Xin Shelley Wang PRO Lab Members

Xin Shelley Wang, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor
Email: xswang@mdanderson.org

Dr. Wang’s research focuses on measuring patient-reported symptom and functioning outcomes (PROs), managing cancer-related and treatment-related symptoms during and after curative cancer therapy, participating in clinical trials and collecting real-world data for symptom management in patients and survivors, investigating the impact of culture on symptom reporting, and conducting clinical and translational research on inflammatory mechanism-driven interventions for cancer-related symptoms.

Dr. Wang is the lead developer of the Translational Neuroscience department's PRO assessment tools, including various language versions and modules of the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory (MDASI), the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI), and the Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI), and designs methodologies for their use. Her efforts have laid the groundwork for integrating evidence-based PROs to improve patient care on an international scale.

Meagan S. Whisenant, Ph.D., APRN, MSN, BSN
Visiting Research Faculty 

Dr. Whisenant holds joint appointments in the Translational Neuroscience and Behavioral Science departments at UT MD Anderson. She is a family nurse practitioner with more than 25 years of oncology nursing experience in inpatient and outpatient settings. She has been a Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) Scholar in Cancer Research and an NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health Research Scholar.

Dr. Whisenant’s research focuses on developing and using patient-reported outcomes measures in clinical care and research, variation in symptom burden across the chronic disease trajectory, and intervention testing to support patients and their families in managing symptoms related to chronic disease, including cancer and HIV.

Laila Z. Noor, M.D., M.S.
Supervisor, Clinical Studies

Laila brings more than 20 years of diverse experience spanning various research domains, including breast medical oncology, urology, and pulmonary medicine. Her background also extends to research laboratory environments, and she has a wealth of expertise in protocol submission and regulatory affairs. Notably, she has extensive expertise using REDCap to develop databases for PI-initiated studies, some of which have been utilized by study collaborators nationally and internationally.

In her current capacity, Laila oversees and ensures the efficient operation and execution of all clinical research activities within the department and its collaborative units. This involves conducting meticulous quality assurance assessments, providing comprehensive progress updates, adeptly troubleshooting any project-related challenges, and lends a hand with tasks such as Material Transfer Agreement submissions, protocol submissions, completing regulatory documents, and updating the departmental standard operation policies.

"When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy." – Rumi

Angele K. Saleeba, Ph.D., M.A.
Coordinator, Regulatory Compliance

As a long-time (30+ years) employee of UT MD Anderson, Dr. Saleeba brings a wealth of experience to the management of the department's human and animal research protocols. She assists faculty with navigating the ever-changing processes of new protocol submission, protocol modifications, continuing reviews and other compliance and regulatory activities and completes many of these activities on the faculty's behalf; she also coordinates the processing of new material transfer agreements. She conducts qualitative interviews with patients in support of the Translational Neuroscience department's efforts to develop new fit-for-purpose symptom assessment questionnaires.

Angele is certified as a clinical research professional (CCRP) by the Society of Clinical Research Associates (SOCRA). Given the many changes to UT MD Anderson's protocol submission process in the past few years, she embraces the challenge of keeping up with the changes and attending the required educational courses offered by the institution.

Shu-En (Annie) Shen, M.S.
Senior Data Analyst

Annie is a biostatistician with extensive experience in statistical methods and applications in health research. She joined the clinical research team in January 2022. As a data analyst, Annie assists with data management, statistical analyses, and translating results into written reports for manuscripts.

"Stay curious!"