Angela Rao
Dr. Angela Rao
Clinical Trials Coordinator, Early Career Researcher
Angela Rao is an early career researcher and clinical nurse specialist in palliative care and advanced cancer clinical trials and is an Adjunct Industry Fellow at the University of Technology (UTS). She is also a member of the Palliative Care Clinical Studies Collaborative/Cancer Symptom Trials Cognitive and Neurological Disorders Symptom Node sub-committee and the Cancer Symptom Trials Scientific Advisory Committee. Angela recently attended the Medical Oncology Group of Australia’s Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development (ACORD) 2021 protocol development workshop, where she developed the ‘MEDITATion for the rEduction of psycho-existential distress in advanced cancer Palliative Care (MEDITATEPallCare) study protocol. Her current projects include an international collaborative quality improvement project with Stanford University, SPHERE Palliative Care Clinical Academic Group and UTS: ‘Evaluation of a multidisciplinary response to breathlessness in home community palliative care’, and she is a co-investigator on the qualitative sub-study of patients’ experiences of participating in the international phase III RCT ‘Duloxetine and Pregabalin for neuropathic cancer pain (DEPART Pain)’. Angela was recognised on the Dean’s Higher Degree Research List for an outstanding Ph.D. thesis in 2020. Her doctoral project aimed to generate contextual knowledge of the capacity for meditation to be integrated into cardiovascular secondary prevention (The MENTOR Project), and included a phase II pilot RCT of the feasibility and acceptability of integrating meditation into a NSW cardiac rehabilitation program for the reduction of depression and anxiety. Prior to this, Angela was the trial co-ordinator for an Australian Research Council Category 1 Funded phase III RCT Heart Awareness for Women, which evaluated a gender specific approach to address the psychosocial needs of women.
Angela also has training in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and over 14 years’ experience in personal and guided group meditation. She has advanced conflict resolution experience with 8 years as a co-facilitator for the Alternatives to Violence Project. Angela demonstrates a passion for developing an evidence base in psychological health and mind-body therapies for people living with chronic illnesses and supporting their uptake into routine clinical care.
Abstracts this author is presenting: