St. Jude Children's Research Hospital’s Post

The 2026 Nursing Research and Psychosocial Services Symposium at St. Jude brought together colleagues from across the institution to examine how clinical scholarship can strengthen patient care outcomes. The symposium centered on this year’s theme, SOAR to New Heights: Strengthening Outcomes through Advocacy and Resilience. In her opening remarks, Danielle R. Reynolds, DNP, RN, FNP-C, encouraged those in attendance. "Every single day, you advocate fiercely for your patients, show incredible resilience and somehow still find the energy to smile at a child, comfort a family, and keep everything moving—including yourselves," she said. Across five sessions and eight oral abstract presentations, the event highlighted research, quality improvement and evidence-based practice projects that are shaping care for patients and families. The symposium also created space to share programs and results that may not always be widely seen, while giving clinicians and other professionals an opportunity to learn from work taking place across disciplines. “The beauty of our symposium is the collaboration of Nursing Research with Psychosocial Services to bring to our patient care staff many research, quality and evidence-based practice projects that are being done to improve the care of our patients and families,” said Jami S. Gattuso, MSN, RN, CPON, FAPHON. That emphasis on collaboration extended across the full program. Nurses, APPs, physicians, psychologists, social workers, chaplains, child life specialists, educators and systems leaders came together around shared questions of advocacy, resilience and outcomes. The symposium reflected how progress in patient care depends not only on strong individual programs, but also on coordinated work across specialties.