Northwestern University
Chicago, United States
Dr. Lai is a Professor of Medical Social Sciences and Pediatrics, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Lai is a registered occupational therapist and a trained psychometrician. She is a full member of the Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Proton Collaborative Group and the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium (PBTC). Dr. Lai has significant research experiences in quality of life, measurement, symptom monitoring and late effect due to childhood cancer and/or its treatment in chronic illness for both pediatric and adult populations. Dr. Lai is recognized as an expert in both outcomes measurement and Item Response Theory (IRT) and is the lead developer of the pediatric Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness scales, including Childhood Brain Tumor Survivor, Fatigue, Anorexia and Cachexia, and Cognition. She has been integral in the development of item banks using IRT to measure perceived cognitive function and fatigue for both children and adults with chronic conditions for NIH PROMIS and NINDS Neuro-QoL measurement systems