Dr Clarissa Schilstra

Dr Clarissa Schilstra is a postdoctoral research fellow within Australia's largest paediatric psycho-oncology research group: the Behavioural Sciences Unit at the Kids Cancer Centre, Sydney Children's Hospital and UNSW. Dr Schilstra's research focuses on the social impacts of a cancer diagnosis and treatment on adolescents and young adults, from time of diagnosis through post-treatment and survivorship. Her PhD research assessed and addressed social anxiety and its impact on social wellbeing among Australian adolescents and young adults diagnosed with cancer. Dr Schilstra is also a two-time cancer survivor herself andis therefore a passionate advocate for consumer-led psycho-oncology research that is prioristised, planned, and conducted by people with lived experience of cancer. She led the first face-to-face Australian workshop for defining the research priorities of adolescent and young adult cancer survivors, which informed her PhD research and led Dr Schilstra to develop the first-ever, evidence-based guidelines for caring for the social wellbeing of adolescents and young adults with cancer in Australia. Outside of her work with the BSU, Dr Schilstra also serves as a consumer representative for the World Health Organisation Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer and the International Late Effects of Childhood Cancer Guidelines Harmonization Group.