Sarah Hope Kagan, PhD, FAAN, RN
Lucy Walker Honorary Term Professor of Gerontological Nursing - Clinician Educator
Contact Information
University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
Room 313 Fagin Hall
418 Curie Blvd.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4217
UNITED STATES
tel: (215) 898-1316
email: skagan@nursing.upenn.edu
Sarah H. Kagan holds a primary academic appointment as Professor - Clinician Educator and is the Ralston House Term Professor of Gerontological Nursing. Her clinical appointment is as Clinical Nurse Specialist in the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania, where she offers advanced nursing consultation to patients, their families, nurses, and physicians on matters of symptom management, psychosocial oncology, geriatric oncology, and interdisciplinary team work. Dr. Kagan's secondary faculty appointment is in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology: Head and Neck Surgery, where her particular consultative focus is on clinical research and care of patients who have head and neck cancers and are suffering complex wounds and other challenging symptoms.
Teaching
Dr. Kagan teaches students across the baccalaureate, masters and doctoral programs in the School of Nursing as well as offering lectures and preceptorships in the School of Medicine. She is the director of the Nursing Undergraduate Honors Program and the Penn-UK Study Abroad Programs in the School of Nursing. Dr. regularly teaches two undergraduate honors courses "Sweet Little Old Ladies and Sandwiched Daughters" and "Ageing, Beauty, and Sexuality". In addition, she directs the advanced qualitative methods course in the PhD program. Dr. Kagan teaches a course in comparative health systems and elder care in conjunction with the Departments of Community Medicine and Nursing Studies at the University of Hong Kong.
Research
Dr. Kagan's program of clinical research is centered on human experience and illness, with a focus on symptom experience for older adults particularly those who have cancer. Her second book - forthcoming from Penn Press in 2009 - is entitled Cancer in the Lives of Older Americans: Blessings and Battles. Dr. Kagan commonly examines the experience of cancer for older adults through narrative inquiry using head and neck cancer as a model of cancer in older adults. Her current explorations include a collaborative project to understand embodiment in younger and older individuals who have oral tongue cancer. Dr. Kagan welcomes undergraduate students, in particular, as collaborators in her research.
• Currently Funded Grants
• Center for Integrative Science in Aging
Clinical Practice
Dr. Kagan, given her appointment in the cancer center and in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology: Head and Neck Surgery, reaches a range of patients and families with different needs and interacts with many healthcare disciplines. These varying levels of interaction allow Dr. Kagan to analyze many aspects of oncology and gerontology care from several vantage points. She uses this perspective to continually refine her practice and role model evidence-based practices and to address larger programmatic and systemic concerns relevant to our ageing society.
• Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
| Publications (select year) 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 and Prior | In Press | More Publications |
I’m lucky to be doing what I love – caring for older adults and their families – and learning from them so that I can share this knowledge and develop or investigate better ways of caring. My special interests in care of older adults who have cancer allow me the intimate privilege of being with patients at the best and worst times of their lives. That intimacy acts as a beacon– it reminds me of the value that I and nursing as a profession contributes to society and the rewards offered in return. 