2020 Ellen L. Stovall Award
NCCS presented the 5th annual Ellen L. Stovall Award for Innovation in Patient-Centered Cancer Care on November 18 to the 2020 winners: Julia H. Rowland, PhD and Thomas J. Smith, MD.
The virtual award reception was showcased across the country and began with a video message from award-winning journalist Katie Couric. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC) joined NCCS to present the award to her constituent, Julia H. Rowland, Ph.D., and Senator Chris Van Hollen (MD) presented the award to his constituent, Thomas J. Smith, MD.
Watch the Full Video
2020 Stovall Award Winners
Julia H. Rowland, PhD
Julia H. Rowland, PhD
Smith Center for Healing and the Arts
“Across her career as a clinician, researcher, and teacher in the area of psychosocial aspects of cancer, Dr. Rowland has promoted patient-centeredness, engaged patients, families, and caregivers to inform the process of improving the delivery of quality cancer care and collaborated effectively with others to improve quality within the cancer care system.”
— Deborah K. Mayer, PhD, RN, AOCN, FAAN
Frances Hill Fox Distinguished Professor
Director of Cancer Survivorship
UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center
Julia H. Rowland, PhD is a long-time clinician, researcher, and teacher in the area of psychosocial aspects of cancer. She has worked with and conducted competitively funded research among both pediatric and adult cancer survivors, and published broadly in psycho-oncology.
She was recruited to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to become the first, full-time Director of the Office of Cancer Survivorship (OCS). After 18 years in this role, Dr. Rowland retired from service at the NCI in September 2017 and assumed the role of Senior Strategic Advisor at Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, a small non-profit organization that has been providing integrative support services to cancer patients and their families for over twenty years.
Thomas J. Smith, MD
Thomas J. Smith, MD
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
*Co-presented by the American Society of Clinical Oncology
“Dr. Smith provides total and compassionate care to improve the quality of life of all suffering from their illness. He creates a calm environment which is unhurried, allowing the patient to be empowered to have critical conversations. Dr. Smith has taught hundreds how to improve their own skills and thereby the quality of care they deliver.”
— Patrick J. Coyne, MSN, ACHPN, ACNS-BC, FAAN, FPCN
Palliative Care Director
Medical University of South Carolina
Thomas J. Smith, M.D., is a professor of oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, director of Palliative Medicine for Johns Hopkins Medicine and the Harry J. Duffey Family Professor of Palliative Care. He is a medical oncologist and a palliative care specialist with a lifelong interest in better symptom management, communication, and improving access to high quality affordable care. Dr. Smith began Johns Hopkins’ hospital-wide palliative care consult service as well as an inpatient unit, and he is dedicated to accelerating palliative care research and education.
Dr. Smith is also a prostate cancer survivor, experiencing first hand surgery, recurrence, “salvage” radiation therapy and androgen deprivation therapy with many significant side effects. He knows all too well the experience of living and working while waiting for the other shoe to drop.
For questions about Stovall Award sponsorship, contact:
Elena Jeannotte, Vice President of External Relations
