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The Bona Lab at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute studies disparities in childhood cancer with a focus on improving childhood cancer outcomes by systematically considering poverty as a risk factor in the clinical trial setting and a target for interventions. Dr. Bona's research to date has demonstrated that poverty is associated with higher rates of relapse, decreased overall survival, and inferior symptom management even when children are treated on clinical trials. Her ongoing research includes open protocols to (1) identify mechanisms linking poverty and inferior outcomes by embedding survey and healthcare utilization research in multi-center clinical trials run by the DFCI/ALL Consortium and Children's Oncology Group; (2) develop and test novel poverty-targeted interventions; and (3) collaboratively investigate physiologic stress-responses that may induce chemotherapy resistance or immune dysfunction.

Neuner JM, Hamel MB, Phillips RS, Bona K, Aronson MD. Diagnosis and management of adults with pharyngitis. A cost-effectiveness analysis. Ann Intern Med. 2003;139(2):113-22.

Dussel V, Bona K, Heath JA, Hilden JM, Weeks JC, Wolfe J. Unmeasured costs of a child’s death: Perceived financial burden, work disruptions, and economic coping strategies used by American and Australian families who lost children to cancer. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2011;(8):1007-13.

Bona K, Bates J, Wolfe J. Massachusetts' Pediatric Palliative Care Network: Successful implementation of a novel state-funded pediatric palliative care program. Journal of Palliative Medicine. 2011;14(11):1217-23.

Bona K, Dussel V, Orellana L, Kang T, Geyer R, Feudtner C, Wolfe J. Economic Impact of Advanced Pediatric Cancer on Families. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, July 2013 epub ahead of print.