#MeetUsMonday - Meet Nurse Scientist and Professor Paula Sherwood

Meet Paula.

A neuroscience nurse who’s practiced in Honolulu, Hawaii, Iowa City, Iowa, and Flint, Michigan, but a native of Blacksburg, Va., and a die-hard Hokies fan. Mom to two human sons and German Shepard “Addy.” An inveterate traveler fascinated by both by the behavioral and biological experiences of neuro-oncology patients and caregivers who has earned four R01s and more than $8 million over an expansive career as a nurse scientist. Earned an honorary doctorate in summer 2025 from the University of Eastern Finland, where colleague and collaborator, Tarja Kvist, head of UEF's department of nursing, presided. A faculty member who teaches REAL (Research, Ethics, Advocacy, and Leadership) to first- and second-year BSN students. 

When the psychological stress of providing care goes on and on, a caregiver’s immune system starts to suffer. They get sick more often, catch a cold or flu more easily, and, when they do, it can last longer than normal. Data show that caregivers have a depressed immune response, a higher mortality rate, that they get sick more often, and that when they’re sick, they stay sick longer.

HER PATH TO NURSING

“I began my career in neuroscience caring for patients who’d had a stroke, spinal cord, or head injuries, or were recovering from craniotomies or spinal surgeries—and discovered I absolutely loved it. Along the way, I worked a lot with people who had brain cancer and their families and was frustrated because of the lack of support that was around to help them cope with everything on their plate.

“As a neuro-oncology nurse, I found I was really interested in not only what the patient went through, but what the family went through as well, and how it affected their mental health. Neuro-oncology is an orphan cancer; it’s not as common as breast, lung, or prostate cancer, but the mortality is pretty high. Chemotherapy doesn’t work as well, so treatment is really limited and we don’t have as much supportive care to offer either. Patients not only have to deal with cancer and a potentially terminal diagnosis, but they frequently have to deal with side effects like personality changes, memory loss, and cognitive decline.

“I found that I was really frustrated by the limited support we provided to patients and was particularly interested in how family members dealt with all the stress when their loved one was diagnosed with a brain tumor. I was interested in trying to figure out how emotional stress in family caregivers affected their physical health and decided to devote my research career to understanding and helping neuro-oncology family caregivers.

“Their experience is like taking care of someone with cancer who also has dementia. When the psychological stress of providing care goes on and on, a caregiver’s immune system starts to suffer. They get sick more often, catch a cold or flu more easily, and, when they do, it can last longer than normal. Data show that caregivers have a depressed immune response, a higher mortality rate, that they get sick more often, and that when they’re sick, they stay sick longer.”

I was interested in trying to figure out how emotional stress in family caregivers affected their physical health and decided to devote my research career to understanding and helping neuro-oncology family caregivers.

HER PATH TO NURSING SCIENCE

“I didn’t ever think I would get a PhD. My dad is a retired math professor at Virginia Tech and everyone called him Dr. Riess, but I didn’t really know what that meant. After practicing at the bedside and as a clinical nurse specialist, I started being interested in the clinical trials our brain tumor patients were going through and I thought, ‘That’s really cool. I want to do that.’ Once I started doing research, I fell in love with it and knew that’s what I wanted to do for the rest of my career.

“Along the way, I was unbelievably lucky to have amazing mentors at Michigan State University, such as Barbara and Bill Given, and the University of Pittsburgh, including Mary Kerr. I went to Pitt as a post-doc to begin my research career in biobehavioral neuro-oncology caregiving. There, we looked at immune markers, cytokines, and behavioral outcomes, like depression and anxiety in the spouses and adult children of persons with a brain tumor. Neuro-oncology caregivers have higher levels of stress compared to other diseases, even compared to caregivers of persons with other types of cancer.”

We have data that say that neuro-oncology caregivers are at risk for poor health; we have data that say interventions are helpful; now let’s figure out how to merge the two things together.

HER RESEARCH

“I first did a study of patients with intracranial aneurysms along with a pharmaceutical scientist who was interested in the substances released when blood broke down in the brain. I was interested in how these toxic substances affected how patients went back to work and resumed their lives.

“My next two studies focused on neuro-oncology. In my most recent study, we deployed a cognitive-based therapy intervention for caregivers that taught them how to solve problems they had when caring for their loved one with a brain tumor. We asked them about what was distressing, developed goals and strategies to achieve that goal, then assessed behavioral and biological outcomes at four, six, and 10 months after the intervention. We were interest in their emotional health and also in their physical health and traveled to their homes to collect blood and keep tabs on their sleep patterns, heart rate, and blood pressure using continuous monitoring devices.

“After the intervention, we were able to show improvements in their stress and in their immune function including biomarkers of cardiovascular disease, which may mean that the intervention can be protective with regard to cardiovascular risk.

“I also led a R01 study focused on brain tumor patients themselves. We were assessing a new surgical approach to resect pituitary tumors, which are benign, but can still cause serious side effects. After surgery, we evaluated patients’ outcomes: quality of life, return to work, depression, and anxiety. We’d follow up with patients who’d had the new procedure to see how things went in the recovery phase compared to the standard approach.”

WHAT’S NEXT

“Now that I’ve joined the nursing department at UVA, my goal is to make my research more clinically applicable. I want to take what I know about stress markers and caregiving and the behavioral and biological impact of unabated stress and bring it to real people at actual sites. It would be a model of support for family caregivers, broadly speaking.

“I’m working on understanding what’s most important to caregivers and their primary care providers. We have data that say that neuro-oncology caregivers are at risk for poor health; we have data that say interventions are helpful; now let’s figure out how to merge the two things together.”

UVA SCHOOL OF NURSING IN A WORD?

“HOME. I was thrilled to accept an offer to join the faculty at UVA because Virginia is my home. Every time I see the mountains, I feel at peace. UVA has an outstanding neuro-oncology and nursing program, and I see great opportunities to grow myself and my research here.”

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