Douglas Flora, Executive Medical Director of Yung Family Cancer Center at St. Elizabeth Healthcare, President-Elect of the Association of Cancer Care Centers, and Editor in Chief of AI in Precision Oncology, shared a post by TensorBlack on LinkedIn, adding:
“Mental health can no longer be an afterthought in cancer care.
This podcast episode tackles psychosocial oncology’s future with Jennifer Bires and Kyle Bonesteel – two clinicians advancing precision mental health where generations of patients have been left to navigate suffering alone.
The data tells the story our patients already know. Forty percent of cancer patients have a diagnosable psychiatric disorder. Depression affects somewhere between 16 and 27 percent, depending on which study you read. Cancer patients are six times more likely to have a psychological disability than their peers without cancer. Yet only 10 percent of distressed patients receive a referral for mental health support.
The gap isn’t knowledge. It’s implementation.
We discuss better diagnostics beyond screening questionnaires, biomarkers that inform rather than assume, pharmacogenomics guiding treatment selection, and objective criteria replacing subjective guesswork. Sanjay and I digital twin through these conversations. I am very excited to have confirmed Jennifer and Kyle will keynote our virtual summit in May on these topics.
This matters because mental health shapes treatment adherence, symptom management, quality of life, and potentially survival itself. Yet twenty-eight percent of cancer patients report they don’t have a doctor who pays attention to factors beyond direct medical care.
We have the tools. The evidence supports deployment. The mission requires implementation at scale.
If your organization wants to help spread this message at a national level through our May summit, please reach out. Individual clinical insights become collective transformation when platforms align with purpose.
This is how psychosocial oncology moves from afterthought to standard of care. Tackling this one is going to take a village–join us?”
Quoting TensorBlack‘s post:
” ‘Precision in mental health isn’t just about better models—it’s about better questions.’
In cancer care and beyond, distress often goes undetected until it disrupts treatment. Early evidence suggests AI can help by amplifying objective signals: digital phenotyping, longitudinal monitoring, and better matching to interventions, while keeping clinicians firmly in the loop. But real value hinges on workflow fit, credible evidence in real populations, and clear accountability.
In episode 107 of the AI in Healthcare by TensorBlack podcast, Sanjay Juneja and Douglas Flora explore with Jennifer Bires and Kyle Bonesteel how AI can support proactive, precise mental health care without oversimplifying the human element. Episode live now.
If you are interested in hearing more, join us on May 5, 2026, at 11 am ET for the Innovation in Mental Health for Cancer Care Virtual Summit.”
More posts featuring Douglas Flora.