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Episode 342: What It’s Like to Serve on the Leadership Development Committee

Release Date: 12/20/2024

Episode 360: An Overview of Brain Malignancies for Oncology Nurses

The ONS Podcast

“Everyone’s brain is extremely heterogenic, so it’s different. You can put five of us in a room; we can all have the same diagnosis of a [glioblastoma multiforme], but all of ours can be different. They’re highly aggressive biologically. It’s a small area in a hard shell. So trying to get through the blood–brain barrier is different. There’s a lot of areas of hypoxia in the brain. There’s a lot of pressure there. The microbiology is very different—it’s a cold environment versus a hot environment—and then the pathways are just different,” Lori Cappello, MSN, APN-C,...

Episode 359: Lung Cancer Screening, Early Detection, and Disparities

The ONS Podcast

Episode 359: Lung Cancer Screening, Early Detection, and Disparities “I was actually speaking to a primary care audience back a few weeks ago, and we were talking about lung cancer screening. And they said, ‘Our patients, they don’t want to do it.’ And I said, ‘Do you remind them that lung cancer is curable?’ Because everybody thinks it is a death sentence. But when you’re talking about screening a patient, I think it’s really important to say, ‘Listen, if we find this early, stage I or stage II, our chances of curing this and it never coming back again is upwards of 60%...

Episode 358: Pharmacology 101: KRAS Inhibitors

The ONS Podcast

“It’s been known for quite a while that [KRAS] is a mutation that leads to cancer development, but for really over four decades, researchers couldn’t figure out a way to target it. And so, it was often considered something that was undruggable. But all of this changed recently. So about four years ago, in 2021, we had the approval of the first KRAS inhibitor. So it’s specifically a KRAS G12C inhibitor known as sotorasib,” Danielle Roman, PharmD, BCOP, manager of clinical pharmacy services at the Allegheny Health Network Cancer Institute in Pittsburgh, PA, told Jaime Weimer, MSN,...

Episode 357: ONS 50th Anniversary: The Evolution of Cancer Treatment: Stories From the Front Lines

The ONS Podcast

“There have been many changes since the ’70s that have shaped the nurse’s role in administering chemo, and in supporting patients. The major change early on was the transition from that of nurses mixing chemo to that of pharmacists. Regulatory agencies like NIOSH and OSHA defined chemotherapy as hazardous drugs, and professional organizations became involved, leading to the publication of the joint ASCO and ONS Standards of Safe Handling,” ONS member Scarlott Mueller, MPH, RN, FAAN, secretary of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network Board and member of the Oncology Nursing...

Episode 356: A Nurse’s Guide to the 2024 NIOSH List of Hazardous Drugs

The ONS Podcast

“And so you have different kinds of hazards with the drugs that you’re using. That means that in the past, when a lot of oncology drugs, antineoplastic drugs used to treat cancer would have been added, you may see that a lot of oncology drugs either weren’t added or they’re added in a different place on the list than they were in the past. That’s due to some of the restructuring of the list we’ll probably talk about later,” Jerald L. Ovesen, PhD, pharmacologist at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,...

Episode 355: Pharmacology 101: Hedgehog Pathway Inhibitors

The ONS Podcast

“I genuinely think nurses and pharmacists need to know why these medicines are called hedgehog inhibitors so that we can, in fact, effectively educate our patients. Just because to date, this class has the weirdest name I’ve encountered, and I almost expect at this point that my patients are going to ask me about it. I think that we need to be informed that, just on, where do these names come from, why is it called this, and does it matter to my patient?” Andrew Ruplin, PharmD, clinical oncology pharmacist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, WA, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN,...

Episode 354: Breast Cancer Survivorship Considerations for Nurses

The ONS Podcast

“You can give someone a survivorship care plan, but just giving them doesn’t mean that it’s going to happen. Maybe there’s no information about family history. Or maybe there’s information and there’s quite a bit of family history, but there’s nothing that says, ‘Oh, they were ever had genetic testing,’ or ‘Oh, they were ever referred.’ So the intent is so good because it’s to really take that time out when they’re through with active treatment and, you know, try to help give the patient some guidance as to what to expect down the line,” Suzanne Mahon, DNS, RN,...

Episode 353: ONS 50th Anniversary: Evolution of Oncology Nursing Certification

The ONS Podcast

“The response was, in my opinion, sort of overwhelmingly positive. I think all of us old-timers who were at ONS Congress® in 1986 remember those 1,600 nurses waiting in line to enter the ballroom to take that inaugural exam. It takes a while to check in 1,600 people. They kind of all filled up the lobby outside of the ballroom, and then they spilled over down into the escalator, and the escalators had to be turned off,” Cyndi Miller-Murphy, MSN, FAAN, CAE, first executive director of the Oncology Nursing Certification Corporation (ONCC), told Clara Beaver, DNP, RN, AOCNS®, ACNS-BC, ONS...

Episode 352: Pharmacology 101: Epigenetics

The ONS Podcast

“Now, what we found is that epigenetics is actually heritable and it’s actually reversible. And we can now manipulate these principles with pharmacotherapy drugs,” Eric Zack, RN, OCN®, BMTCN®, clinical assistant professor at Loyola College Chicago Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing in Chicago, IL, and RN3 at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS, AOCNS®, manager of oncology nursing practice at ONS, during a conversation about the epigenetics drug class. Music Credit: “” by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons by...

Episode 351: What It’s Like to Develop Symptom Intervention Resources

The ONS Podcast

“It is very much a collaborative group process. There are group meetings where we come to consensus on our different ratings. There’s so much support from ONS staff, even amongst our different groups, even when you’re assigned to one peer reviewer. Let’s say you go on vacation, sometimes we’re paired with other people, too. So there is some flexibility in the opportunity as well,” Holly Tenaglia, DNP, APRN, AGCNS-BC, OCN®, lecturer at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS, AOCNS®, manager of oncology nursing practice at ONS, during a...

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“The Leadership Development Committee (LDC) is one of the most important member volunteer positions in the organization, and here’s why: The main purpose of the LDC is to recruit, vet, and select ONS Board of Directors. As some of you may know, it has been three years since we moved away from members voting for directors,” ONS member Nancy Houlihan, MA, RN, AOCN^®, 2020–2022 ONS president and former director of nursing practice at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, NY, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS, AOCNS^®, manager of oncology nursing practice at ONS, during a conversation about what it’s like to serve on the Leadership Development Committee.

The advertising messages in this podcast episode are paid for by Ipsen.

Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod 

Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0 

Episode Notes 

This episode is not eligible for NCPD.
Oncology Nursing Podcast^™ episodes:
ONS Voice articles:
ONS course: Board Leadership: Nurses in Governance
ONS Volunteer Opportunities 
ONS Leadership Learning Library
Contact the LDC

To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities.

To find resources for creating an Oncology Nursing Podcast™ Club in your chapter or nursing community, visit the ONS Podcast Library.

To provide feedback or otherwise reach ONS about the podcast, email [email protected].

Highlights From This Episode

“I feel like I have come full circle, developing my knowledge and leadership skills over 25 years, both at ONS and in my professional career, applying them to ONS leadership as a director and an officer, and then transferring that knowledge to work with a diverse team of ONS members on the LDC to build the best slate of directors.” TS 3:52

“There’s an annual review and editing of processes based on experience and discussion with board leadership and a review of the [notification of intent] and full applications of candidates for the board of directors. As you can imagine, reviewing the notifications of intent packages and the full applications, references, and interviews is very time consuming and requires significant at home and meeting time to complete. The application process is rigorous. The LDC members are the stewards of that work, ensuring fairness and ending with the best possible board of directors.” TS 6:22

Each member of the LDC recognizes the importance of their role in identifying future leaders. They regularly interact with chapter members and leaders and others to relay the opportunities and processes for leadership roles, as I mentioned already, the LDC annually offers Round Table sessions at Congress and bridge. They are advertised to appeal to nurses with an interest in leadership in general, as well as at ONS.” TS 8:28

“An important component to this role is meeting the diversity needs on the board, and every effort is made to ensure that our net is cast wide and is inclusive, while the skill set for board service is at a higher level, we uphold ONS principles relative to belonging and look for an inclusive compliment of directors.” TS 9:33

“Frequently, the LDC works with qualified candidates who opt to wait to move forward because of work commitments, graduate school demands, or family concerns and come back when their lives are more settled, enough to take on the commitments of ONS. Support of employers is a required part of the application for the LDC and the board of directors, since time away from work can be challenging. However, many employees see ONS affiliation as a positive for their organization and are willing to engage in discussions with you about how to make a leadership role possible with your work responsibilities.” TS 10:28

“Historically, there has been a misconception that you can’t ‘break into ONS leadership.’ I have served the last four years, and my experience has been that we are always looking for new qualified thought leaders from every possible group that ONS serves. For example, we track what worksites our leaders come from so that we have every subspecialty’s voice over time.” TS 16:27

“Bottom line is, ONS needs you. Don't be shy to try. The door is open to discuss, and the right opportunity could be available.” TS 17:00

“I am constantly reminded about how smart and influential nurses are and how much they have to contribute. Working with an organization like ONS that unites you with others around a common purpose is very powerful.” TS 17:15

“You know, ONS needs leaders; we’re always looking to talk with people about what their interests and strengths are and how they can develop some of those strengths through various volunteer activities.” TS 18:39

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