Anna Katharina Vokinger
Research Assistant (Prof. Dr. Gisela Michel)
T +41 41 229 59 69 • Alpenquai 4, Room 6 • anna.vokinger@unilu.ch
CV
Anna Katharina Vokinger holds a Master of Arts in Social Anthropology from the University of Bern. For her master’s thesis, she analysed humanitarian actions in a Buddhist orphanage in Hanoi, Vietnam. During her master’s studies, she completed a course in palliative care by the Swiss Red Cross and has been volunteering in palliative companionship with the Red Cross Baselland since 2020. In January 2022, she started working part-time as a research assistant at the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine at the University of Lucerne. In October 2022, she started her PhD at the same faculty in the project: “Bereavement care for parents of childhood cancer patients”. Her research focuses on the needs and wishes of bereaved parents in the context of paediatric palliative care in oncology.
Publications
- Vokinger, A. K., Pedraza, E. C., Tinner, E. M., von Bueren, A. O., Scheinemann, K., Bergstraesser, E., … De Clercq, E. (*shared last authors). (2025). Support Experiences and Wishes of Bereaved Parents After the Loss of Their Child to Cancer. Pediatric Blood & Cancer, 72 (1), 31426 ff.
- Pedraza, E. C., Vokinger, A. K., Cleves, D., Baker, J. N., Garcia-Quintero, X., & McNeil, M. J. (2024). Grief and Bereavement Support for Parents in Low- or Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 67 (5), 453–471. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11355760
- De Clercq, E., Vokinger, A. K., Pedraza, E. C., von Bueren, A. O., Tinner, E. M., & Michel, G. (2024). Cooling facilities in paediatric palliative care: a ritual form of mourning? A scoping literature review. Mortality. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13303662
- Vokinger, A. K., Pedraza, E. C., & Michel, G. (2024). Kinderkrebs: Trauernde Eltern. cogito – Das Wissensmagazin der Universität Luzern, 13, 18–19.
- Vokinger, A. K., Pedraza, E. C., De Clercq, E., Tinner, E. M., Bergsträsser, E., & Michel, G. (2023). Leben mit Verlust: Trauerbegleitung nach dem Tod eines Kindes an Krebs - Angebotene Trauerbegleitung, Coping-Strategien und Bedürfnisse von Eltern. palliative.ch, (2), 12–18. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10513907
- Pedraza, E. C., Raguindin, P. F., Hendriks, M. J., Vokinger, A. K., De Clercq, E., Rüesch, K., … Michel, G. (2023). Palliative care services in paediatric oncology centres across Europe: A cross-sectional survey. EJC Paediatric Oncology, 2, 100125 ff. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10401670
- Holmer, P., Bolliger, C., Vokinger, A. K., Dyntar, D., & Michel, G. (2023). Screening for mental health problems in childhood cancer survivorship: a systematic review. Journal of Psychosocial Oncology Research and Practice, 3. Retrieved from https://journals.lww.com/jporp/Fulltext/2023/07000/Screening_for_mental_health_problems_in_childhood.2.aspx
Achievements
- Living with grief. Formal and informal support received and wished for by bereaved parents following the death of their child from cancer. Poster, 56th Congress of the International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP), International Society of Paediatric Cancer (SIOP), Honolulu, Hawai'i, 2024
- FEEL. Fathers’ expressed experiences and wishes for support in life after loss. Poster, 56th Congress of the International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP), International Society of Paediatric Cancer (SIOP), Honolulu, Hawai'i, 2024
- Experienced and wished for support of bereaved parents following the death of their child to cancer. Poster, SPOG SSPHO Scientific Meeting, Swiss Paediatric Oncology Group (SPOG); Swiss Society of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology (SSPHO), Inselspital, Bern, 2024
- To live with loss: bereavement care for parents who lost a child to cancer. Lecture, Nationaler Palliative Care Kongress, palliative.ch, Biel, 2023
- Beyond the illness: exploring the multifaceted needs of bereaved parents following the death of their child to cancer. Lecture, IPOS World Congress, IPOS, Milano, 2023
- Screening for mental health problems in childhood cancer survivorship: A systematic review. Lecture, Research Symposium Health Lucerne, Universität Luzern, Luzern, 2023
- Paediatric Palliative Oncology Across Europe: A Cross-Sectional Survey. Lecture, Research Symposium Health Lucerne, University of Lucerne, Lucerne, Switzerland, 2023
- Screening for mental health problems in childhood cancer survivorship: A systematic review. Poster, 54th Congress of the International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP), International Society of Paediatric Cancer (SIOP), Barcelona, 2022
- International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP), Young SIOP, Switzerland, 2024–
- Together for Short Lives, Associate member, United Kingdom, 2023–
- Paediatric Palliative Care Network CH, Member, Switzerland, 2023–
- palliative.ch, Member, Switzerland, 2022–
- ICPCN - International Children’s Palliative Care Network, Member, United Kingdom, 2022–
