Graduate student, Joohyun Park, working with Kevin Look, assistant professor in the Social & Administrative Sciences Division, received the best postgraduate poster at the 2017 APhA Annual Meeting in San Francisco in March.

Entitled, “Identifying Relationships between Financial Burden, Health-Related Quality of Life, and Psychological Health among Cancer patients,” Park’s poster was based on her Master’s research which she successfully defended in June. Her study aims to estimate the impact of financial burden on the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and psychological health of cancer patients using Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) data. The high cost of cancer treatment causes financial burden to cancer patients. In turn, these unintended financial consequences may cause low HRQOL, psychological distress, medication noncompliance or impeding high quality of cancer care. Park’s research will explore the need for health care policy to reduce the financial burden of cancer treatment.