ONS conferences, including the virtual ONS Bridge™, are planned and coordinated with care by a hard-working group of volunteer nurses who comprise our Content Planning Team.
This year’s content planning team worked hard throughout the entirety of 2021, participating in planning meetings that ultimately laid the foundation for this year’s ONS Bridge including its content, sessions, and speakers.
Take a moment to get to know the nurses below and if you happen to see their name pop up on the discussion boards or session chats, please be sure to say hello and thank them for all their hard work on this year’s virtual conference!
Susan Weiss Behrend, RN, MSN, AOCN®
Content Planning Team Chair
Clinical Nurse Specialist
Fox Chase Cancer Center
What aspect of ONS Bridge 2021 are you most looking forward to?
“Accessing current, applicable clinical content that will enhance oncology nursing practice across all specialties. Looking forward to expanding clinical knowledge, empowering our ability to prioritize care coordination, and most of all to meet stellar faculty and network with established and new colleagues nationally and globally.”
How has oncology nursing shaped your life?
“As I always say, you never were a nurse, you always are a nurse. Having had the greatest opportunities to be mentored by the best of the best multidisciplinary professionals in the field of oncology has been the foundation of my career. My fortitude comes from having had the esteemed honor to care for thousands of brave patients over the years. Perhaps I may have made a small and lasting difference with individuals who triumphed and met the challenge of treatment and recovered, to ensuring that others whom I cared for were comforted when palliative intervention was what I could offer, this remains the greatest gift. Oncology nursing as a profession sheds light on ‘the circle of life,’ and redefines an appreciation for caring deeply and indelibly.”
Kate Hubbard, MSN, RN, OCN®
Content Planning Team Member
Oncology Nurse Educator
Advent Health–Hendersonville
How has oncology nurse shaped your life?
“Oncology nursing has allowed me a way to both serve others and grow professionally. This specialty is constantly challenging me, there is always more to learn! As I learn more, the more satisfied I am in my role. This satisfaction gives me confidence, helping me to provide better care to patients and support my nursing team as a nurse educator.”
What are you most looking forward to during ONS Bridge 2021?
“I am looking forward to the great topics that the speakers will be covering this year. There is a session for everyone, no matter your role! I am excited to think about how oncology nurses will take the information learned in these sessions and make positive changes in their workplaces to improve patient care for oncology patients.”
Megha Shah, BSN, RN, OCN®
Content Planning Team Member
Staff Nurse
Northwestern Medicine Cancer Center
What are you most looking forward to during ONS Bridge 2021?
“I am most excited and looking forward to the presentation regarding resilience in oncology nursing as we so need it right now. In the day and age of the pandemic and all-time high nursing shortage, the nurses who are still sticking it out in the field would benefit from a session like this”
What drives you professionally?
“The hunger for gaining new knowledge and experience such as planning ONS Bridge and volunteering on other projects with ONS drives me professionally.”
Jaime Weimer, DNP, APRN, FNP-C
2021 Content Planning Team Member
Oncology Clinical Specialist
Oncology Nursing Society
What are you most looking forward to during ONS Bridge 2021?
“Being part of the ONS Bridge 2021 Content Planning Team has been such a professional joy–the opportunity to collaborate with other talented and passionate ONS member volunteers and ONS staff as we worked diligently to curate a rich, meaningful conference is something I will always remember. I cannot wait to see our talented presenters share their expertise and interact with attendees during the live Q&A. I hope all our conference attendees come away from these sessions feeling energized with new ideas on how to improve the care they provide to the patients in their own communities.”
What drives you professionally?
“Perhaps it is overstated but working in oncology truly is a calling–there are times that I reflect on my career and wonder how I got so lucky to end up in such an emotionally rewarding, scientifically dynamic, and intellectually satisfying specialty. I feel like I owe it to my peers in nursing, my interdisciplinary colleagues in healthcare, and my patients and families that are directly and indirectly affected by my practice to stay informed on the cutting edge of what is changing in oncology care. My professional membership in the Oncology Nursing Society has supported my learning and advancement during all phases of my career and I feel especially grateful and humble to have joined the ONS staff with the hope of supporting and contributing in a meaningful way to other oncology nurses, wherever they are along their nursing journey.”
A huge thank you to all that this team has done over the past year. We are looking forward to this year’s ONS Bridge, if you have not yet registered, there is still time to join us for cutting-edge content and the opportunity to network with your peers in real-time. Register now.