Jin-Shei Lai, PhD, OTR/L

Professor
Department of Medical Social Sciences
Department of Pediatrics
Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University
633 N. Saint. Clair  St., 19th Fl.
Chicago, IL 60611
T: 312-503-3370
F: 312-503-9800
Curriculum vitae
js-lai@northwestern.edu

Jin-Shei Lai, Ph.D., OTR/L is a Professor of Medical Social Sciences and Pediatrics. Dr. Lai is a registered occupational therapist and a trained psychometrician. She has been a member of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, Children’s Oncology Group (COG), Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium (PBTC), and Collaborative Ependymoma Research Network (CERN). Dr. Lai has numerous research experiences in quality of life and symptom management for patients with chronic illness on both pediatric and adult populations. She has published more than 50 manuscripts and book chapters, and is the lead author of several pediatric Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness scales, including Fatigue (pedsFACIT-F), anorexia and cachexia (pedsFAACT), cognition (pedsFACIT-PCF), and childhood brain tumor survivor (pedsFACIT-BrS). Dr. Lai has been recognized as an expert in outcomes measurement and an expert of Item Response Theory (IRT); in particular, she has been successfully developed item banks by using the IRT to measure cancer related fatigue for both children and adults with cancer, and other symptoms and health-related quality of life such as pain, physical function, and positive and negative psychosocial impacts from cancer experience. Dr. Lai currently serves as a principal investigator on a R01 grant funded by NCI to develop a perceived cognitive function item bank for children who undergo cancer treatment, as well as Co-investigator on several federally funded projects, including NIH PROMIS Statistical Coordinating Center, Quality of Life Outcomes in Neurological Disorders funded by NINDS, NIH Toolbox for Assessment of Neurological and Behavioral Function, and Item banking and computerized adaptive testing (CAT) for quality of life outcomes funded by NCI.

Selected Publications

Lai, J-S, Cook, K., Stone, A.A., Beaumont, J., Cella, D. (2009). Classical testing theory and Item Response theory/Rasch model to assess difference between Patient-Reported Fatigue Using Seven-Day and Four-Week Recall Periods. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 62(9), 991-997. (PMID:19216054) (NIHMSID: 138283)

Lai, J-S., Butt, Z., Wagner, L., Sweet, J.J., Beaumont, J.L., Vardy, J. Jacobsen, P.B., Jacobs, S.R., Shapiro, P.J., Cella, D. (2009). Evaluating the Dimensionality of Perceived Cognitive Function. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 37(6), 982-95. (PMID: 19500722) (NIHMSID: 124972)

Davis KM, Lai J-S, Hahn EA, Cella D. (2008). Conducting routine fatigue assessments for use in clinical oncology practice: patient and provider perspectives. Supportive Care in Cancer, 16(4), 379-386. (PMID: 17724621)

Lai, J-S., Cella, D., Kupst, MJ, Holm, S., Kelly, ME, Bode, RK, Goldman, S. (2007). Measuring Fatigue for Children with Cancer: Development and Validation of the Pediatric Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy – Fatigue (pedsFACIT-F). Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, class="titles-source" 29(7), class="titles-source" 471-9 (PMID: 17609625)

Lai, J-S, Kupst, MJ, Cella, D., Brown, SR, Peterman, A., Goldman, S. (2007). Using Q-Methodology to Understand Perceived Fatigue by Adolescents with Cancer. Psycho-Oncology, 16, 437-447. (PMID: 16944444)

Lai, J-S, Cella, D, Tomita, T, Bode, R, Newmark, M, Goldman, S (2007). Developing a Health-related Quality of Life Instrument for Childhood Brain Tumor Survivors. Child’s Nervous System, 23, 47-57 (PMID: 16960733)

Lai, J-S, Crane, P.K., Cella, D. (2006). Factor Analysis Techniques for Assessing Sufficient Unidimensionality of Cancer Related Fatigue. Quality of Life Research, 15, 1179-1190. (PMID:17001438)

Lai, J-S., Dineen, K., Reeve, B., Von Roenn, J. Shervin, D., McGuire, M., Bode, R., Paice, J., Cella, D. (2005). An Item Response Theory Based Pain Item Bank Can Enhance Measurement Precision. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 30, 278-288. (PMID: 16183012)

Lai, J-S., Cella, D., Peterman, A., Barocas, J, Goldman, S. (2005). Anorexia/cachexia related quality of life for children with cancer: Testing the psychometric properties of the Pediatric Functional Assessment of Anorexia/Cachexia Therapy (peds-FAACT). Cancer, 104 (7), 1531-1539 (PMID: 16088963)

Lai, J-S., Teresi, J., Gershon, R. C. (2005). Procedures for the analysis of differential item functioning (DIF) for small sample sizes. Evaluation & the Health Profession, 28, 283-294 (PMID: 16123258)

Lai, J-S., Cella, D., Dineen, K., Von Roenn, J. & Gershon, R.C. (2005). An item bank was created to improve measurement of cancer-related fatigue. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 58 (2), 190-197. (PMID: 15680754)

Lai, J.-S., Cella, D., Chang, C.-H., Bode, R., & Heinemann, A. (2003). Item banking to improve, shorten and computerize self-reported fatigue. Quality of Life Research, 12, 485-501. (PMID: 13677494)