Psycho-oncology and breast cancer: a paradigm for research and intervention.

The recent award to the Lombardi Cancer Research Center of a National Cancer Institute funded Specialized Program of Research Excellence (or SPORE) grant in Breast Cancer has created a unique opportunity to develop and apply a comprehensive psycho-oncology research model that can serve as a paradigm for studies in this area across disease sites. In the following article, the rationale for and design of the psycho-oncology research program at Georgetown is presented. Areas of research are outlined, specific topics of concern within these are delineated and progress towards addressing these is briefly reviewed.