Thank you to everyone who shared their unique and impressive reasons to recognize Oncology Social Workers. It is an honor to share membership with such talented, knowledgeable and passionate social workers. As always, this is just a small sampling of the incredible work we are doing. You deserve recognition for your commitment to provide the highest quality of oncology social work care to every patient we encounter. So, thank you to all those listed below, and to each one of you for furthering your expertise and our profession!

Join me in congratulating and being inspired by the news from these members:

• Jennifer Bires (Washington, DC), Rebecca Cammy and Lisa Capparella (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), and Lori Eckel (Portland, Oregon) graduated from the New York University Zelda Foster Studies in Palliative and End-of-Life Care Leadership Fellowship program.

• Sandy Blackburn (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) co-authored an article for the February issue of Oncology Nursing News, “Answering Those ‘Million Dollar’ Questions.”
   
• Ana Fisher (Seattle, Washington) authored “A Patient Navigation Model for Veterans Traveling for Cancer Care,” which was published in the February 2016 issue of Federal Practitioner, Best Practices in Hematology and Oncology. In 2016 Ana was promoted from Clinical Instructor to Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of Washington School of Social Work and received the 2017 Excellence in Field Instruction Award from Boston University.

• Ana Gordon (Chicago, Illinois) collaborated on “Pilot Results of Consolidated Screening Tool for Distress and Supportive Oncology Needs,” which will be published in the May 2017 special issue of the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, “Highlights of the Annual Conference” and online at JNCCN.org.
   
• Teri Freeman (Knoxville, Tennessee) was accepted into the Doctor of Social Work program at the University of Tennessee Knoxville beginning this fall.
   
• Jenny Ketring (Daytona Beach, Florida) and Danielle Peterson (Fort Wayne, Indiana) earned their OSW-C.

• Kate Klos (Carbondale, Colorado) has been nominated for the 2017 Spirit of Caring Award from Valley View Hospital. 
   
• Sherry Martin (Woodland Park, Colorado) was promoted to the position of Oncology Social Work Supervisor at the Penrose Cancer Center in Colorado Springs. She recently received the Nursing Care Partnership Award of the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Nursing Award from the Nursing Division of Penrose St. Francis Health Services.
   
• Lisa Merheb (Miami, Florida) was promoted to the position of Director of Social Services at the University of Miami Hospital.
   
• Carolyn Messner (New York, New York) received the CancerCare Help and Hope Award at the CancerCare Gala in April. Additionally, she will be presenting at the International Psycho-Oncology Conference in Berlin, Germany, in August on “Psycho-Oncologists Throughout Their Career Lifespan: Model of Workplace Support.”
   
• Brie Pazda (Voorhees, New Jersey) and Lisa Rosenberry (Mount Holly, New Jersey) applied for the Association of Community Cancer Centers Innovator Award for the student program they developed and were selected to present the program, “Beyond the Classroom: Students Improve Access to Supportive Care Services,” at the National Conference in Tennessee in October.
   
• Lori Schwartz (Westwood, New Jersey) was promoted to Senior Social Worker for Outpatient Oncology at Mount Sinai West in New York City.
   
• Leah Vanderwerp Walton (Louisville, Kentucky) recently earned her clinical licensure (LCSW) and was promoted to Program Director at Gilda’s Club, Louisville.