Behind the Scenes — October 2017
From the Director of Telehealth
by Tim Poe
This will be the first in a regular series of updates regarding activities within the UNC Cancer Network Telehealth Group. I hope that you find this information informative, and we always appreciate your feedback and questions.
It has been a busy summer here at UNC. Alan has been hard at work on our new Learning Management System (LMS) which we plan to move into production in November. This will provide live lecture attendees and site coordinators with an improved experience, and will also accommodate enduring materials, meaning our Medical and Surgical Oncology and RN and Allied Health Lectures will be able to be viewed at your convenience, with credit awarded after completing a short assessment and evaluation. Each lecture will be available as an enduring material for one full year after the live presentation. We feel certain this will allow far more clinicians to benefit from our telehealth lectures. Look for more information in the weeks ahead.
Mary is very busy preparing for the 12th Annual Coping with Cancer Conference on October 21st. The topic is Striving for Excellence in Palliative Care. There are still spaces available. Please go to our site to find the registration link. Mary and Alan are working on a special oral cancers lecture, to be presented December 8, 2017 by Drs. Hackman, Patel and Padilla (more details to come).
Veneranda is our newest team member. She has quickly mastered the many technical tasks that go into our day-to-day operations here at UNCCN. She is also working with the rest of the team to plan and execute our transition to a new platform for delivering video, called Zoom. We are very excited about this improvement, and you will be seeing details, including training and documentation, in the late fall and early winter.
As always, our team strives to provide the citizens of North Carolina with the very best in oncology education and professional collaboration. We are extremely thankful to all speakers, lecture attendees, clinicians, and collaborators who make this possible.
All the best,
Tim
New Physician at UNC
by Mary E. King
Please join us in welcoming Dr. Joan D. Beckman, MD, PhD to UNC as a Clinical Instructor in Hematology.
We are very excited to announce the arrival of Dr. Joan D. Beckman, MD, PhD to UNC. She joins the faculty as a Clinical Instructor in Hematology after recently completing her Internal Medicine Residency and Hematology Fellowship at UNC. Dr. Beckman grew up in North Dakota and attended medical school at the University of Minnesota. She also received her PhD while at the University of Minnesota studying the effects of heme in sickle cell disease. Dr. Beckman is currently performing basic science research in the laboratory of Dr. Nigel Key focused on the crosstalk between the endothelium and red blood cells in JAK2 V617F and CALR+ myeloproliferative disorders. Clinically, Dr. Beckman is interested in general hematology patients, especially those with bleeding disorders, myeloproliferative disorders, and iron deficiency anemia. She will have a clinic at the Carolina Pointe II Benign Hematology site.
Please join us in welcoming Dr. Beckman to UNC!
New Radiation Oncology Faculty
by Mary E. King
The Department of Radiation Oncology welcomed several new faculty this summer, including:
Dr. Colette Shen joins our faculty as an Assistant Professor at our Chapel Hill medical center campus. Colette earned her Bachelor’s degree from Harvard, her MD and PhD (in Bioengineering) from the University of Pennsylvania, and recently completed residency training at Johns Hopkins. Her clinical areas of focus include pediatric oncology, neuro-oncology, radiosurgery and head and neck cancer. She has authored many peer-reviewed papers, reviews and book chapters. Her research interests include the use of things such as functional imaging, targeted therapies, and circulating tumor cell detection to improve the multimodality treatment for cancer.
Dr. Ashley Weiner joins our faculty as an Assistant Professor at our Chapel Hill medical center campus. Ashley earned her Bachelor’s degree from Duke, her MD and PhD (in Biomedical Engineering) from Vanderbilt University, and recently completed residency training at Washington University. Her clinical interests include gynecologic, and thoracic and gastrointestinal oncology. She has authored many peer-reviewed papers and presentations. Her research interests include assessing the utility of technical advances (e.g. functional imaging, biomarkers) to improve the therapeutic ratio of anti-cancer therapies.
Dr. Byron Huff joins our faculty as an Assistant Professor. Byron earned his Bachelor’s degree and MD (with distinction) from UNC Chapel Hill, and recently completed residency training at Emory. He has broad clinical interests and will be providing care primarily at Rex and several other centers in our Wake/Johnston division.
Dr. Roger Holland joins our faculty as an Associate Professor. Roger earned his Bachelor’s degree and MD from the University of Hawaii, and completed residency training at the University of Miami. After practicing in eastern and western portions of NC, Roger will now be providing care primarily at the McCreary Cancer Center at Caldwell Memorial Regional Hospital, in Lenoir, NC, part of the UNC Health Care system.
Stephanie Parker joins our faculty as an Instructor in our Medical Physics division. Stephanie earned her Bachelor’s degree from the Medical College of Georgia and MS in Medical Physics from The University of Kentucky. After practicing in NC for several years, Stephanie is joining our team at the Hayworth Cancer Center at High Point Regional Hospital, part of the UNC Health Care system.
Please join us in welcoming them to UNC!
Save the Date! February 2, 2018, UNC Melanoma Conference
by Mary E. King
The 12th Annual UNC Conference on Melanoma and Complex Skin Cancers: A Multidisciplinary Perspective. Visit https://unclineberger.org/event/12th-annual-unc-conference-on-melanoma-and-complex-skin-cancers-a-multidisciplinary-perspective/