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2018 Award Recipient

 

The Distinguished Guest Lecturer in Cancer Rehabilitation & Survivorship Care Award recognizes those making important contributions to the advancement of oncology care. We are delighted to award Catherine Alfano, PhD with the 2018 lectureship in honor of her achievements.

The award presentation will take place during the Cancer Rehabilitation Networking Group Business meeting at the ACRM 2018 Annual Conference at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas on 2 October at 3:30 PM.  Dr. Alfano will present her award lecture, Integrating Research, Practice and Policy Agendas to Transform Cancer Rehabilitation Care, on 30 September from 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM. See the Online Program for lecture details & REGISTER now for best rates.

ABOUT CATHERINE ALFANO, PHD

Catherine M. Alfano, Ph.D. is the Vice President of Survivorship at the American Cancer Society (ACS) where she provides vision and leadership to ACS research, programming, and policy efforts nationwide to improve the lives of cancer survivors. She previously served as Deputy Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI)’s Office of Cancer Survivorship where she created seminal funding opportunity announcements in cancer survivorship and trans-disciplinary research and administered the majority of the NCI grant portfolio of rehabilitation and lifestyle change trials in cancer survivors.

Dr. Alfano trained as a rehabilitation psychologist and has focused her career in cancer survivorship. Her research interests include optimizing interventions and models of care for cancer rehabilitation and survivorship; healthy behavior change; and the integration of biological and behavioral pathways governing health, aging, and cancer prognosis. She has extensive expertise in population-based prospective cohort studies of cancer survivors and in lifestyle behavior change trials in cancer survivors and in people at heightened risk for cancer. She has authored over 130 peer-reviewed publications and has contributed to several key studies examining the effects of weight and exercise on cancer symptoms, quality of life, and prognosis.

Dr. Alfano is a frequent speaker internationally and domestically on cancer rehabilitation, cancer survivorship, and research and policy efforts to create effective efficient and patient-centered care for people living with and beyond cancer. In addition to her work at the American Cancer Society, she is an Adjunct Professor of Oncology at Georgetown University Medical Center. She has held leadership positions as the Chair of the Cancer Special Interest Group of the Society of Behavioral Medicine and on the Research Task Force of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine’s Cancer Networking Group and the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s Survivorship Committee.