among Hispanic/Latino survivors of adolescent and young adult cancer. Psycho-Oncology. 32(12) 1918-1929. https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.6248

Berkman, A.M., Choi, E., Cheung, C.K., Salsman, J.M., Peterson, S.K., Anderson, M.S., Lu, Q., Livingston, J.A., Hildebrandt, M.A.T, Parsons, S.K., Roth, M.E., (2023c). Excess risk of chronic health conditions in lesbian, gay, and bisexual survivors of adolescent and young adult cancers. Cancer. https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.35015

Berkman, A.M., Choi, E., Cheung, C.K., Salsman, J.M., Peterson, S.K., Lu, Q., Livingston, J.A., Hildebrandt, M.A.T, Parsons, S.K., Roth, M.E., (2023b). Socioeconomic Status and Chronic Health Conditions in Asian Survivors of Adolescent and Young Adult Cancers. Journal of Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology. https://doi.org/10.1089/jayao.2023.0083

Cheung, C.K., Lee, H., Levin, N.J., Ross, V.A., Geng, Y.M., Thomas, B.N., & Roth, M.E. (2023). Disparities in cancer care among sexual and gender minority adolescent and young adult patients: A scoping review. Cancer Medicine. 12(13)14674-14693. https://doi.org/10.1002/cam4.6090

Berkman, A.M., Choi, E., Salsman, J.M., Cheung, C.K., Peterson, S.K., Lu, Q., Livingston, J.A., Hildebrandt, M.A.T, Parsons, S.K., Roth, M.E. (2023a). Excess risk of chronic health conditions in Hispanic survivors of adolescent and young adult cancers. Journal of Cancer Survivorship. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11764-023-01342-z

Ghazal, L. V., Cole, S., Salsman, J. M., Wagner, L., Duan, F., Gareen, I., Lux, L., Parsons, S. K., Cheung, C.K., Loeb, D. M., Prasad, P., Dinner, S., & Zebrack, B. (2022). Social genomics as a framework for understanding health disparities among adolescent and young adult cancer survivors: A commentary. JCO Precision Oncology. 6, e2100462. https://doi.org/10.1200/PO.21.00462

Husson, O., Reeve, B.R., Darlington, A.S., Cheung, C.K., Sodergren, S., van der Graaf, W., & Salsman, J.M. (2022). The next step for global adolescent and young adult oncology: Development of a core patient-centered outcome set. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 114(4) 496-502. https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djab217

Masuda, C., Aggarwal, L., Bray, M.L., Cheung, C.K., Kim, B.J., Aida Wen, A., Okamoto, L., Uechi, M., Lee, Y.J. & Kamal Masaki,K. (2022). Preventive care and outcomes of interprofessional Medicare annual wellness visits for older patients.” International Journal of Environmental Research Public Health. 19(24), 16752. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192416752

Cheung, C.K., Norlander, M.G., Vest, A.N., Thomas, B.N. & Zebrack, B. J. (2022). A thin line between helpful and harmful Internet usage: Embodied research on Internet experiences among adolescent and young adult cancer patients. Journal of Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology. 11(5), 478-485. https://doi.org/10.1089/jayao.2021.0113

Cheung, C. K., Tucker-Seeley, R., Davies, S., Gilman, M., Miller, K. A., Lopes, G., Betz, G. D., Katerere-Virima, T., Helbling, L. E., Thomas, B. N., & Lewis, M. A. (2021). A call to action: Antiracist patient engagement in adolescent and young adult oncology research and advocacy. Future Oncology. 17(28), 3743–3756. https://doi.org/10.2217/fon-2020-1213

Cheung, C. K., Nishimoto, P. W., Katerere-Virima, T., Helbling, L. E., Thomas, B. N., & Tucker-Seeley, R. (2021). Capturing the financial hardship of cancer in military adolescent and young adult patients: A conceptual framework. Journal of Psychosocial Oncology. 40(4), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/07347332.2021.1937771

Cheung, C. K. & Simmons, C. D. (2021). Centering black swans: Embodied research in adolescent and young adult oncology. Oppositional Conversations. (5). http://www.oppositionalconversations.org/issue-v-contestations/2021/5/5/centering-black-swans-embodied-research-in-adolescent-and-young-adult-oncology

Unger, J. M., Moseley, A. B., Cheung, C. K., Osarogiagbon, R. U., Symington, B., Ramsey, S. D., & Hershman, D. L. (2021). Persistent disparity: Socioeconomic deprivation and cancer outcomes in patients treated in clinical trials. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 39(12), 1339-1348. https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.20.02602

Salsman, J. M., Danhauer, S. C., Moore, J. B., Ip, E. H., McLouth, L. E., Nightingale, C. L., Cheung, C. K., Bingen, K. M., Tucker‐Seeley, R. D., Little‐Greene, D., Howard, D. S., & Reeve, B. B. (2021). Systematic review of financial burden assessment in cancer: Evaluation of measures and utility among adolescents and young adults and caregivers. Cancer. 127(11), 1739-1748. https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.33559

 

BOOK CHAPTERS:

Cheung, C.K. & Wiener, L. (2022). Adolescents and young adults living with serious illness. In T. Altilio, S. Otis-Green & J. Cagle (Eds.) Oxford Textbook of Palliative Social Work (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/med/9780197537855.001.0001

Cheung, C.K., Santacroce, S. J., Zebrack, B.J. (2021). Adolescent and young adult patients. In W. Breitbart (Ed.) Psycho-oncology (4th ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/med/9780190097653.003.0089