Meet the experts

Thea Bätz works as study coordinator in the outpatient department for hepatocellular carcinomas at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz. In this function, she cares for study patients and outpatients.
After completing her training, she worked for 18 years as a children’s nurse at the University Hospital in Lübeck. Since 2000 Thea Bätz has been working at the University Medical Center Mainz, where she first worked in cardiology and GI oncology. She completed her training as a study assistant and has been working in the HCC area since the SHARP Trial.
Due to the close cooperation within the study office she is also involved in the GI oncology area.
In recent years, she has participated in several projects on practical work with oncological patients, taking into consideration international differences.

Nina Grenon is a nurse practitioner caring for patients with Gastrointestinal Cancers for the past 22 years, 14 at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the previous 8 years at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. She is adjunct faculty at Simmons College, School of Nursing and Health Sciences and serves as a clinical preceptor for nurse practitioner students at Yale University, Simmons College and MGH Institute of Health Professions. She serves on the North America Neuroendocrine Association Tumor Society, regional education committee. Nina Grenon is a frequent national and regional lecturer in colon and pancreatic cancer, published a number of articles in the nursing implication in the management of side effects in patients treated for colon cancer. She is currently on the Oncology Nursing Society Congress Planning Team for 2020. Her research and quality improvement interest include patient and care taker education, specific intervention delivered by front line nurses and the early integrating of palliative care in patients with advanced gastrointestinal malignancies specifically pancreatic cancer.

Fransen McGinley is a certified physicians assistant in the Gastrointestinal Cancers Clinic at the Stephenson Cancer Center, Oklahoma City.
After completing her bachelor’s degree in Microbiology at the University of Oklahoma, she earned her master’s degree from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Physician Associate Program. Fransen has more than 12 years of experience as an oncology PA at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.
She is an active member of the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants, as well as of the Oklahoma Academy of Physician Assistants.

Paz Fernández is the Nursing Research Coordinator at the Catalan Institute of Oncology in Barcelona and since 2010, Associated Professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Barcelona, where she earned her Doctorate in Nursing Sciences and a Bachelor in Clinical Psychology. From 1999 to 2005, Paz has been a member on the Executive Board of EONS (European Oncology Nursing Society), and until 2001, a Board member of SEEO (Spanish Oncology Nursing Society). Paz belongs to the Node of Cancer at Joanna Briggs Institute and to the EANS (European Academy of Nursing Science) scholars group.
Her area of expertise is symptoms management in cancer patients, chemoterapy and oral anticancer drugs.
In 2014 she received the EONS Lifetime Achievement Award for her 30 years in oncology and professional contribution to the field of oncology nursing.

Natasha A. Pinheiro is an adult-gerontological primary care nurse practitioner working with the solid tumor gastrointestinal medical oncology group at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. She completed her Bachelor Science in nursing from New York University and her masters of science in nursing, adult nurse practitioner form Long Island University. Ms. Pinheiro specializes in the medical management of patients with gastrointestinal cancers, focusing on colorectal cancers with hepatic arterial infusion pump therapy, upper GI and hepatobiliary cancers. She has served on multiple HCC advisory boards and has been a member of the Nursing Advisory Board of the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation.

Karen Waldrop
Karen Waldrop received her Bachelor of Nursing Science from Florida State University in 1987. Her nursing background includes Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Cardiac Stepdown, and In-patient Multidisciplinary Research. Karen has found her passion in Oncology nursing where she operated since 2011, receiving the designation of Oncology Certified Nurse in 2017. Since January, 2018 Karen has been serving as the GI Oncology Clinical Care Coordinator at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

A nurse since 2005, Julie worked for 13 years in hepatology at the Beaujon Hospital in Clichy (AP-HP). For 7 years, she was a coordinating nurse. She was in charge of organising the care pathways of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). She has a master’s degree in coordination of complex care pathways. In 2019, Julie graduated as a nurse in advanced practice (oncology option), a new position in France. Since 2018, Julie has been working on a public health thesis at the University of Paris on the coordination of care pathways for patients with HCC and the implementation of advanced practice.

Brittni has been working as an Advanced Clinical Education Specialist for UPMC Hillman Cancer Center in Pittsburgh PA since 2017. She earned her Master’s in Nursing Administration from Waynesburg University, Waynesburg PA in 2014 and her Bachelor’s in Nursing from Carlow University, Pittsburgh PA. She has been working in oncology since 2010 with her initial nursing experience in critical care. Her oncology experience includes Clinical Research, Stem Cell Transplant, Management, and Education.

Paola Belardi is a nurse chief at San Donato Hospital in Arezzo, Italy. Paola gained her first level Nursing Degree at the University of Siena in 2000. Later, in 2002 she attended a Public Health class at the University of Florence and in 2010 she graduated the Master Degree in Management at the University of Siena.
In 2013 she started her work in oncology setting and now she is principally committed in activities such as nurse staffing and quality standard in oncology. From 2018 she is also an adjunct professor teaching Oncology Nursing at the University of Siena.
Her professional interests are: chemotherapy and target therapy side effects management, intravenous devices management and nurses education. In the last month she has been co-supervisor of two Nursing Degree thesis: one studying the nurses’ role in fatigue prevention and the other regarding the nurses’ level of knowledge about simultaneous care model.

Sven De Keersmaecker works as a Study Coordinator at the Antwerp University Hospital since 2015, caring for study patients and outpatients. Sven is a graduate nurse since 1997 and worked initially in Intensive Care before moving to work in Oncology in Antwerp in 2000. Over the years, he acted as a nurse navigator in digestive oncology and was involved in the development of coaching programs for patient and health informatics tools to help them with compliance and monitoring of side effects.

Beth Wittmer has worked as registered nurse since 1991, focussing on the oncology setting for more than 13 years. Beth transitioned in 2015 from the office setting to help develop the Care Management Team. She assisted in the implementation of the Oncology Care Model for Florida Cancer Specialists.

Allison Baxley is a clinical oncology pharmacist and the Director of Pharmacy at the Stephenson Cancer Center in Oklahoma City, USA. After completing her bachelor’s degree in Nutrition at Oklahoma State University, she earned her Doctor of Pharmacy from University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy. She completed a PGY1 residency in Pharmacy Practice at Nebraska Medicine and a PGY2 in Oncology at the University of Oklahoma. She is board certified in oncology and has ten years of experience at the Stephenson Cancer Center. She is an active member of the Hematology Oncology Pharmacist’s Association.