The first book to focus on pediatric oncology for pharmacists comes to its second edition. This edition brings updates to include new drugs, approaches, and techniques, as well as new chapters, such as “Post-Pandemic Pediatric Oncology Pharmacy”, “Cardiotoxicity in Pediatric Oncohematology”, and “Pediatric Oncological and Hematological Treatment of Children in Hormone Therapy for Gender Dysphoria”.
Publications on chemotherapy in children are still scarce, and pharmacists often struggle to find the information they need because it is spread across many articles, not published, or dispersed among clinical information aimed at other professionals. Pediatric Oncologic Pharmacy is an area where increasingly specific knowledge is required in daily practice. Oncopediatric books do not address topics unique to pharmacy — such as the handling of cytotoxic drugs for children, analysis of oncopediatric prescriptions, clinical pharmacy in oncopediatrics, pharmaceutical care in the oncopediatric area, and other subjects that are of exclusive interest to these professionals, but no less essential for excellent therapy. Addressing this need, the purpose of this second edition is to be an updated guideline for all subjects that pediatric oncology pharmacists need to know to work in this area.
It is an essential guide for pediatric oncology pharmacists, clinical pharmacists, pharmaceutical residents who work with drug therapy in children, and pharmaceutical researchers. It is a handbook to assist in daily practice and is essential to Pediatric Oncology/Hematology Institutions.
Carolina Witchmichen Penteado Schmidt, also published as Carola Schmidt, is a pediatric oncology pharmacist, Springer Nature author of books in pediatric oncology, Reycraft Books children's author, and writer of children's books about cancer. She has extensive experience in chemotherapy and stem cell transplantation--an area that she loves--for children and has handled thousands of doses for kids of all ages, including babies. She is a Hospital Oncology Pharmacy specialist with an MBA in Planning and Business Management, and she also has experience with adult oncology.
She has worked in pharmacy, pediatrics, oncology, hematology, and has taught in the Pediatric Oncology Hematology program at the largest pediatric hospital in Brazil. She also has academic experience teaching pharmacists, physicians, and nurses in postgraduate and specialization courses.
She gained a wealth of experience through formal education and at hospitals and clinics, working with drug interactions, pediatrics, oncology, hematology, stem cell transplantation, neonatology, intensive care, and infectology. Carola has worked in major medical centers in Brazil, some with limited resources, requiring creativity, research, and deep knowledge.
Her favorite word is "homing." When she learned about the homing of stem cells, she fell in love with the complex biochemical processes that allow stem cells (collected from a donor's bone marrow) to be infused into a recipient's vein and find their way home to the recipient's bone marrow. For her, homing is closely related to belonging. These themes inspired her to write Chubby's Tale: The True Story of a Teddy Bear Who Beat Cancer, which was listed by BookAuthority among the "Best Leukemia Books of All Time." She also dedicated an entire chapter to the homing of stem cells in her book Pediatric Stem Cell Transplantation for Pharmacists, featured in Springer Nature's 2020 Highlights.
Her published scientific books include Pediatric Oncologic Pharmacy--A Complete Guide to Practice (2nd ed, 2026), The Golden Guide to Oncologic Pharmacy, Pediatric Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation for Pharmacists--The Gold Standard to Practice, Chemotherapy and Pharmacology for Leukemia in Pregnancy--Guidelines and Strategies for Best Practices, Chemotherapy in Neonates and Infants--Pharmacological Oncology for Children Under 1 year old, and Drug Therapy and Interactions in Pediatric Oncology--A Pocket Guide. Her published popular science book is The Invisible Hand of Cancer--The Complex Force of Socioeconomic Factors in Oncology Today. Her children's books about cancer are Bald is Beautiful: A Letter for a Fabulous Girl, When a Brave Bear Fights Cancer, Chubby's Tale: The true story of a teddy bear who beat cancer, Cancer Daily Life, and What is Cancer?: A book for kids. Also, she published the children's book Tell Me a Story, Babushka with Reycraft Books. Her website is kidscancerbooks.com.
