Alexi Vasbinder PhD, RN

My program of research aims to improve the lives of cancer survivors by developing clinically relevant methods for risk stratification and devising multidisciplinary strategies to mitigate the adverse effects of cancer treatments, including cardiotoxic effects and symptom burden. My goals are to develop evidence-based management strategies to better inform clinical guidelines and improve access to cancer survivorship and cardio-oncology care services to all cancer survivors. I employ a precision health approach, with expertise in biological markers, large prospective cohort studies, advanced epidemiological methods, causal analysis, and machine learning.

 

My dissertation focused on identifying biomarker determinants of radiation-induced cardiovascular disease and fatigue in breast cancer survivors, receiving funding from the NIH (F31NR018588), American Cancer Society, American Nurses Foundation, and Oncology Nursing Foundation. I completed a postdoctoral fellowship in cardiovascular medicine (T32HL007853) to further my training in risk prediction modeling, developing the CARE-BMT risk score which is the first pre-bone marrow transplant risk score to predict the risk of cardiovascular complications after transplant. My work also led to the development of a biomarker screening strategy for immune-checkpoint inhibitor myocarditis. My current research focuses on better understanding the determinants of cardiovascular complications after cancer and developing exercise-based interventions to improve cardiorespiratory fitness in cancer survivors.

Education

• Postdoctoral Fellowship (Cardiovascular Medicine), University of Michigan, 2023
• Graduate Certificate (Public Health Genetics), University of Washington, 2021
• PhD (Nursing Science), University of Washington, 2021
• BSN (Nursing), Michigan State University, 2016
• BS with Distinction (Psychology), University of Michigan, 2015

Awards, accolades and distinguished memberships:

• American Heart Association Council on Clinical Cardiology, Council on Genomic and Precision Medicine, Cardio Oncology Committee Member, 2023 – 2025
• National Institutes of Health Loan Repayment Program Award (Clinical, NHLBI), 2022-2024
• Dissertation Award, Midwest Nursing Research Society Symptom Science & Physiology, Behavior, Genomics, and Society Research Interest Groups, 2021
• American Cancer Society Doctoral Degree Scholarship in Cancer Nursing, 2020-2021
• Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (NIH/NINR F31NR018588), 2019-2021
• Warren G. Magnuson Scholar, University of Washington, 2019
• Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, University of Washington School of Nursing, 2018
• Achievement Rewards for College Scientists Fellowship, University of Washington, 2016-2019

What do you love about the UW School of Nursing?

I love the passion and commitment the faculty and students at the UW School of Nursing have for advancing nursing scholarship and education.

Department

Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Informatics

Research Areas

• Innovative Interventions
• Symptom Science
• Health Equity

Research Centers

• de Tornyay Center for Healthy Aging