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Were you born and raised in Iowa?

I was. Actually, I was born at Iowa Methodist (Medical Center), so it’s kind of like coming home. I was raised west of Des Moines on a farm. I’ve been several places in Iowa; my husband’s job is with the Department of Natural Resources. I’ve been in Central Iowa for well over 30 years.

Did you decide upon oncology early in your nursing career?

I really didn’t. I started as a (licensed practical nurse) and put my husband through college and kind of worked up the ranks. At that time in the early 1970s, oncology wasn’t really noted as a specialty. I joined oncology as a specialty in 1982, mainly because I had taken care of oncology patients in the past. Once you take care of an oncology patient, it just gets in your bloodstream. … It’s a very rewarding field.

What progress have you seen in oncology care since you entered the field?

Oncology care has changed immensely since the early ’80s when I entered. Even in the late ’90s, we only had approximately 50 chemotherapy drugs, and now we have over 200. And computers have contributed to science advancing very quickly. For instance, with the Human Genome Project, we can now tie some cancers back to specific genes. Not only have we increased in options for patients as far as surgeries, radiation treatment and chemotherapy, but also in the supportive drugs to help patients get through those treatments with less side effects. We have turned what was a fatal diagnosis in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s into more of a chronic disease. Patients are living longer and better lives, even though we may not be curing all cancer.

Is it difficult to find nurses to work in oncology?

Actually, I don’t think so. So many people have been touched with cancer. As our specialty grows, we find more and more people going into nursing with that reason, that they have been touched by cancer, whether personally or within their family. And again, once people have gotten into the field, it is so rewarding. I always call it the old kind of nursing, because you are really meeting both the physical and psychological needs of the patients and their families.

How do you feel your past experiences will help you in this position?

My background has been varied, so I think that helps me bring to this position a lot of different hats. I was director of Kavanagh House for a time, so I’m well aware of the hospice piece. I’ve worked as executive administrator of human gene therapy (at Stoddard) which brought me a new appreciation of the research that comes to the treatment area. I was on the (nursing) floor, so I’m well aware of the day-to-day nursing context. And in my most recent position as the clinical director of a private physician practice with 16 oncologists, I was able to work very closely with the physicians and the nurses not only in bringing quality care but also the (administrative and budgetary) duties.

What’s your management style like?

I use humor a lot in my coping skills, both with my management issues as well as with the oncology patients in my care. People will say, ‘How can you find anything humorous?’ But I think what the patients and nurses will tell you is that when you’re given a diagnosis of cancer, life goes on. Christmas is still going to come, birthdays are still going to come, and I think you need to be able to embrace that and move on.

Are there particular goals for the Cancer Center in the next few years?

My goals for the Cancer Center involve survivorship programs, more clinical research and trying to figure out how to work with the potential managed care that may be coming from the government. Basically, to make this the premier cancer center in Central Iowa.

Tell us about your family.

My husband and I have three boys, all grown, but we remain very active with them. We built a home on my grandparents’ farm two years ago, so we’re much enjoying that. I love to quilt and read. If I wasn’t an oncology nurse I would be a quilter.