Professional Bio
Barbara Murphy, MD, is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Medicine, at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She is a medical oncologist who specializes in head and neck cancer as well as in pain and symptom management. She has served as the team leader for the Head and Neck Research Team and the Director of the Pain and Symptom Management Program at the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center.
She has extensive experience in the development, implementation and management of clinical trials, supportive care studies and grants. She has developed a wide-ranging program of research and a dedicated team of co-investigators examining symptom control issues in head and neck cancer patients.
She has worked with collaborators on two sequential R0-1s investigating lymphedema and fibrosis in the head and neck population. This has been seminal work. In addition, over the past five years she has spearheaded and/or facilitated the completion of four randomized intervention trials in head and neck cancer patients.
Dr. Murphy is co-PI of multisite randomized trial comparing the efficacy of the Tactile device versus standard of care as primary therapy for head and neck cancer survivors with lymphedema. Collectively, this work has highlighted previously unrecognized gaps in the research and clinical evidence base. Her work is considered innovative and has moved the field of head and neck supportive oncology forward. As a result, Dr. Murphy has participated in numerous national and international organizations, grant review committees and conferences.
Relevant Links
Publications
Education
MD - Wake Forest University, 1987
Residency - Internal Medicine - Yale University, 1990
Fellowship - Oncology - Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 1993
Contact
Email
Kimryn.Rathmell@Vumc.Org
Address
777 Preston Research Building
2220 Pierce Ave
Nashville, TN 37232-6307