Dow Wins Award for Excellence in Education

The Oncology Nursing Society’s 2004 “Excellence in Breast Cancer Education Award” was presented April 30 to Karen Dow, professor in the School of Nursing, for her dedication to educating patients and the public about breast cancer.

For the past 27 years, Dow has had a “longstanding, consistent and stellar history in educating patients and nurses about breast cancer screening, early detection, treatment, survivorship, recurrence and quality of life,” according to Jeannine Brant, associate editor of the Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing. Brant nominated Dow for the award.

“Karen’s work in education is interwoven explicitly with clinical practice and research,” Brant said. “In order to demonstrate expertise in education, one must have a solid grounding in clinical practice and testing of ideas and interventions through research.”

Dow’s research has focused on cancer survivorship and the quality of life of survivors, including a $1.6 million funded study of 250 breast cancer survivors that is now in its third year. Two other ongoing projects are the Web-based program and study, “Fertility After Breast Cancer,” a major concern among young breast cancer survivors, and the development of WebO.N.E., an interactive, online oncology nurse education available in Japanese, Chinese, Spanish and Portuguese.

--Kathryn Podolsky