UNC Lineberger and the UNC School of Nursing hosted a reception at the North Carolina Cancer Hospital on Monday, June 26, to celebrate undergraduate students Jackie Balliot, Madison Morgan and Kaitlyn Pickert upon completion of the highly-competitive UNC Lineberger-Sylvia Lauterborn Oncology Nursing Fellowship.
Nilda Peragallo Montano, DrPH, RN, FAAN, dean of the UNC School of Nursing, and H. Shelton Earp III, MD, director of UNC Cancer Care, welcomed everyone to the celebration and stressed the importance of providing training for passionate young nurses with an interest in oncology.
“This program has allowed us to bring new talent into UNC and give them an experience of a lifetime,” said Earp.
The UNC Lineberger-Sylvia Lauterborn Oncology Nursing Fellowship is a six-week inpatient and outpatient oncology immersion program. It was funded by Robert “Bob” Lauterborn in memory of his late wife, Sylvia, who received excellent oncology nursing care at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and the NC Cancer Hospital.
Sylvia was born in Wales, United Kingdom, on May 1, 1939, and trained as a student nurse at Charing Cross Hospital in London. Her career included positions in other fields before she became a stewardess for Pan American Airways. She met her future husband while training in New York. The couple moved to Chapel Hill in 1986 when Bob joined the UNC faculty. Sylvia loved to travel. Throughout her career and life, she visited 83 countries. She passed away in 2013 after battling pancreatic cancer and asked that her ashes be sprinkled at sea, so she could reach the countries she was unable to visit during her lifetime.
All three UNC Lineberger-Sylvia Lauterborn Oncology Nursing Fellows presented evidence-based projects and expressed their gratitude to Lauterborn for the opportunity to participate in the fellowship program.
Balliot, a cancer survivor herself, presented on Survivorship Care Plans for Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Survivors. Morgan discussed Preventing Compassion Fatigue Among Inpatient Oncology Nurses, and Pickert explored Nurses and Nursing Assitants’ Exposure to Hazardous Drugs.
Deborah Mayer, PhD, ANP-BC, AOCN, FAAN, and Bob Lauterborn closed the reception by presenting the fellows with certificates to mark the end of their program.
“It’s so important that everyone who participates in this program passes the word on and helps train the next generation of nurses, so our cancer patients get the care that they deserve,” said Mayer.
For more information about this program, please contact the Program Coordinator, Ashley Leak Bryant, Assistant Professor in the UNC School of Nursing at ashley_bryant@unc.edu.