Susan Beck, PhD, RN, is a professor in the College of Nursing at the University of Utah and a member of the Cancer Control and Population Sciences Program.

Her research involves symptom management in cancer patients and ways to improve care. She also studies preference-based communication interventions for rural and urban prostate cancer survivors, using the Utah Cancer Registry to identify participants.

In 1996, Beck was a visiting professor and Fulbright Scholar the University of Pretoria in South Africa, where she conducted multiple studies relating to cancer pain management. She was a co-investigator in a multisite clinical trial of a nursing method to reduce cancer treatment-related fatigue.

Beck served as president of Cancer Pain Relief-Utah and as a member of the steering committee of the Partnership to Improve End-of-Life-Care in Utah. She led the implementation of the first Leadership Development Institute of the Oncology Nursing Society and was appointed to the first national advisory council for the Center for Leadership, Research, and Information of the Oncology Nursing Society Foundation. She holds the Robert S. and Beth M. Carter Endowed Chair in the College of Nursing.

Beck received a bachelor’s degree from Duquesne University, Pittsburgh and a PhD from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City.