SCHOLAR DIRECTORY

Carissa Alinat is a BS-PhD student in the Dual Oncology and Adult Gerontology track at the University of South Florida. She was admitted into the doctoral program immediately after completing a second-degree accelerated BS in Nursing program at USF in 2012. Upon admission, she was awarded a one-year university graduate fellowship, and toward the end of her first year, she was also awarded a graduate teaching assistantship, as well as a research assistantship. These honors have allowed her to gain experience in research as well as in academic leadership. Carissa currently works under the advisement of her mentor, Dr. Cecile Lengacher, and participates as a research associate with Dr. Lengacher’s NIH-funded R01 bio-behavioral “MBSR Symptom Cluster Trial” research team, which she has also been involved with on several publications. In addition, through Dr. Lengacher’s faculty membership in the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center Health Outcomes and Behavioral Program, and the Integrative Medicine Program, she has been able to collaborate with other junior researchers and attend scientific meetings in her area of interest. Academically, Mrs. Alinat is an excellent scholar with a 3.9 grade point average in her specialty and doctoral courses. In addition to nursing, she also holds a Bachelor of Arts in English degree. She is a member of Oncology Nursing Society, Florida Nurses Association, and USF’s Doctoral Nursing Student Organization. Mrs. Alinat’s focus of research is on cancer genetics, in particular, polymorphisms of fatigue and pain genes in women with breast cancer and CAM therapies such as MBSR.