Diana Wilkie, PhD, RN, FAAN

Diana Wilkie, PhD, RN, FAAN, joined UF in 2015 as the Prairieview Trust – Earl and Margo Powers Endowed Professor in the Department of Biobehavioral Nursing Science. She is also the director of the Center for Palliative Care Research & Education and co-director of the Florida-California Cancer Research, Education and Engagement (CaRE2) Health Center.

Dr. Wilkie, a member of the National Academy of Medicine, has devoted her research program to cancer and sickle cell pain management, palliative care, end-of-life issues, and reducing health disparities. Her research builds on pain problems she recognized through her clinical experience as a staff nurse, hospice nurse, and an oncology clinical nurse specialist. Her research has been continuously funded since 1986 from numerous organizations such as the National Institutes of Health, the American Cancer Society, Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation — totaling $110 million. This funding supports her biobehavioral and informatics research focused on pain, symptom science, and palliative care in populations spanning the life cycle with special focus on adults, older adults, and reducing health disparities.

Her clinical work with cancer patients led to the development of a tablet-based pain report system that allows a patient to describe his or her pain. The system automatically generates a report for the clinician with suggestions for appropriate interventions. The system also provides multimedia education on pain management for the patients and their family members. Wilkie recently completed a randomized clinical trial testing the effects of computerized pain tools on pain control for cancer patients receiving hospice care. She also tested a Turkish version of the pain report tool in Turkey with patients recovering from lung cancer surgery. She also recently completed a study focused on advanced care planning for African Americans with dementia, three studies focused on understanding the mechanisms and genomics that contribute to the pain in sickle cell disease with a goal of improving outcomes for adults with sickle cell disease, and a multi-site, randomized clinical trial of dignity therapy for elderly outpatients with cancer who received palliative care. Study outcomes focused on key spiritual-related patient outcomes (dignity impact, existential tasks, and cancer prognosis awareness).

Numerous currently funded studies include a randomized control trial of an internet-based reproductive health education intervention for individuals with sickle cell disease or sickle cell trait. The long-term goal of her research is to help clinicians effectively combine pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic therapies for management of pain as part of respectful care for individuals and families facing serious illness such as cancer and sickle cell disease.

Wilkie is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and served for five years as an American Cancer Society professor of oncology nursing. She has authored or co-authored more than 370 scholarly publications and more than 380 abstracts. She serves as a reviewer on a number of journals, including the Journal of Palliative Medicine, Cancer Nursing, Journal of Pain & Symptom Management, and Journal of Pain.

Wilkie has mentored more than 188 individuals including 51 doctoral students, 16 postdoctoral scholars, and 21 junior faculty. Of these individuals, 68 identified with an underrepresented group (17 with PhD/MD/PharmD; 12 of them have received postdoctoral funding for their research). She also has mentored 32 international students or scholars. She recently completed the University of Florida’s CTSI sponsored Mentorship Academy training and has a strong commitment to mentoring biobehavioral scientists who are focused on pain and eliminating health disparities.

Use of informatics to promote patient-centered care; pain assessment; palliative and end-of-life care; biobehavioral therapies for cancer pain; behavioral correlates of cancer pain; sickle cell disease pain mechanisms, assessment and management; reproductive choices for people with sickle cell disease or sickle cell trait; intervention research.