Academic Initiatives

Past Visiting Professors

2007

ArmerThe Komen Visiting Professorship will introduce external evidence-based expertise selectively sought by the school to augment the existing curriculum with regard to breast cancer.  These scholars will educate nursing students regarding the nature of breast cancer, prevention strategies, and the treatment and care of patients living with this disease.

We are pleased to announce Jane Armer, PhD, RN, as our 2007 Visiting Professor. Dr. Armer is well known for her extensive research on physiological measurement of limb volume in post-breast cancer lymphedema; signs, symptoms and self-management of lymphedema among women treated for breast cancer and the psychological impact of lymphedema. Dr. Armer's program of research focuses on the more-than-two million women who are living with breast cancer in this country today and are at a lifetime risk for lymphedema development.

Dr. Armer continues to lead a number of activities for staff, faculty and students around breast cancer survivorship, lymphedema and research methodologies.

2008

Professor NailWe are pleased to announce that Lillian M. Nail, PhD, RN, CNS, FAAN, will serve as the Fall 2008 Visiting Professor.  Dr. Nail holds the Rawlinson Distinguished Professorship in Nursing at Oregon Health & Science University, where she is also a Senior Scientist and is a member of the Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute.  After graduating from the University of Rochester with a PhD in nursing in 1985, Dr. Nail was appointed to the faculty at Rochester and then joined the faculty at the University of Utah in 1990.  She was recruited to Oregon in 2000 to establish a research group in oncology nursing.  Dr. Nail’s program of research focuses on coping with cancer.  She is well known for promoting awareness of fatigue as a common side effect of cancer treatment and characterizing the impact of fatigue on people with cancer during and following cancer treatment.  Dr. Nail leads a research group that is exploring various issues in cancer survivorship and symptom management.  Her current research includes:  examining the impact of specific forms of exercise on body composition and function in breast cancer survivors, identifying symptom clusters in women undergoing chemotherapy or radiation treatment for breast cancer, and fatigue mechanisms during breast cancer chemotherapy.  Recognition of her work includes the 2002 Oncology Nursing Society Distinguished Researcher Award, the 2002 University of Rochester Distinguished Scholar Award, and the 2006 Oregon Health & Science University Faculty Research Award. 

Dr. Nail is a popular speaker on fatigue and cancer survivorship issues in the U. S. and internationally for professional and lay audiences.  Her knowledge of the science and the system, sense of humor, and personal experience as a breast cancer survivor allow her to address multiple perspectives on a topic in a balanced and stimulating way.  In her free time she trains and competes as a member of Team SOAR, a breast cancer survivor dragon boat team based in the Wasabi Paddling Club in Portland, Oregon. 

Past Distinguished Lecturers

The Distinguished Lecturer is selected from among the brightest and most provocative in the field of breast cancer. The Lecturer will stimulate the thinking and activity of campus and area health practitioners, researchers, and educators. Continuing Education (CE) credits are offered to alumni, practicing nurses, and nurse researchers and educators attending the lecture. 

Dr. Mitch Gail, our 2009 Komen Distinguished LecturerThank you Dr. Mitch Gail, our 2009 Komen Distinguished Lecturer. Dr. Gail received an M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1968 and a Ph.D. in statistics from George Washington University in 1977.  He joined NCI in 1969 and became Chief of the Biostatistics Branch in 1994. Dr. Gail is a Fellow (1983) and former President of the American Statistical Association (1995), a former President (1988) of the Eastern North American Region of the International Biometrics Society (ENAR), a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1995), an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (1983), and an elected member of the Institute of Medicine (1996).  He received the Spiegelman Gold Medal for Health Statistics(1979), the Snedecor Award for applied statistical research (1986, 1990), the Howard Temin Award for AIDS Research (1993), the National Institutes of Health Director’s Award (1994), the Distinguished Service Medal (1996) from the United States Public Health Service, and the Marvin Zelen Award for Leadership in Statistical Science (2006).

Dr. Gail has made important methodologic and substantive contributions in several areas, including: characterizing the motility of cells in tissue culture; evaluating diagnostic tests and serial markers; designing and analyzing clinical trials and epidemiologic studies; AIDS research, including the method of back-calculation to estimate HIV infections and project AIDS incidence (with Ron Brookmeyer); and development of absolute risk models, including the widely used “Gail model” to project breast cancer risk. He is co-author, with Ron Brookmeyer of AIDS Epidemiology: A Quantitative Approach (Oxford, 1994), and Co-editor, with Jacques Benichou, of the Encyclopedia of Epidemiologic Methods (Wiley, 2000).

MenesesKaren (Dow) Meneses PhD, RN, FAAN, was our 2008 Distinguished Lecturer.  Dr. Meneses is a Professor and Associate Dean for Research in the School of Nursing at the University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB), and Senior Scientist in the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center.  She received her doctorate and master’s degree in nursing from Boston College and her baccalaureate degree in nursing from Georgetown University.  Dr. Meneses has more than 30 years of experience in the care of patients with cancer.  She has devoted her program of research to improving the quality of life of cancer survivors.  She is currently funded by the National Cancer Institute for her research “Rural Breast Cancer Survivor Intervention.” Dr. Meneses has written more than 100 publications on topics related to breast cancer, quality of life, survivorship, fertility issues, cancer disparities, radiation oncology, and the application of technologies in cancer education. She is the editor of three textbooks:  Nursing Care of Women with Cancer, Contemporary Issues in Breast Cancer, and Nursing Care in Radiation Oncology.  Dr. Meneses is a member of the Oncology Nursing Society, Sigma Theta Tau International, and is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.  In 2006, Dr. Meneses was appointed to the National Cancer Advisory Board (NCAB).

At the School of Nursing lecture, Dr. Meneses discussed cancer disparities and access to care among breast cancer survivors; she will explore the factors related to such disparities, describe innovative models for decreasing disparities and explore methods to advance education and practice to decrease these differences.

BrodieThe School of Nursing was honored to host Angela Brodie, PhD on March 8th as our Distinguished Lecturer.  Dr. Brodie presented her work on drugs for cancer treatment, specifically, aromatase inhibitors. Dr. Brodie participated in group conversations with selected faculty, students, and campus or external colleagues on the day of her lecture.  A reception for all participants was held immediately following the lecture.

Dr. Brodie received the Regents' Award for Research Excellence for her work on drugs for cancer treatment. In 2005 she became the first female scientist to receive the Charles F. Kettering Prize, which was awarded for her groundbreaking work on aromatase inhibitors, the class of drugs now widely used to treat breast cancer. The Kettering Prize, one of three $250,000 prizes awarded annually by the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation, recognizes the most outstanding recent contribution to the diagnosis or treatment of cancer. In addition to breast cancer research, she is currently researching drug treatments for prostate cancer. Dr. Brodie teaches medical and graduate pharmacology courses and travels extensively to deliver presentations on her work around the world.

Scholar-in-Residence

The Scholar-in-Residence program provides  “release time” for an outstanding internal faculty scholar to develop evidence-based content that will enrich the current curriculum.

McLeskeyWe are pleased to announce that Dr. Sandra McLeskey is the 2007 Scholar-in-Residence.

Dr. McLeskey will develop breast cancer specific web-based modules that will be used in addition to regular class time for both undergraduate and graduate courses. Completion of the web modules will be a requirement for every undergraduate student at the SON resulting in 675 students being educated on breast cancer annually.

These modules will be uploaded and shared with the International Virtual Nursing School of which the University of Maryland, School of Nursing is a founding partner. The modules will also be distributed to the Prevention, Education and Research Center (PERC). PERC is a Web-based repository of educational materials related to prevention and population health. This  international distribution will allow the School of Nursing to share knowledge and best practices for breast cancer screening, treatment and management across the globe.

Past Komen Conferees

Komen Conferees are awarded a stipend to support registration and travel expenses that enable participation in regional and national state-of-the-science conferences on breast cancer research and practice.  Faculty and students are equally eligible to apply for the stipend, but preference is given to oncology masters students who deomnstrate specific plans for disseminating the information they recieve at the conference.  After each conference, the awardee is required to present what was learned.  Collectively the Komen Conferees will have educated 322 people as a result of their attendance at breast cancer specific conferences.

San Antonio ConferenceCongratulations to the following students who have been selected to attend the San Antonio Breast Cancer Conference in December:

2007 ConferenceCongratulations to the 2008 Komen Conferees who attended the San Antonio Breast Cancer Conference in December.