About

Sonia Bansal is a bioengineering student at the University of Pennsylvania who has been actively involved in community-driven engineering projects aimed at addressing real-world challenges, particularly in assistive technology. She has contributed to the development of Enginuity, a platform designed to connect community organizations with student engineers to facilitate the creation of assistive devices and solutions. Her work emphasizes the importance of listening to community needs, making engineering more accessible, and ensuring solutions are practical and impactful. Building Enginuity has also been a learning process for her, highlighting the significance of designing accessible tools and understanding the broader systems involved in engineering projects. Her leadership in this initiative reflects her commitment to applying engineering skills to serve the Philadelphia community and to bridge the gap between academic research and real-world application.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Family medicine
• Medicine
• Pediatrics

Selected publications

• From Preferences to Practice: Clinician‐Informed Strategies to Integrate the MyPref Values‐Clarification Tool Into Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology Care

  Pediatric Blood & Cancer · 2026-04-15

  article1st authorCorresponding

  BACKGROUND: Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with advanced cancer navigate complex medical decisions amid evolving autonomy and family involvement. MyPref, a digital values-clarification tool using adaptive conjoint analysis, helps AYAs articulate care preferences and supports clinicians in initiating preference-based conversations. This study explored pediatric oncology clinicians' experiences with MyPref to identify barriers, facilitators, and strategies for clinical integration. PROCEDURE: We conducted a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with attending physicians and nurse practitioners (N = 10) at a single academic pediatric center. Participants had received MyPref summary reports for at least one AYA enrolled in the MyPref Adapt Study. Interviews were audio-recorded and analyzed using conventional content analysis to identify themes related to clinical utility and implementation. RESULTS: Clinicians emphasized MyPref's potential to reveal patient priorities, strengthen communication, and normalize values-based dialogue. Implementation was limited by time constraints, uncertain actionability, and emotional discomfort-particularly during periods of prognostic ambiguity. Barriers reflected structural (workflow integration, competing demands) and relational factors (patient readiness, family involvement, clinician tolerance for uncertainty). Recommended strategies to enhance uptake included leadership endorsement, communication training, psychosocial collaboration, and iterative refinement of MyPref's design and delivery. CONCLUSION: Clinician insights underscore MyPref's potential to deepen connection and elevate AYAs' voices in advanced cancer care when thoughtfully integrated into practice. Addressing implementation challenges will require flexible timing, reflective spaces for clinicians to navigate uncertainty, and systems-level support to embed preference-based discussions into routine care. Broader success depends on a cultural shift that normalizes anticipatory dialogue and centers AYAs' personhood when navigating serious illness.

  PublisherDOI

• “Like an adult-in-training”: Balancing autonomy and support in decision-making for AYAs with advanced cancer

  Journal of Pain and Symptom Management · 2026-05-12

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Feasibility of an Intervention to Support Shared Decision-Making for Critically Ill Infants

  The Journal of Pediatrics · 2025-05-02

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Enhancing shared decision-making for infants in the intensive care unit: lessons from parents

  Pediatric Research · 2025-04-17

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Families as partners in neonatal neuro-critical care programs

  Pediatric Research · 2024-06-17 · 11 citations

  review1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• A Seat at the Table: Family Conferences for Infants with Neurological Conditions

  Journal of Palliative Medicine · 2024-10-23 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  These findings demonstrate that parents of infants with neurological conditions value family conferences as an important venue for communicating with the health care team. Future studies should explore the feasibility and impact of regularly scheduled family conferences, attendees dedicated to parent support, and accessible meeting summaries on therapeutic alliance, parent well-being, and communication quality.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Communication About Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy: An Adaptation of the SPIKES Protocol

  Pediatric Neurology · 2024-10-21 · 6 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Discussion of Spirituality in Family Conferences of Infants With Neurologic Conditions

  Journal of Pain and Symptom Management · 2024-09-24 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Promoting a neuropalliative care approach in fetal neurology

  Seminars in Fetal and Neonatal Medicine · 2024-02-01 · 6 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Prognostic Discordance Among Parents and Physicians Caring for Infants with Neurologic Conditions

  The Journal of Pediatrics · 2023-08-21 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Monica E. Lemmon

  Duke University

  52 shared

• Kathryn I. Pollak

  Duke University

  48 shared

• Hannah C. Glass

  University of California, San Francisco

  45 shared

• Mary Carol Barks

  Washington State University Spokane

  44 shared

• Debra Brandon

  Duke University

  42 shared

• Peter A. Ubel

  Duke University

  39 shared

• Sarah Bernstein

  38 shared

• Erica C. Kaye

  St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

  38 shared

Labs

• Biomedical Engineering Education & Teaching LaboratoryPI

  List of lab members

Education

• B.S. in Narratives of Health: Global Perspectives, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

  Duke University

  2022