Brad’s mentor helped arrange his two hospital internships.
Student portraits by David Roberts
“I always thought if I went into pediatric oncology I would not be able to separate it from my everyday life. I realized after taking a couple of psychology courses that this was my passion and I really had to go with it.”
—Junior, Psychology and Social Sciences Interdisciplinary double major; Child and Family Studies minor
Brad Jerson is learning how to help children with cancer cope with the tough treatments they must undergo. For a Child and Family Studies class he took, Brad outfitted a popular cartoon character doll with a mediport like those used with pediatric oncology patients. He used bathroom plumbing tubing from a hardware store and an empty spool of thread. The doll was given to a child undergoing chemotherapy so she and the doll could have their chemo treatments at the same time. “It’s been shown that children do well when they make the cancer treatment process their own,” he says.
After his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1998, Brad formed a high school club called Students Putting an End to Cancer and began visiting young cancer patients at a nearby hospital. He started a new chapter of the club at Stony Brook. Then, through his mentor, Dr. Joan Kuchner of the Department of Child and Family Studies, he interned with the psychosocial team at Winthrop’s Cancer Center for Kids, and he knew what his life direction would be.
“I love listening to people and observing people and the way they react to everyday life,” says Brad, who is working towards his Child Life certification. He plans to become a pediatric clinical psychologist in a hospital setting. It’s a goal he is proud of—and so is his mom.