It is my pleasure to introduce Ronald Mills and Mi Hwa Lee, new members of the AOSW Research Committee and of the subcommittee that will be providing articles for the research column in The Navigator. They will be soliciting reports on research activities in oncology social work, reporting on important research findings of relevance to oncology social workers and describing research opportunities.

Ronald Mills
Ron is an Oncology Patient Advocate at The James Cancer Center at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio. He comes to the Research Committee from the PCRC (Patient Centered Research Collaborative), an AOSW project to involve patient advocates, researchers and oncology social workers in research. Ron was diagnosed with an aggressive subtype of prostate cancer in 2014, was admitted to a clinical trial and has been in remission for five years. He serves on the Patient Advisory Council at The James Cancer Center, as well as in a number of volunteer roles including Patient Peer Advocate for newly diagnosed patients with cancer and their families. The involvement of Patient Advocates is a recent development in healthcare and advocates like Ron have much to offer the field of oncology social work research. By providing a patient/family perspective, patient advocates like Ron often see needs and problems that professionals overlook. As a Patient Advocate, Ron will be providing a new and important perspective to research activities. 

Mi Hwa Lee
Mi Hwa is the second new member of The Navigator subcommittee of the Research Committee. She is an assistant professor in the School of Social Work at East Carolina University (ECU) in Greenville, North Carolina. She earned her Master’s (2014) and Doctorate (2017) Degrees in Social Work from The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and joined the faculty of ECU in 2017. Her research interests emphasize cancer prevention and early detection, areas that are sometimes outside the focus of busy oncology social work professionals. In focusing on Asian immigrant populations, Mi Hwa’s research aims to reduce cancer disparities. By focusing on screening rather than treatment, and on minority populations, Mi Hwa brings a fresh perspective to oncology social work research.

In their role as members of the subcommittee on research columns for The Navigator, Ron and Mi Hwa will seek to advance the AOSW professional development goals, including “to identify, set, evaluate and disseminate best practices in oncology social work, to create avenues and provide tools for oncology social work professional development through research, and to advance the knowledge base of the field by building the research capacity in oncology social work and supporting the bi-directional relationship of research and practice” (AOSW Strategic Plan 2017-2019, www.aosw.org). In this role, they look forward to feedback from AOSW members to learn about your interests for future content in the Research section of The AOSW Newsletter.