Lorrie Powel, Ph.D., R.N., the School of Nursing Thelma & Joe Crow Endowed Professor, conducts quality-of-life research involving men with prostate cancer.
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Lorrie Powel, Ph.D., R.N., joined The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio School of Nursing in June as the Thelma & Joe Crow Endowed Professor.

Formerly an associate professor at the University of Central Florida and a clinical nurse research scientist at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Orlando, Fla., Dr. Powel has a strong background in clinical oncology and teaching at the graduate level. Her immediate responsibilities will focus on continuing her research regarding the quality-of-life, emotional adjustment and survivorship issues of patients with cancer. Her current research focuses on the impact of the aftereffects of prostate cancer treatment, such as urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction on men’s overall adjustment after prostate cancer. She has developed practical strategies to deal with both the physical and emotional consequences of these effects.

Collaborative research opportunities
“Dr. Powel has exceptional research skills that will enhance collaborative research in the School of Nursing, with other researchers on campus, in the San Antonio community and at other major research universities nationally,” said Dr. Robin Froman, dean of the School of Nursing.

“She has a proven track record in research and in completing projects, so I have every confidence she will meet the spirit of the endowment for her professorship,” Dean Froman added. “She has already submitted two federal grant applications since coming to us just two months ago and has several more in development. That kind of productivity speaks to her promise for our school,” she added.

Dr. Powel has met with world-renowned Health Science Center prostate cancer researcher Ian Thompson, M.D., to discuss collaborations with his team. “We are developing studies and grants that will help us determine how we can help patients with urologic cancers, most commonly prostate cancer, and make decisions regarding their treatment,” Dr. Thompson said. “These decisions are often put off until testing is well under way instead of helping men understand their options from the very beginning. Additionally, educational, social, cultural and other factors make screening and treatment decisions different from one man to the next. We have a major focus on individualized medicine in our genitourinary oncology center and having Dr. Powel on board with us will help us do a far better job of this,” he said.

Work focuses on prostate cancer and quality of life
Dr. Powel became interested in helping men with prostate cancer while working on her doctoral dissertation at the University of Maryland in Baltimore in 2002. “I was planning to study women with ovarian cancer, but some of the members of the research team I came to work with left the university and I was asked to lead a study on men’s coping with urinary incontinence following prostatectomy instead. I thought the men were so intriguing and their problems were so compelling that I changed my entire dissertation to work on that, and I have been doing it ever since,” Dr. Powel said.

“When I first started working with the men some thought that they wouldn’t talk to me about their concerns because I was a woman. But what I found was that they talked my ear off!” she said. “No one else was asking the men about how they were dealing with the problems they were having physically and psychologically related to their cancer.”

Dr. Powel did her post-doctoral studies at Boston University School of Public Health from 2002 to 2004. “My post-doctoral fellowship focused on a study of how men live with prostate cancer. I wanted to know how they deal with erectile dysfunction and with urinary incontinence while undergoing prostate cancer treatment and as a cancer survivor,” she said.

Possible future research
In addition to being a co-investigator on a National Cancer Institute study on rural breast cancer survivorship, Dr. Powel has already applied for National Institutes of Health funding to help develop a tailored strategy for men to deal with prostate cancer. “This would involve coping skills and practical skills to manage urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction, and how to live with the effects of cancer treatment,” Dr. Powel said.

Other funding she has applied for supports research with pediatric cancer patients and will focus on helping Hispanic parents with limited English language proficiency better understand the treatment regimen for their children. That study will involve master’s-level students in the School of Nursing, thus allowing Dr. Powel to mentor developing nurse researchers.