In 2011, pop music phenomenon Lady Gaga released 'Edge of Glory' from her second studio album 'Born This Way'. When comforting her father over the imminent loss of her grandfather, Gaga said ‘Don’t be sad. He’s on the edge of the most glorious moment in life, when you realise that you won,’ and thus, 'Edge of Glory' was written. Although, this has absolutely nothing to do with my PhD, it does make me think about my research and ultimately how I'll feel when I complete it and make my mark in the world of cancer research! If you're curious to learn what my research is about then simply, read below :)
Briefly, EDGE is a well-thought-out acronym for the 'Exercise in Disease manaGement and rEhabilitation' Project. This is the project in which my PhD is involved. More specifically, my project is called Exercise in Disease manaGement and rEhabilitation: Cancer or 'EDGE: Cancer' for short. Still with me?
On this project are 4 PhD students - two of us focussing on cancer and the other two on rheumatoid arthritis. EDGE has us split into work packages for each disease focus - work package 1 and work package 2. I am on the work package 1 for breast cancer, meaning that I am investigating the biological effects of exercise on breast cancer, i.e., what happens in the body when breast cancer patients exercise. Whereas the work on work package 2 is focussed on behaviour change techniques and theories to investigate exercise adoption in these patient populations. I hope this is all making perfect sense.
My PhD research aims to develop evidence-based exercise interventions to examine the effects and underlying mechanisms of exercise on cardiometabolic health and inflammation in breast cancer patients. Particularly breast cancer patients who are postmenopausal and overweight - a population that has been vastly understudied to date. To do this, I will be conducting three separate studies:
- A systematic review and meta-analysis: To review the effects of exercise on metabolic syndrome, weight gain, treatment-related outcomes and cancer endpoints in postmenopausal women receiving adjuvant chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer. This initial phase will examine the current evidence base and build an essential basis for the rest of my work.
- An acute exercise study: I will conduct an acute randomised controlled study to evaluate patient responses to chemotherapy following an acute bout of exercise.
- A 12-week exercise intervention study: Finally, I will conduct a longer-term randomised controlled trial to evaluate the feasibility of a 12-week chemotherapy-periodised exercise programme in postmenopausal women who are overweight/obese and undergoing chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer.
So, there you have it. A bit more of an explanation as to what I do rather than the overused "I'm researching exercise for breast cancer patients", which is my typical small-talk response whenever anyone asks me what my PhD research involves :)
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