Cancer Nation
Ambassadors
Who better to shape cancer care than the people living it and the people working within it?
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Who better to shape cancer care than the people living it and the people working within it?
Who better to shape cancer care than the people living it and the people working within it?


Read about what the 2025 Cancer Nation Ambassadors are doing to improve survivorship in their communities.
Ritu Amarnani | Washington, DC
Olivia Burzoni, MPA | Topeka, Kansas
Amelia Corl, MPH | Denver, Colorado
Kristie Fields, MHS | Suffolk, Virginia
Gitte Joergensen, PhD | Coventry, Connecticut
Jessie Lindemann, MD | Fargo, North Dakota
Sami Mansfield | Denver, Colorado
Shay Moraga | Palm Desert, California
Mirta Sanchez Rios | Groveland, Florida
Jennifer Thompson MDiv, PhD | Chicago, Illinois
Eshan Vishwakarma | Glen Allen, Virginia

Read about what the 2023-2024 Cancer Nation Ambassadors are doing to improve survivorship in their communities.
Andrea Anampa-Guzmán, MD (c) | Buffalo, NY
Laurie Christensen, RN, OCN | Vancouver, WA
Gianna Durocher, RN, MSN, OCN | Fullerton, CA
Louis Lanza, Jr. | Turnersville, NJ
Tamron Little, MAC | Orange Park, FL
Yvonne McLean Florence, M. Div. | Drexel Hill, PA
Erica Menefee, MS, BSN, RN, CPT, CES, BHCN | DeSoto, TX
Elizabeth Owens, MS | Lexington, NC
Patricia Riffenburgh | Ventura, CA
Monique Wilson, CPAR, BSHA, MA | Leesburg, GA

Read about what the 2022-2023 Cancer Nation Ambassadors are doing to improve survivorship in their communities.
Roxanne Berger, LPN | Lindenwold, NJ
Sandra Calloway-Fields | Birmingham, AL
Nicole Drost | Fairport, NY
Jennifer Elliott | Mt. Laurel, NJ
Alyssa Fischer-Reeder | Alexandria, VA
Lorenzo Gallo | New York, NY
Jala Lockhart-Walker, MPH | Tuscaloosa, AL
Tori McCurdy, MSN, FNP-C, RN | Oakland, TN
Daria Ross | Flint Township, MI
Natalie Stevenson | Sparks, NV
Arti Varanasi, PhD, MPH, CPH | Clarksburg, MD
Kaili Wegener | McHenry, IL

Read about what the 2020-2021 Cancer Nation Ambassadors are doing to improve survivorship in their communities.
Joli Bartell | Woodinville, WA
Woodrow Brokenburr, MBA | Agoura Hills, CA
Jennifer Campisano, JD | Phoenix, AZ
Crystal Champion, PT, DPT, CLT-ALM, Cert DN | Duluth, GA
Debbie Denardi | Sunny Isles Beach, FL
Lesley Glenn | Central Point, OR
Kimberly Harrison | Bowie, MD
Nancy Howe | Phoenix, AZ
Wenora Johnson | Joliet, IL
Joslyn McArdle | Wynantskill, NY
Raquel Smith | Hoover, AZ
Amy LeAlice Oliver Steinkuhl | Wilmore, KY
Susan Strong | Firestone, CO
Christi Turnage, MSN, RN | Madison, MS

Read about what the 2019 Cancer Nation Ambassadors are doing to improve survivorship in their communities.
Doris Cardwell | Whitefish, MT
Sarah Cohn | Philadelphia, PA
Erin Cummings | Boston, MA
Rachel Ferraris | Warner Robins, GA
Bradley Glassel | Lake Mills, WI
Loretta Herring | Birmingham, AL
Kimberly D. Richardson | Chicago, IL
Xenia Rybak | New York City, NY
Hillary Stires, PhD | Arlington, VA
Virgie Townsend | Birmingham, AL
These projects are grounded in real gaps whether in hospitals, oncology practices, community organizations, or virtual spaces and focused on creating meaningful, lasting change across the cancer journey.
Their work reflects what happens when survivors, caregivers, and health care professionals step forward to lead change. Below, explore their projects and meet the leaders helping shape what better care looks like.
Creation of Project Life, a navigation program for women living with Metastatic Breast Cancer. The program uses lay navigators to assist women looking for support, access to treatments/clinical trials, and mentorship.
A conference to educate survivors about what they should expect from their health care team in a very rural area where survivorship resources are difficult to find.
Create and share webinars on research design, genetic testing and clinical trials and create a directory of patient-advocate-friendly medical advisors and a Survivors Assisting Scientists model that is being replicated nationwide. CTAP initial training was held at the University of Chicago in February of 2020.
Patient Advocacy Cancer Support Network educates the local community on survivorship issues specific to African-American cancer survivors. They provide digital health literacy classes and technology for participants to conduct telehealth visits.
Education for the Spanish speaking communities for individuals and families with history of hereditary cancer including help with access to genetic counseling services.
Partnership with Los Robles Health System to train those within the system about health equity. Webinar/roundtable was conducted in September 2020.
Creation of Project Life, a navigation program for women living with Metastatic Breast Cancer. The program uses lay navigators to assist women looking for support, access to treatments/clinical trials, and mentorship.
A conference to educate survivors about what they should expect from their health care team in a very rural area where survivorship resources are difficult to find.
Create and share webinars on research design, genetic testing and clinical trials and create a directory of patient-advocate-friendly medical advisors and a Survivors Assisting Scientists model that is being replicated nationwide. CTAP initial training was held at the University of Chicago in February of 2020.
Patient Advocacy Cancer Support Network educates the local community on survivorship issues specific to African-American cancer survivors. They provide digital health literacy classes and technology for participants to conduct telehealth visits.
Education for the Spanish speaking communities for individuals and families with history of hereditary cancer including help with access to genetic counseling services.
Partnership with Los Robles Health System to train those within the system about health equity. Webinar/roundtable was conducted in September 2020.

Life After Surviving Cancer: The Relief, Challenges And New Fears, September 2019
NPR’s “On Point”
Meghna Chakrabarti
For more information about Cancer Nation Leadership Academy, contact us here.
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Cancer Nation is the voice of America’s 18 million cancer survivors: those living with, through and beyond cancer.
Cancer is a journey we travel for life, and how well we live that life depends on the care we get and the policies that shape it.
We are uniting to demand cancer care that not only helps us survive, but thrive.
Cancer Nation is the voice of America’s 18 million cancer survivors: those living with, through and beyond cancer.
Cancer is a journey we travel for life, and how well we live that life depends on the care we get and the policies that shape it.
We are uniting to demand cancer care that not only helps us survive, but thrive.

Founder
Northeast Regional Cancer Institute
“Perhaps one of the most impactful collaborations in Dr. Brereton’s extraordinary career remains his early work and long friendship with Ellen Stovall. Through him, and in turn through the thousands of lives he has touched, Ellen’s work continues, and her mission lives on.”
—Karen M. Saunders
President, Northeast Regional Cancer Institute
