AOSW Connections
Editorial Team
Editor-in-Chief
Amy Colver, MSSA, MA, LISW
Editor
Katherine Easton, MSW, LCSW, OSW-C
AOSW Communications Director
Brittany Hahn, LCSW
Managing Editor
Patricia Sullivan
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2025 Themes
February: Workplace & Culture
May: Therapeutic Techniques
August: Palliative Care
November: Caregivers
President’s Message
By Leora Lowenthal, AOSW President
- 2016: AOSW Membership Committee establishes a Diversity and Inclusion Sub-Committee & Chair
- 2020: AOSW Board of Directors establishes the role of Director for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and appoints Eucharia Borden, the outgoing President.
- 2021: The position of Director for DEI is added to the nomination slate and the membership elects a new Director, Dr. Lailea Noel
- 2023: AOSW Board of Directors votes to add the Director for DEI to the Executive Committee
- 2024: (Read below to help us fill in here.)
About the Authors

Leora Lowenthal, LICSW, OSW-C, MPA, FAOSW
Senior Clinical Social WorkerDana-Farber Cancer Institute
Boston, Massachusetts
Leora_Lowenthal@dfci.harvard.edu
Leora Lowenthal, LICSW, OSW-C, MPA, FAOSW, has been in healthcare for 26 years and currently works as a Senior Clinical Social Worker at Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA. Ms. Lowenthal’s education includes master’s degrees in...
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Leora Lowenthal, LICSW, OSW-C, MPA, FAOSW
Senior Clinical Social WorkerDana-Farber Cancer Institute
Boston, Massachusetts
Leora_Lowenthal@dfci.harvard.edu
Leora Lowenthal, LICSW, OSW-C, MPA, FAOSW, has been in healthcare for 26 years and currently works as a Senior Clinical Social Worker at Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA. Ms. Lowenthal’s education includes master’s degrees in Social Work and Public Administration respectively, and a post-graduate certificate in bioethics and the Medical Humanities. In addition to her clinical work she has served on several boards, including three years as Education Director for the Association of Oncology Social Work (AOSW) and four years on the Board of Directors for the Board of Oncology Social Work Certification (BOSWC). Ms. Lowenthal currently serves as a member of the Medical Advisory Council for the Cutaneous Lymphoma Foundation (CLF) and is President-Elect for AOSW.
Articles
AOSW Meets the Biden Cancer InitiativeEthics in the Time of Covid
President's Message
President's Message
President's Message

Lailea Noel, PhD, MSW, FAOSW
Assistant Professor, Meadows Foundation Fellow in Quality of Life in the Rural Environment; Director, Institute for Collaborative Health Research and PracticeSteve Hicks School of Social Work, The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas
lailea.noel@utexas.edu
Lailea Noel, PhD, MSW, FAOSW, is Assistant Professor and the Meadows Foundation Endowed Fellow in Quality of Life in the Rural Environment at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin (UT). At the UT Dell Medical S...
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Lailea Noel, PhD, MSW, FAOSW
Assistant Professor, Meadows Foundation Fellow in Quality of Life in the Rural Environment; Director, Institute for Collaborative Health Research and PracticeSteve Hicks School of Social Work, The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas
lailea.noel@utexas.edu
Lailea Noel, PhD, MSW, FAOSW, is Assistant Professor and the Meadows Foundation Endowed Fellow in Quality of Life in the Rural Environment at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin (UT). At the UT Dell Medical School, she holds a faculty appointment in the Department of Oncology and the Department of Health Social Work, she co-chairs the Health Equity in Research Workgroup and serves on the Livestrong Cancer Institutes’ Clinical and Prevention Research Workgroup. She is the newly appointed Director of the Institute for Collaborative Health Research and Practice at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Association of Oncology Social Workers (AOSW) and the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC). Dr. Noel has an extensive practice background in health administration in the field of oncology and non-profit management. Her research interests seek to connect communities most impacted by cancer disparities with cancer care services by exploring patient-provider communication effects on psychosocial barriers to care. She has a passion for conducting community-based participatory research and has a wealth of experience engaging communities, social scientists, and medical professionals in such research pursuits.
Articles
President's MessageThe Impact of Social Determinants of Health on Survivorship in Rural Communities