Meet Delaney Robinson, Practicum Student

Hello! My name is Delaney Robinson, and I am currently completing my practicum experience at the Iowa Cancer Consortium! For my project, I will be assisting with the Annual Redesign of the 2023-2027 Iowa Cancer Plan by developing new and updating existing components of the plan. I am very excited to be working with such a wonderful team on a topic that is very important to me! 

I am currently a second-year Master of Public Health student in Epidemiology and I will graduate in May, and I am planning to start my PhD in Biomedical Sciences or Cancer Biology this fall. In May of 2022, I graduated from Coe College with a Bachelor’s in Biology and Neuroscience. During both my undergraduate and graduate studies, I have spent lots of time in research labs to help prepare for my PhD. I have also learned a lot about designing studies, analyzing data, and the substantial health inequities and disparities that impact many people, so I want to research and advocate for cancer treatments that will be available for all patients, rather than just a select few.  

My passion for increasing equitable cancer treatments, especially in the state of Iowa with the rise in cancer cases, arose after my brother was diagnosed with a rare type of lung cancer in May of 2023. He will have this disease for the rest of his life and will require a specific drug to keep the cancer from progressing. After seeing the huge impact that this disease had on him and the rest of my family, as well as the struggles obtaining his much-needed treatment due to costs, I want to prevent future families from experiencing these difficulties.