Student Trailblazers, Part 2: leukemia survivor studies cancer’s impact on caregivers

During this uncertain time of federal research and healthcare funding cuts, I’ve heard friends and colleagues worry that young people may be dissuaded from pursuing a career in science and research.  Yet I’ve met so many bright young students who are not discouraged. In fact, they see this moment as a call to action—when dedication to science is more important than ever. 

That’s why I started this Student Trailblazers blog series in July of 2025: To showcase smart young students striving to make a difference in the world. I think you’ll feel as hopeful as I do that these impressive young people are poised to be the world’s next changemakers in healthcare. In part one, I wrote about an enterprising teen engineering a new way to deliver cancer treatment. 

I’m proud to share part two in my series and introduce you to a 14-year-old pediatric leukemia survivor who is helping with a study on the effects of psychological distress on parent caregivers of adolescent young adults with blood cancer. 

Meet Charlotte Nathanson, 14 – Survivor, advocate, research analyst

Charlotte’s experience with blood cancer began in 2018, when she was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of seven. She endured months of treatment in the hospital and reached remission but then needed a bone marrow transplant after relapsing.  Today Charlotte is cancer-free and committed to helping other families dealing with pediatric blood cancer. 

I first met her in Washington D.C. when she was a pre-teen and volunteer advocate for Blood Cancer United (then known as The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society). She shared her powerful survivor story with members of Congress at events like our 2023 Lobby Day, as we advocated for policies to protect children’s access to care. As she told us in a previous blog, “I just made it my goal that if there was something I could do to make it easier for someone else, I would do it!”

This past spring, Charlotte reached out to let me know she was finishing 8^th grade and looking for a summer research project before starting high school. I connected her with a researcher who is part of our Equity in Access Research program.

Last week Charlotte shared more about her project, and how high school is going.  Here are highlights from our conversation.

How is school going? It sounds like science is a big interest of yours.

I’ve always loved science. In sixth grade, I took a combination of physical and life science; in seventh grade we dove deeper into life science; and in eighth grade it was more physical science. Now I’m taking biology honors this year. 

And where does your heart lie?

Biology, for sure. We haven’t gotten very far in the curriculum yet, but we’re learning about atoms, different molecules, and polar covalent bonds and how that impacts different biological changes.  

I’m grateful that I go to a school that has a couple of different pre-professional tracks. I decided I wanted to do the pre-medical track and the first class in the track is medical terminology. Next semester I’m taking embryology. The track goes all the way through high school and in senior year you get to do an internship. 

You’re learning pretty serious stuff right off the bat. It sounds like a great school! It makes me want to go back! Tell me about your summer research project.  

As I started to think about what I wanted to do for the next state science fair, I asked myself, “What am I passionate about?” As a two-time cancer survivor, oncology research is what I’m really passionate about. But there are a couple of problems with that. I don’t have a Ph.D., and I don’t have access to chemotherapy and patients. And so, it wasn’t realistic for me to do that kind of work by myself.  

I know that’s frustrating. While I know you are certainly smart enough to do bench research, labs don’t typically take kids until they’re older, because of potential exposure to dangerous chemicals. 

Yes, I believe most hospitals and labs require you to be 16. That’s why I reached out to you and one of my oncologists at Cincinnati Childrens Hospital to see if either of you might connect me with someone I could work with. You recommended a researcher at the University of Florida, and I decided to work with her because the topic was something of great interest to me. She is studying the effects of psychological distress on parent caregivers of adolescent young adults (15- to 29- year-olds) with blood cancer. Her team is developing videos that discuss parent-to-child communication and parent-to-clinician communication. The goal is to help decrease caregivers’ distress, which also can impact the patients.

What is your role in the research? 

I’m doing qualitative analysis. The team first conducted interviews with parent caregivers, read through all the transcripts, and identified five common themes or strategies deemed helpful by parents, which they then documented in a code book.  My role was to go through all the interviews and code wherever I saw manifestations of the themes. The team had already done this on their own, but then we compared our findings to validate them. For example, I may have coded something they didn’t, and they may have coded something I didn’t catch, and we may have some overlaps. We discuss to make sure we are not missing anything. I’m still working through all that right now. I’ve learned so much about how to do qualitative research and my mentor has been super helpful and so kind when answering my 30,000 questions. Working on this project has been wonderful and will have real impact on real people. I’m so grateful to be part of something so meaningful.

Being well-versed in public health research is critical, especially for medical practitioners of the future.  I wondered if this research has given you added insight into what your own family may have gone through when you were sick as a little girl? 

I think my main concern when I was younger was about the financial impact of cancer on my family. Even though I didn’t really know how much things cost, I knew my parents were dealing with a lot of expenses. My parents had bought a house and were trying to sell our old one, as well as paying for a new school and transferring insurance. It was a lot. I could tell they were stressed.

When I was diagnosed at age 7, it was the first time I’d ever seen my father cry. I don’t have a lot of memories of that night, but I do remember sitting in the back seat on our way to the hospital, with my parents in the front.  In the rearview mirror I could see my dad starting to cry. There were a lot of hushed tones and I could just feel that they were upset. 

Cancer definitely impacts the entire family.  When I got sick, my brother was just starting 5th grade in a new school. He had to do a lot of things on his own, like make his own lunch, spend afternoons in the hospital doing his homework, and many nights with my grandparents when I had fevers or had to be in the ICU. I think it’s really important that healthcare providers focus not only on the patient, but on the siblings, the parents, and the extended family. I’m not the only one with memories of what I went through. My whole family was affected. My brother, who donated his bone marrow to me. My parents, who watched me suffer for days and days. And my grandparents who moved with us a second time so they could care for my brother while I had a bone marrow transplant. 

And that’s why at Blood Cancer United we spend a lot of time making sure all families dealing with blood cancer, as well as their healthcare providers, have support and educational resources.  As you know we’ve recently changed our name from The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to Blood Cancer United to help us reach more families who  need us. What do you think?

I like it! I’ve been volunteering with your organization since I’m eight, and it’s been the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done with my life. Of course I was attached to the old name, but the idea that as Blood Cancer United you can now help even more people find joy, support and resources is what matters most. 

What’s your best advice for other high school students who are thinking about going into sciences? 

Put yourself out there. Last year I participated in the science research program at my school. I was a little afraid cause there were so many unknowns.  And though I wound up completing it, I admit it was brutal and I was confused. I was kind of floundering for a topic idea at the beginning and ended up on something random. I conducted my own experiment about the effects of different drugs on fruit flies and their impact on the fruit flies’ resistance to heat stroke. I didn’t really have conclusive results, but I competed in the state science fair and got sixth place. OK, but not amazing. This year, I decided I’d do something I was really passionate about. I was a little nervous again as I began reaching out to people in my network who might connect me with blood cancer researchers at universities. Cold emailing someone is pretty scary because you want to make sure it’s perfect. You want to sound smart. You really want to impress them. And that’s scary. But you have to put yourself out there in order to succeed. It’s important to take that first step.

Well, putting yourself out there certainly seems to be a common theme. The last young man I interviewed also emailed universities close to him home, and kept at it till he got someone to write back. Any final tips?

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes or be confused. My experience with last year’s research project taught me lots about how to approach this year’s. It’s important to be honest with yourself about what you can and cannot do.  Identify what you’re really passionate about. Ask questions and clearly communicate what it is that you need in order to succeed! 

Read more about Charlotte HERE 
 

About The Author

As LLS's Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Gwen Nichols, M.D., plays a critical role in advancing cures through a unique combination of clinical, academic and pharmaceutical experience. She oversees LLS's scientific research portfolio, patient services and policy and advocacy initiatives. Dr. Nichols leads an international team of preeminent leaders in pediatric acute leukemia to conceive, develop and implement LLS PedAL, a first of its kind global master clinical trial and a key component of the Dare to Dream Project, transforming treatment and care for kids with blood cancer.

A physician and scientific researcher, Dr. Nichols has dedicated her career to advancing cures for cancers. Before joining LLS, she was oncology site head of the Roche Translational Clinical Research Center, where she worked to develop new cancer therapies, translating them from the laboratory to clinical trials. Prior to joining Roche in 2007, Dr. Nichols was at Columbia University for more than ten years, where she served as the director of the Hematologic Malignancies Program.
While at Columbia University, Dr. Nichols maintained an active clinical practice and received the prestigious honors of "Physician of the Year" from Columbia University and the "Humanism in Medicine Award" from the American Association of Medical Colleges.