Webinar

Dr. Michelle A. Fortier

11 a.m.PST | Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Cancer pain in children can be worse than the disease itself. Today, more children are receiving cancer treatments in an outpatient setting instead of a hospital, which improves their quality of life but relies on parents to identify and treat pain at home.

Attend the live webinar “Treating Cancer Pain in Children at Home” to hear renowned pediatric pain psychologist, Michelle A. Fortier, PhD, co-Director of the UC Irvine Center on Stress and Health and clinical researcher at CHOC Children’s Hospital, discuss what parents and children need to know about the latest interventions available to identify, treat, and prevent cancer pain. Dr. Fortier has conducted clinical research on more than 500 children and their parents battling cancer pain, which led to developing iPad/tablet applications to help parents and children manage pain at home. Dr. Fortier will introduce:

• For Parents: C-TIPS—an iPad/tablet application to educate parents on identifying and treating cancer pain in their child
• For Children: Pain Buddy—an iPad/tablet application using a 3D avatar, to help identify cancer pain for children at home, that records, tracks and sends alerts of increasing pain to healthcare providers
• Pain Buddy and C-TIPS empower children and parents with strategies such as relaxation, imagery, and breathing techniques to manage pain and stress

Join the webinar and ask Dr. Fortier questions during the webinar on Twitter by using #UCIHealthChat and on the UC Irvine Health Facebook page.

About the Michelle A. Fortier, PhD

Michelle A. Fortier, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Care and Psychology & Social Behavior at UC Irvine Health and co-director of the UC Irvine Center on Stress & Health. In addition, Dr. Fortier is on medical staff in the Department of Pediatric Psychology at CHOC Children’s hospital. In collaboration with CHOC Children’s, the UC Irvine Center on Stress & Health is a research center comprised of a multi-disciplinary team assisting children and families manage pain, anxiety and stress surrounding the medical environment and disease burden. Dr. Fortier received her PhD in clinical child psychology from University of Nebraska-Lincoln and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in pediatric psychology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. Her clinical and research interests involve the prevention and treatment of child and adolescent pain, including chronic pain conditions (e.g., headache, recurrent abdominal pain, generalized pain), recurrent pain as a result of chronic illness (e.g., cancer), and acute procedural or postsurgical pain. In addition, Dr. Fortier has a program of research incorporating health information technology to improve the management of pain and symptoms in children.