Dr. Bai’s research concentrates on the areas of child and family health care in oncology, especially in symptom assessment and management, patient-reported outcomes and biopsychosocial mechanisms’ underlying symptoms. He created the COMFORT Scale – Behavior Scale and the Face, Legs, Activities, Cry, and Consolability (FLACC) in Chinese. This scale has since gained a substantial amount of recognition with nearly 60 citations in 5 years and findings published in Pain Management Nursing and Journal of Clinical Nursing. Dr. Bai earned his BSN and MSN from Wuhan University in China. After obtaining his PhD degree from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, he continued a two-year postdoctoral training in the School of Nursing.

Briefly, tell us about a research project you’re working on...

I am currently working on an NIH-funded grant that is investigating the dynamic patterns of the gut microbiome in children with solid tumors across chemotherapy and exploring the microbiome-gut-brain axis in psychoneurological symptoms in cancer chemotherapy. I am very excited about this study because it will help us understand the biological mechanisms of cancer treatment-related symptoms and toxicities so that we can design precise interventions to help our children with cancer.

What is one thing you hope your work can offer humanity by the end of your career?

I hope that the findings of our work can help identify specific biological omics-pathways associated with cancer treatment-related psychoneurological symptoms.

If you could go back in time and offer yourself some advice early in your career, what would you say?

Enjoy an adventure with a normal heart.

What do you enjoy most about being at Emory Nursing?

I feel lucky to work with so many smart and fantastic people in such a supportive environment.