Dr. Micah Skeens is a Principal Investigator at the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital where she is the Co-Director of the Biobehavioral Outcomes Core and Behavioral Vice Chair of the Institutional Review Board. She is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the College of Medicine at The Ohio State University and an advanced practice provider in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Nationwide Children’s. Dr. Skeens' research advances pediatric cancer supportive care through community-engaged, technology-enabled interventions that improve symptom management, treatment adherence and psychosocial outcomes for children with cancer and their families.
Dr. Skeens received her PhD from Vanderbilt University in 2018 and her Masters degree in child and adolescent health from Wright State University in 2003. She has been an employee of Nationwide Children’s for 27 years and faculty in the Center of Biobehavioral Health since 2022.
A first-generation scholar from rural Ohio, Dr. Skeens, brings a personal commitment to engaging patients, families, healthcare providers and community partners in the research process. As Community Engagement Co-Director, she provides strategic leadership to strengthen partnerships among researchers, healthcare providers, patients, families and community organizations. She is committed to ensuring that perspectives from a broad range of patients, families and communities inform every stage of the translational research process and that opportunities to participate in research are available to all children and families.
Dr. Skeens has led numerous federally funded and foundation-supported studies that use community-engaged research methods and community advisory boards to co-design digital health interventions with patients, families and community partners. Her work includes developing innovative mobile health applications and artificial intelligence-enabled tools that improve medication adherence, symptom management and screening for health-related needs among children with cancer and their families. By incorporating input from people with a wide range of lived experiences, her research develops practical, patient-centered innovations designed to improve care and outcomes for all children and families. She has authored more than 120 peer-reviewed publications, secured more than $2 million in research funding as principal investigator or co-investigator and was inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing in recognition of her national leadership and contributions to nursing science.
We are excited to welcome Dr. Skeens to the CTSI and look forward to the impact she will have in advancing research through our community engagement program. Dr. Skeens is dedicated to building sustainable community-academic partnerships that accelerate the translation of research into practice, expand opportunities for participation in research and improve the health and well-being of children and families across Ohio and beyond. Her leadership and expertise will strengthen CTSI’s efforts to ensure research is informed by community needs and translated into meaningful, real-world impact.