Susan Winebrenner, PhD, APRN, AGNP-BC, OCN

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Susan Winebrenner, PhD, APRN, AGNP-BC, OCN

Assistant Professor
susan.ellis @louisville.edu
502-852-1846


Susan Winebrenner is an Assistant Professor and an oncology nurse practitioner for Norton Cancer Institute in Louisville, Kentucky.  Her research focuses on examining the psychological impact of diagnostic imaging during cancer survivorship, with an over-arching goal of improving the psychosocial well-being and quality of life of cancer survivors. She has conducted both quantitative and qualitative studies exploring this concept and demonstrated the debilitating impact of surveillance scans in persons with pancreatic cancer. Dr. Winebrenner was the recipient of an Oncology Nursing Foundation Research Doctoral Scholarship and has received numerous internal awards to fund her research. She has more than 20 years of oncology research experience and is co-author of 16 peer-reviewed publications.

During her doctoral coursework, Dr. Winebrenner examined the psychological harms of diagnostic imaging in pancreatic cancer populations and developed a comprehensive framework to educate oncology providers about the critical time points surrounding a cancer surveillance scan. Her conceptual model of "scanxiety" can be used to identify scan-related anxiety in the clinical setting and facilitate early interventions to decrease psychological distress.