About Us

Dr. Jen Currin-McCulloch is an Associate Professor of Social Work at Colorado State University. She has had the opportunity to spend her career in oncology and palliative care and has a special passion for factors that promote hope and meaning. From her days working in the hospital, she met many young adults going through cancer who longed for their medical team to ask about things in their lives that bring joy and hope.

She has been fortunate to receive funding from the American Cancer Society and Cambia Health Foundation to allow her to focus her time working alongside young adult cancer survivors through her research and advocacy to promote awareness of their developmentally unique health and mental health experiences. When she’s not working, she enjoys time with her family, dogs, knitting, hiking, and eating baked goods.

Yixuan Wang (she/her) is a third-year doctoral student and research assistant in the School of Social Work at Colorado State University. Her research interests focus on child-centered pediatric palliative care and elevating the voices of young people with serious illness in the study of their psychosocial and existential well-being, especially through artistic approaches (e.g., drawing and photovoice).

Yixuan is currently working on a project about meaning-making in children and adolescents with cancer. The ultimate goal of her research is to promote equitable youth-adult partnerships in clinical care, research, and policy, and to advance health equity by centering the perspectives and lived experiences of young people with cancer.

Danielle Peterson is a licensed clinical social worker and certified in oncology social work. Danielle began her social work career focused on providing trauma-informed care to individuals facing intimate partner violence, homelessness, and mental illness, but has spent the last twelve years as an oncology social worker. Danielle has since worked at the local and national levels with non-profit organizations supporting people of all ages affected by cancer.

Along with providing one-to-one and group-based emotional support to people affected by cancer, she also has expertise related to health literacy and creating patient-facing health-related education. As a faculty member, Danielle has taught healthcare students in a variety of topics, including ethics, culture and diversity, and grief and loss.

The Through the Lens intervention design and implementation would not have been possible without the support and encouragement from our graduate social work research assistants, Shivani Kaushik and Juliana Borrego.