The UNC Lineberger-Sylvia Lauterborn and Warren Trent Piver Oncology Nursing Fellowship program celebrated its 10th anniversary and honored its latest class of fellows at a luncheon in July.
Established in 2015, the fellowship has contributed to building a strong oncology workforce by giving undergraduate nursing students intensive, hands-on training in various settings, including inpatient, outpatient, radiation oncology, pediatric oncology and palliative care.
This year’s celebration featured a presentation by the 2025 fellows, Grace Bauder, Natalie Loop and Reena Ravi. Their project, in collaboration with Deanna Harris and Patti Morfeld, RN, BSN, OCN, involved the creation of a frequently asked questions (FAQ) resource to address the unmet needs of the infusion center. The cancer care FAQ will have a positive impact in helping patients and families navigate an overwhelming experience by providing clear, accessible information to address common questions and reduce anxiety during cancer care.
The event began with a welcome from the program’s co-directors, Ashley Leak Bryant, PhD, RN, OCN, FAAN, and Lorinda A. Coombs, PhD, FNP-BC, AOCNP, and opening remarks from UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center Executive Director Robert L. Ferris, MD, PhD.
“When we first started this program, it was at the North Carolina Basnight Cancer Hospital, and we were in a small room with two scholars. I’ll never forget that,” said Bryant, Frances Hill Fox Distinguished Professor at the UNC School of Nursing and UNC Lineberger member. “Over time, this program has grown, expanded and strengthened.”
Since the program’s first cohort in 2016, 44 nursing students from UNC, North Carolina Central University and North Carolina A&T State University have completed the fellowship. Deborah Mayer, PhD, RN, FAAN, Professor Emeritus and inaugural oncology nursing fellowship director, was instrumental in bringing this program to UNC, leading to the impressive program history.
Coombs, an assistant professor at the UNC School of Nursing and board-certified family and oncology nurse practitioner, noted that the fellowship’s longevity and success have been a collaborative effort. “This program was born out of a desire to give back to nursing by donors like Fred Flynn, who was the first donor to support the program, and by Laura Piver and Bob Lauterborn,” she said. “But without engaged students like our fellows, committed preceptors and nursing managers to support their learning, none of this would’ve been possible.”
The fellowship requires a commitment of 94 hours, 84 of which are dedicated to clinical and precepted practice at the N.C. Basnight Cancer Hospital and UNC affiliate centers. The remaining ten hours involve orientation and the culminating project work.
“North Carolina is projected to have 71,320 new cancer cases and 20,910 cancer-related deaths in 2025,” said Bauder, a third-semester nursing student who will graduate in May 2026. “With the rising rates of cancer in the state, the need for skilled, educated oncology nurses and compassionate care teams must grow as well.
“This fellowship gave me a great sense of what it’s like to be part of the oncology nursing community,” Bauder added.
For Ravi, who graduated in July through UNC’s accelerated nursing program, the fellowship’s value came from the wide range of experiences it provided. “One of the most unique parts of this experience was being able to see cancer care delivered in so many different settings, including inpatient, outpatient and the rural cancer center,” Ravi said.
The luncheon also featured reflections from the program’s longtime supporters, Laura Piver and Bob Lauterborn, who shared their motivations for helping establish the fellowship. Finally, former fellows in attendance shared how the experience shaped their careers in oncology nursing — a proof of the program’s impact over the past decade and its ongoing role in preparing the next generation of oncology nurses.
About Sylvia Lauterborn and Warren Trent Piver, PhD
The fellowship is partly supported by Robert “Bob” Lauterborn, a supporter of UNC Lineberger and the N.C. Basnight Cancer Hospital, where his late wife, Sylvia, received excellent cancer nursing care, and by Laura Carlo Piver, in memory of her husband, Warren Trent Piver, PhD, in the belief that nurses bring unique knowledge, skills, perspective and compassion to cancer care.
Sylvia Lauterborn was born in Crumlin, Wales. She was a student nurse at Charing Cross Hospital in London and held various roles before becoming a flight attendant for Pan American Airways. While training for Pan Am in Queens, New York, she met Bob, who was in a training program for GE. They married on Sept. 28, 1963. The couple moved to Chapel Hill in 1986 when Bob joined the faculty at UNC. Sylvia’s passion for travel took her to 83 countries, initially as a flight attendant, then with her husband, who taught around the world. She passed from pancreatic cancer in 2013.
Warren Piver was a chemical engineer with a strong scientific curiosity about a wide range of environmental issues. He was internationally recognized for his work on groundwater contamination and climate change. When he was 44, he underwent aggressive chemotherapy at UNC for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He received an autologous bone marrow transplant at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, as UNC’s bone marrow transplant program had not yet begun. Over the next 13 years, he remained cancer-free — witnessing his sons marry, his daughter attend college and continuing to volunteer with his church and in the community while excelling professionally. Fifteen years after his initial diagnosis, Warren passed from acute myelogenous leukemia. Throughout his journey, excellent medical care and exceptionally knowledgeable, compassionate nursing teams were vital pillars in his life story.
