Lily
GUTNIK

Medicine - United States

Contact details

Email.
lgutnik@uabmc.edu
Personal Website.
https://www.uab.edu/medicine/surgery/breast-endocrine/faculty/gutnik-lily-a-m-d

Research topics

SCIENTIFIC PROJECT

"Context Driven Co-Design to Develop Breast Cancer Care Intervention for People with Severe Mental Illness"

People with serious mental illness (SMI) — such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder — are far less likely to receive timely cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment, and are more likely to die from cancer than the general population. Yet this group is rarely the focus of dedicated cancer care programmes.

This project addresses that gap by designing a patient navigation intervention specifically for people living with both SMI and cancer. Patient navigation means having dedicated support to help people move through complex healthcare systems without falling through the cracks.

What makes this project original is its use of co-design: patients with SMI and cancer, mental health professionals, and oncologists will work together as equal partners to build the intervention from the ground up.

The potential societal impact is significant. By creating a tailored navigation model, this project could reduce one of healthcare's most overlooked inequalities — improving survival rates, treatment completion, and quality of life for a highly vulnerable group that has long been left behind by standard cancer care systems.

 

Activities / Resume

BIOGRAPHY

Lily Gutnik is a breast Cancer Surgeon-Scientist who focuses on strategies towards downstaging and improving breast cancer care among vulnerable populations.