Patricia Kerrigan, a cognitive intervention specialist in the division of pediatric hematology/oncology at Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA, will receive the Nan Songer Distinguished Member Award from the Association of Pediatric Hematology Oncology Educational Specialists. The award, which she will receive on May 1 during the association's annual meeting, honors a member who demonstrate excellence in the delivery of educational services and support to children with cancer and blood disorders.
Kerrigan has an extensive background in special education and a primary interest in the developmental effects of acquired brain injury on the ability to learn. She counsels children as they go through cancer and brain tumor treatment, monitors their cognitive, academic and social functioning and helps them successfully re-integrate back into school following treatment.
Kerrigan also founded and serves as president of Foundation ThinkAgain, which provides rehabilitation therapies to pediatric cancer and brain tumor survivors who continue to suffer due to the neuro-cognitive late-effects of cancer and cancer treatment. These services fill a gap that results from schools’ limited ability to address and remediate these disorders, coupled with minimal medical insurance coverage of these therapies.
Previous to her current position, Kerrigan served as a special education teacher for pediatric psychiatric in-patients at Children's Memorial Hospital and at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute. She earned a master’s degree in school administration/special education at National-Louis University in Evanston, Illinois, and a Ph.D. special education at UCLA.
