Talking About Mental Health with Dr. Dwyer

In the 20 years since her diagnosis Vicki has learned a lot about fighting myeloma. In her own words, "When I was diagnosed it felt like I was the only one in the world with this disease. After always having been a bit of a loner, suddenly I yearned for someone to talk to that understood what I was going through. Now I want to be that someone for other myeloma patients and caregivers". Vicki has been on just about every chemo regimen and has had a stem cell transplant. Every drug regimen has worked against her Myeloma but she has never been in complete remission. She recently became a nonsecretor and is learning to deal with this new diagnosis. "When I was diagnosed in 2004 it made me sad to think I would never know what it was like to grow old. Now when I look in the mirror and see all the wrinkles, I’m overjoyed!"

Meagan L. Dwyer, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist with over 14 years of experience in psychosocial oncology. She worked in academic medicine for 12 years, serving as the Director of Onco-Psychology and the APA- Accredited Fellowship at NCCN Designated KU Cancer Center for 8 years. She has been in her private practice, Starboard Therapy & Coaching, for nearly 2 years. This practice is focused on serving those with cancer or other serious/chronic illness, those experiencing grief, and providing support or coaching to healthcare providers around burnout. Dr. Dwyer has research and clinical experience and interests focused on intersections of trauma and health psychology, particularly oncology. She is also interested in end-of-life issues, quality of life, and the interrelationships between psychological and physical health. She has expanded research into professional practice topics, particularly the impact of healthcare-related work on professional providers via compassion satisfaction, fatigue, and burnout, as well as training and program development within psycho-oncology. She has also been engaged in adapting and developing distress screenings, and psychosocial intake process and triage for both academic and clinical application.