Anny Fenton, PhD

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Academic Titles

Instructor, Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Research Program Affiliation

Member, Cancer Care Delivery Research

Member, Palliative Care

Research Abstract

As a medical sociologist, I use mixed methods to study the vital role and experiences of family caregivers and their impact on patients and their care. I focus on understudied caregiving populations including individuals of color, rural caregivers, and those caring at a distance.

I am particularly interested in adult-children caring for a parent with advanced cancer, a vastly understudied population that constitutes half of cancer caregivers in the United States. I am presently designing the first known intervention tailored to adult-child caregivers. The intervention will target caregivers’ and patients’ communication with each other and with their social networks. From 2026-2030, I am co-Principal Investigator on a federally funded grant to use community-engaged methods to adapt and trial an intervention to build social support for family caregivers of persons with Alzheimer's Disease and related dementia in rural areas.

My long-term research goal is to build rigorously researched and novel, disseminable interventions to improve patients and their families’ lives by strengthening their communication and social support.

In mid-2026, I will be transitioning my lab from Dana Farber and Harvard Medical School to a joint appointment at Tufts School of Medicine and MaineHealth Institute of Research.