Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics, Tufts University School of Medicine
Tufts Medical Center
Dr. Parsons’ career has focused on strategies to improve the patient’s experience with healthcare, reduce regimen-related toxicity, and optimize functioning. Her dual clinical interests include the application and evaluation of novel therapies for blood cancers, principally through the National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) and the care of cancer survivors through her role as medical director of the Reid R. Sacco AYA Cancer Program. Dr. Parsons also oversees the Survivorship Care and the Patient Navigation Programs within the Tufts Cancer Center.
Dr. Parsons and her colleagues address the fiscal impact of critical and chronic illness in studies of total cost of care, cost effectiveness, and more globally, value of intervention.
Since 2007, she has served as a member of the American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplant expert panel on the role of HSCT in the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children and adults, and from 2009-2013, served a co-chair of the Health Policy and Psychosocial Working Committee of the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research. Previously, she served on the Economic Task Force for the Children’s Oncology Group, as member of the Health Services Committee of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and as a member of the National Cancer Legislation Advisory Committee for which she chaired the HRQL and Quality of Care round tables.
Dr. Parsons has a graduate degree in health economics and planning from Cornell University and a medical degree from Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. She completed her pediatrics residency and chief residency at Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) and a fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at BCH/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.