Margaret Rosenzweig

Dr. Margaret Rosenzweig’s research focuses on ensuring that all patients receive timely and equitable cancer diagnoses, treatment, and support. Her work centers on addressing racial and economic disparities in breast cancer survival, with a particular emphasis on Black women with breast cancer, women with metastatic breast cancer, and community engagement. With over 20 years of funding from federal, philanthropic, and pharmaceutical sources, Dr. Rosenzweig has systematically investigated the impact of race, income, and neighborhood on cancer care outcomes. Her NIH-funded study, Symptom Experience, Management, and Outcomes According to Race and Social Determinants of Health during Breast Cancer Chemotherapy (5 R01MD012245), examined racial differences in symptom burden, clinical communication, and chemotherapy dose completion. Expanding on this work, her research—supported by the Genentech Health Equity Grants (2020–2025)—incorporates biologic markers of lifetime stress, discrimination, and allostatic load. Dr. Rosenzweig also leads the DOULA-AC/Ubuntu Project, funded through the Pitt Innovation Challenge and the Pittsburgh Foundation, which trains community health workers to provide emotional support, legacy-building, practical assistance, and family guidance for Black patients with advanced cancer. Her research team is highly productive, with over 150 peer-reviewed publications and numerous national and international presentations. Dr. Rosenzweig has received multiple honors, including induction as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (2015), the Sigma Theta Tau International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame (2022), the President’s Award from the Friends of the National Institute of Nursing Research (2020), and the 2025 Excellence in Social Justice & Health Equity Award from the Eastern Nursing Research Society.