Melissa P. Beauchemin, PhD, MSN, BSN, BA, CPNP-PC, CPON, FAAN

  • Assistant Professor of Nursing

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Overview

Melissa P. Beauchemin, PhD, RN, is an Assistant Professor of Nursing at Columbia University and a board-certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner with over 15 years of clinical experience in pediatric oncology. She holds New York licenses as a Nurse Practitioner in Pediatrics and a Registered Professional Nurse. Dr. Beauchemin is also certified as a Pediatric Oncology Nurse and is Board Certified by the Pediatric Nursing Certification Board (PCNB).

At Columbia, Dr. Beauchemin is the Scientific Co-Lead of Cancer Care Delivery Research for the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Minority-Underserved National Cancer Institute Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP). She is also the Vice-Chair for Cancer Care Delivery Research in the Children’s Oncology Group (COG). Her research focuses on using mixed methods and pragmatic study designs to develop interventions that address financial and health-related social needs during cancer treatment for children, adolescents, and young adults. Her work aims to reduce health disparities tied to social determinants of health and improve overall cancer outcomes.

Academic Appointments

  • Assistant Professor of Nursing

Gender

  • Female

Credentials & Experience

Education & Training

  • Fellowship: 2021 Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Honors & Awards

Vice-Chair, Cancer Care Delivery Research Steering Committee, Children’s Oncology Group (COG)

Scientific Co-Lead of Cancer Care Delivery Research for the Columbia University Minority-Underserved NCI Community Oncology Research Program

2020: ASCO Conquer Cancer Quality Care Symposium Merit Award: Impact of a hospital specialty pharmacy in partnership with a free-standing care coordination organization on time to delivery and receipt of oral anticancer drugs

2019: Nursing Discipline Service Award, Children’s Oncology Group

2010: New York Presbyterian Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence Nominee

2008: Rudin Scholar, Columbia University School of Nursing, New York, NY

Research

The rising costs of cancer care are experienced by all cancer patients; however, the negative effect of cancer costs, sometimes termed “financial toxicity,” disproportionately impacts populations who are already at risk for disparate outcomes, including adolescents and young adults (AYAs), people living in poverty, un- or underinsured patients, and racial and ethnic minority patients. Financial toxicity is associated with poor quality-of-life and earlier mortality. Through my research, I aim to enhance the delivery of high-quality cancer care for children, adolescents, and young adults while addressing and seeking to mitigate inequities that impact health outcomes. I focus on developing evidence-based and implementable interventions through acceptable and sustainable strategies as perceived by the healthcare team, patients, and families. I use mixed methods and pragmatic study designs to design and implement interventions to address financial and health-related social needs during cancer treatment for children, adolescents, and young adults with cancer, ultimately aiming to reduce health outcome disparities that are tied to social determinants of health.

Research Interests

  • Adolescent and young adult (AYA) oncology
  • Cancer care delivery
  • Health Equity and Disparities
  • Implementation Science
  • Mixed methods

Grants

Selected Grants

  • Optimizing Screening for Financial Distress and Social Health Risks among Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer 
    12/1/2022 – 11/30/2023
    Role: Principal Investigator
    Funding source: VP&S Faculty Affairs and Career Development at Columbia University Irving Medical Center
  • Characterizing and Addressing Financial Toxicity in Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer
    KL2 Mentored Career Development Award
    7/1/2022 – 6/30/2024
    Role: Principal Investigator
    Funding source: National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, NIH
  • Symptom Screening Linked to Care Pathways for Children with Cancer: a Cluster Randomized Trial (Sung, PI) 
    Lead Institution: Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada
    7/1/2020 –6/30/2025
    Role: Co-Investigator
    Funding source: NCI
  • Financial Distress during Treatment for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in the US
    Children’s Oncology Group NCORP Grant (PI: Pollock)
    8/1/2018 – 7/31/2024
    Role: ACCL20N1CD Study Co-Chair (NCI-2021-03567): Study is supported through the COG, I am the principal co-investigator for this study.
    Funding source: NCI
  • NCI-Community Oncology Research Program (Kachnic, PI)
    Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center
    8/1/2018 – 7/31/2024
    Role: Program Director (2018 – 2022); CCDR Scientific Co-Lead (2022 – 2024)
    Funding source: NCI

Selected Publications

For a complete list of publications, please visit MyNCBI.

  1. Beauchemin MP, DeStephano D, Raghunathan R, Harden E, Accordino M, Hillyer GC, Kahn JM, May BL, Mei B, Rosenblat T, Law C, Elkin EB, Kukafka R, Wright JD, Hershman DL. Implementation of Systematic Financial Screening in an Outpatient Breast Oncology Setting. JCO Clin Cancer Inform. 2023 Mar;7:e2200172. doi: 10.1200/CCI.22.00172. PMID: 36944141.
  2. Beauchemin MP, Roth ME, Parsons SK. Reducing Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Outcome Disparities Through Optimized Care Delivery: A Blueprint from the Children's Oncology Group [published online ahead of print, 2023 Jan 30]. J Adolesc Young Adult Oncol. 2023;10.1089/jayao.2022.0136. doi:10.1089/jayao.2022.0136
  3. Santesso N, Beauchemin M, Robinson PD, Walsh AM, Sugalski AJ, Lo T, Dang H, Fisher BT, Grimes AC, Wrightson AR, Yu LC, Sung L, Dupuis LL. Clinical practice guideline recommendation summaries for pediatric oncology health care professionals: A qualitative study. PLoS One. 2023;18(2):e0281890. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0281890. eCollection 2023. PubMed PMID: 36809380; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9943009.
  4. Orjuela-Grimm MA, Beauchemin MP. Childhood Cancer Death When Life Transpires Where High Childhood Poverty Has Persisted for Decades. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2023 Mar 6;32(3):295-297. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-22-1279. PMID: 36872901.
  5. Robinson PD, Tomlinson D, Beauchemin M, Gibson P, Grimes A, Dadzie G, Safi M, Vettese E, Dupuis LL, Sung L. Identifying clinical practice guidelines for symptom control in pediatric oncology. Support Care Cancer. 2021 Nov;29(11):7049-7055. doi: 10.1007/s00520-021-06303-9. Epub 2021 May 26. PMID: 34041614.
  6. Lehrnbecher T, Robinson PD, Ammann RA, Fisher B, Patel P, Phillips R, Beauchemin MP, et al. Guideline for the Management of Fever and Neutropenia in Pediatric Patients With Cancer and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation Recipients: 2023 Update. J Clin Oncol. 2023 Jan 23:JCO2202224. doi: 10.1200/JCO.22.02224. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36689694.
  7. Beauchemin MP, Lichtenstein MRL, Raghunathan R, et al. Impact of a Hospital-Based Specialty Pharmacy in Partnership With a Care Coordination Organization on Time to Delivery and Receipt of Oral Anticancer Drugs [published online ahead of print, 2022 Dec 6]. JCO Oncol Pract. 2022;OP2200451. doi:10.1200/OP.22.00451
  8. Beauchemin, MP, Santacroce, S.J., Bona, K. et al. Rationale and design of Children’s Oncology Group (COG) study ACCL20N1CD: financial distress during treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in the United States. BMC Health Serv Res 22, 832 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-08201-0
  9. Beauchemin, MP, Raghunathan, RR, Accordino, MK, Cogan, JC, Kahn, JM, Wright, JD, Hershman, DL. New persistent opioid use among adolescents and young adults with sarcoma. Cancer. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.34238
  10. Tomlinson D, Robinson PD, Gibson P, Beauchemin M, Grimes A, Dadzie G, Mairs M, Plenert E, Vettese E, Cox S, Dupuis LL, Sung L. Creating and adapting an infection management care pathway in pediatric oncology. Support Care Cancer. 2022 Jun 22. doi: 10.1007/s00520-022-07216-x. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35731317.
  11. Cogan, J.C., Accordino, M.K., Beauchemin, M.P., Spivack, J.H., Ulene, S.R., Elkin, E.B., Melamed, A., Taback, B., Wright, J.D. and Hershman, D.L. (2022), Efficacy of a password-protected, pill-dispensing device with mail return capacity to enhance disposal of unused opioids after cancer surgery. Cancer, 128: 3392-3399. https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.34384
  12. Joffe L, Steinberg DM, Strohli T, Beauchemin M. Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer: Survivorship and Special Considerations. Pediatr Ann. 2022 Jan;51(1):e27-e33. doi: 10.3928/19382359-20211209-03. Epub 2022 Jan 1. PMID: 35020510.
  13. Roth M, Beauchemin M, Kahn JM, Bleyer A. Patterns of National Cancer Institute-Sponsored Clinical Trial Enrollment in Black Adolescents and Young Adults. Cancer Med. 2021 Nov;10(21):7620-7628. doi: 10.1002/cam4.4292. Epub 2021 Sep 30. PMID: 34592782; PMCID: PMC8559464.
  14. Sugalski, A.J., Lo, T., Beauchemin, M. et al. Facilitators and barriers to clinical practice guideline-consistent supportive care at pediatric oncology institutions: a Children’s Oncology Group study. Implement Sci Commun 2, 106 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s43058-021-00200-2
  15. Unger, JM, Beauchemin, M, Hershman, DL. Adolescent and young adult enrollment to a National Cancer Institute–sponsored National Clinical Trials Network Research Group over 25 years. Cancer. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.33855
  16. Cogan JC, Raghunathan RR, Beauchemin MP, Accordino MK, Elkin EB, Melamed A, Wright JD, Hershman DL. New and persistent controlled substance use among patients undergoing mastectomy and reconstructive surgery. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2021 Sep;189(2):445-454. doi: 10.1007/s10549-021-06275-8. Epub 2021 Jun 4. PMID: 34089118.
  17. Kahn, J. M., & Beauchemin, M. (2021). Improving Health Equity and Reducing Disparities in Pediatric and Adolescent/Young Adult Oncology: In Support of Clinical Practice Guidelines. Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network 19, 6, 765-769, available from: < https://doi.org/10.6004/jnccn.2021.7048>
  18. Beauchemin M, Weng C, Sung L, Pichon A, Abbott M, Hershman DL, Schnall R. Data Quality of Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting Documentation. Appl Clin Inform. 2021 Mar;12(2):320-328. doi: 10.1055/s-0041-1728698. Epub 2021 Apr 21. PMID: 33882585; PMCID: PMC8060070.
  19. Beauchemin M, Dorritie R, Hershman DL. Opioid use and misuse in children, adolescents, and young adults with cancer: a systematic review of the literature. Support Care Cancer. 2021 Aug;29(8):4521-4527. doi: 10.1007/s00520-020-05980-2. Epub 2021 Jan 18. PMID: 33462726; PMCID: PMC8238862.