Marie Flannery's research focuses on the older adults with advanced cancer. Particular areas are patient-reported outcomes including symptoms, and decision regret. Research focuses on the older adult population with cancer, particularly those with advanced cancer. The goal is to understand the individual and their caregivers response to diagnosis and treatment and to develop interventions that can decrease the burden of patients' symptoms and improve the quality of their lives. She is particularly interested in finding new methods to improve symptom reporting and communication between health care providers and individuals, as well as their family caregivers, as a way to enhance symptom management.
Flannery is an active member of the Geriatric Oncology Research Program at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Flannery was the first nurse selected for a prestigious three-year fellowship in a National Cancer Institute-funded R-25 Cancer Control Research Training Program, which provides researchers with the experience to establish careers as outstanding independent investigators in cancer control and prevention research. She has received funding from the Wilmot Cancer Institute and the Oncology Nursing Society Foundation for her research. She brings extensive clinical experience to her work. For nearly 25 years, she was the senior nurse practitioner in a medical oncology ambulatory practice, where she cared for individuals with advanced cancer and helped them manage pain and other symptoms.
Flannery's clinical and research expertise has been recognized repeatedly. Among her many honors, she is the recipient of the School of Nursing's Most Promising New Investigator Award, the American Society of Clinical Oncology Conquer Cancer Foundation Merit Award in Palliative Care Oncology, and the March of Dimes Oncology Nurse of the Year.