Jacqueline B. Vo, Ph.D., R.N., M.P.H.

Dr. Jacqueline B. Vo’s research interests center on adverse treatment-related health effects among cancer survivors, particularly cardiovascular disease and subsequent malignancies. Her interdisciplinary research program has a special emphasis on minoritized populations and how cancer outcomes can differ by race and ethnicity or socioeconomic status.

Treatment-Related Cardiovascular Disease

Dr. Vo has an interest in studying the intersection between cancer and cardiovascular disease, which share certain risk factors. Cardiovascular disease is a growing public health concern for cancer survivors due to treatment-related cardiotoxicity. Cancer treatments, such as chest irradiation, anthracycline-based chemotherapy, trastuzumab, and endocrine therapy, are associated with increased risks of cardiotoxicity. Breast cancer survivors comprise the largest population of cancer survivors and experience increased cardiovascular disease risk compared to the general population. Dr. Vo studies treatment-related cardiovascular disease by leveraging NCI’s Kaiser Permanente Breast Cancer Survivors Cohort, which is a multi-site cohort with detailed medical record data, prescription data, and long-term follow-up for which she serves as co-principal investigator. Dr. Vo is also leading studies on treatment-related cardiovascular disease among survivors of hematologic malignancies, who also receive cardiotoxic cancer treatments.

Treatment-Related Subsequent Malignancies

To understand better the risk factors associated with subsequent malignancies, Dr. Vo has an interest in studying the intersection of ionizing radiation treatment, chemotherapy, and comorbidities including cardiovascular disease on the risk of second cancers, such as thoracic soft tissues sarcomas, among cancer survivors. The results of her studies can better inform clinical decision-making on treatment risks and benefits and improve the quality of life of cancer survivors.

Health Inequities Among Minoritized Cancer Survivors

Dr. Vo is also interested in quantifying health differences by race and ethnicity or socioeconomic status among minoritized cancer survivors. She has a special emphasis on the disaggregation of Asian American and Pacific Islander populations, who comprise two distinct and diverse racial groups with varying immigration or colonization experiences, socioeconomic status, and cancer burden. Dr. Vo has led the expansion of the NCI’s Kaiser Permanente Breast Cancer Survivors Cohort to include a more racially diverse cohort and to link to area-level socioeconomic status and rurality attributes. Through these expansions, Dr. Vo studies the relationships between neighborhood-level socioeconomic status, which may influence treatment access or barriers, and treatment-related outcomes on treatment-related cardiovascular disease, second cancers, and mortality.

Dr. Vo joined the Radiation Epidemiology Branch (REB) as a Cancer Prevention Fellow in 2019 and was appointed assistant clinical investigator and co-principal investigator on NCI’s Kaiser Permanente Breast Cancer Survivors Cohort in 2022. She was the first nurse appointed as an assistant clinical investigator within NCI. In 2023, Dr. Vo was selected for the competitive NIH Distinguished Scholars Program. In 2024, she was appointed a tenure-track investigator in REB.

Dr. Vo earned her B.S. in nursing from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in 2014. After graduation, she worked as a cardiothoracic intensive care nurse and community oncology nurse. Dr. Vo completed a Ph.D. in nursing science at UAB in 2018, where she studied breast cancer survivorship. During her Ph.D. training, she was a Robert Wood Johnson Future of Nursing Scholar, Susan G. Komen Graduate Trainee in Disparities Research, and recipient of the American Cancer Society Doctoral Degree Scholarship in Cancer Nursing. In 2019, Dr. Vo earned an M.P.H. in quantitative methods from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.

Dr. Vo has received numerous awards, including the Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program Transfellowship Research Award, the Coleman Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Innovation Award, the DCEG Cancer Health Disparities Research Award, the NCI Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program Merit Award, and the NCI Director’s Award: NCI Champion Award for Emerging Leader. In 2022, Dr. Vo received the NIH Fellows Award for Research Excellence and the American Association for Cancer Research Scholar-In-Training Award.