The Special Interest Groups or “SIGs,” as they are commonly called, are an integral part of the structure of AOSW. The SIGs’ purpose is to share information and resources related to their subspecialty areas in oncology social work with other SIG members.

AOSW’s SIGs have been busy this past year with special projects, research, presentations, publications and a range of other activities. We have 12 active SIGs. It is ideal to have two leaders per SIG. Over the years several AOSW members have volunteered to serve in a leadership role by becoming SIG leaders. We recognize the SIGs and all of the outstanding leaders for their dedication and contributions to our profession and to AOSW.

The current SIGs and their leaders are:

• Adolescent & Young Adult: Meghan van der Eijk, MSW, LICSW; Alexandra Gubin, MSW, LCSW
   
• Blood Cancer/Bone Marrow Transplant: Paula Brumback, MSW, LCSW; Melissa Sommers, MSW, LCSW
   
• Brain Tumor: Hannah Smith, MSW, LCSW
   
• Ethics: Christina Bach, MBE, MSW, LCSW, OSW-C, FAOSW; Andrea Strouth, MSW, LCSW
   
• Integrative Oncology: Cheryl Ann Hughes, LICSW, OSW-C; Erin L. Price, LGSW
   
• Pain, Palliative Care and End-of-Life: Jackie Ogg, MSW, LGSW; Silvi Saxena, MSW, LSW, CCTP, OSW-C
   
• Patient Navigation: Cara Kondaki, MSW, LCSW, ACSW, CBPN-IC, OSW-C; Catherine Nwileh-Ibeagha, MSW, LCSW, OSW-C, OPN-CG
   
• Radiation Therapy: Lauren DeWitt, MSW
   
• Research: Hee Yun Lee, PhD, MSW, MSG; Amy Corveleyn, MSW, LICSW
   
• Sexuality: Sage Bolte, PhD, LCSW, OSW-C
   
• Spirituality: Debbie Mattison, LMSW, OSW-C
   
• Youth, Families, & Cancer (formerly Children & Cancer SIG): Carissa Hodgson, LCSW, OSW-C; Kailie Sullivan, LCSW, OSW-C

Members can join any SIG they choose by signing into their AOSW profile and clicking on the Demographics tab of the “Edit/View AOSW Profile” link. There is no extra fee to join a SIG and one does not need to work in a specific area of oncology to participate. All members are encouraged to review the information and resources that are posted under each SIG on the AOSW website. Please feel free to reach out to any SIG leader if you would like to get more involved in a SIG or if you are interested in being a part of SIG leadership.

Over the course of my tenure as Director-at-Large—and with the help of Jordan Burghardt, AOSW’s Member Services Manager—we have created a SIG-specific section of the AOSW website and worked to update SIG Resources for all AOSW members. We have encouraged increased communication with members by the SIG leaders and have also worked with all SIG Leaders and the AOSW Conference Committees to provide continuing education content during the SIG meetings at the annual conferences. Finally, we have launched a mechanism for SIG members to work on special projects through an online platform called Basecamp in order to help collaborate on projects and share documents and resources. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions regarding the SIGs.