Kimberly L. Klages, PhD
- Pediatric Psychologist, Division of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology
- Assistant Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics
About
Biography
I’m a pediatric psychologist and researcher. My work focuses on promoting health-related quality of life and symptom management in children with cancer. Children with cancer often struggle to cope with the side effects of cancer treatment, which often include pain and fatigue. I seek to develop evidence-based, nonpharmacological behavioral treatments for children with cancer-related pain and fatigue.
My passion for improving health-related quality of life in children with cancer began when I was in graduate school. I completed a clinical practicum where I worked with children and families affected by childhood cancer. In this setting, I observed many children struggle to cope with treatment side effects, including pain, which negatively impacted their mental and physical health during and after cancer treatment.
While strong evidence exists for interdisciplinary care models for treating chronic pain, limited nonpharmacological options exist for patients with comorbid cancer pain. Identifying this gap in care motivated me to pursue clinical research in pediatric oncology to meet the needs of patients with cancer-related pain.
My research goals are to advance our understanding of pain in children with cancer using innovative biopsychosocial assessment techniques and to develop empirically driven, novel and cost-effective interdisciplinary interventions to treat pain and improve health-related quality of life in children with cancer.
BS: Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL, 2011.
MS: The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, 2016.
PhD: The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, 2020.
Residency: Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, 2020.
Fellowship: Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, 2022.
Interests
Pain; oncology
Services and Specialties
Interests
Pediatric oncology; pain; fatigue; health-related quality of life
Publications
Pain, Internalizing Symptoms, Posttraumatic Stress, and Alcohol Use Among Young Adult Survivors of Cancer. Pediatric Blood and Cancer. 2026; e70154.
Patient-Level Barriers and Facilitators to Inpatient Physical Therapy in Adolescents and Young Adults With a Hematological Malignancy: A Qualitative Study. Pediatric Blood and Cancer. 2026; e70129.
Pain Predicts Next-Day Fatigue in Adolescents and Young Adults Receiving Maintenance Treatment for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Journal of Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology. 2025.
Self-management behaviors mediate the relationship between distress and glycemic levels in adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Journal of Pediatric Psychology. 2025.
Behavioral self-control and glycemic levels in youth with type 1 diabetes: serial mediation by family conflict and self-management behaviors. Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice. 2025; 229:112463.
Development, validation, and item bias assessment of the Self-Care Inventory-Short-Form among racially and income-diverse adolescents living with type 1 diabetes and their caregivers. Journal of Pediatric Psychology. 2025; 50(5):420-432.
396 Pain Experiences Among Children Receiving Treatment for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Journal of Pain. 2025; 29:105194.
Oral medication adherence predicts cyclosporine blood level variability and graft versus host disease following pediatric allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant. Annals of Behavioral Medicine. 2025; 59(1).
Systematic Review of Pain Assessment Measures Used in Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Psycho-Oncology. 2025; 34(1):e70063.
Biopsychosocial risk factors for pain in early phases of pediatric cancer treatment. Frontiers in Psychology. 2025; 16:1507560.
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