Talking Sense About Head and Neck Cancer-What you Need to Know

Sarah Hope Kagan, PhD, RN, FAAN is currently the Lucy Walker Honorary Term Professor of Gerontological Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.

Background:

Sarah H. Kagan is the Lucy Walker Honorary Term Professor of Gerontological Nursing at Penn and holds clinical appointments in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology: Head and Neck Surgery and in the Penn Center for Human Appearance. She is Adjunct Professor at the American University of Armenia, Visiting Professor at the Oxford Brookes University Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, and Honorary Professor in the Department of Community Medicine, University of Hong Kong. Dr. Kagan’s education and training includes a bachelor of arts in behavioral science from the University of Chicago, a bachelor of science in nursing from Rush University, and a master’s degree in gerontological nursing and a PhD from the University of California San Francisco. (insert MORE here)

Since arriving at the University of Pennsylvania in 1994, Dr. Kagan’s has developed an educational focus in undergraduate nursing education.  She currently directs the University of Pennsylvania Undergraduate Nursing Honors Program and two clinically-based undergraduate international exchange programs in nursing – one in the United Kingdom and one in Australia. In addition, Dr. Kagan teaches short term study abroad for the University of Pennsylvania in partnership with the University of Hong Kong School of Public Health. She also maintains an active program of clinical scholarship and practice in geriatric oncology which serves as a wellspring for her undergraduate pedagogy and anchors her understanding of the nurse-patient relationship and nursing care.

Dr. Kagan’s work is acknowledged nationally and internationally as innovative, sophisticated and clinically relevant. She is a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and the American Academy of Nursing. Dr. Kagan has held numerous visiting professorships at many notable institutions nationally and internationally. Among the awards she has received for her practice, research, and teaching are the Sigma Theta Tau International Founders Award for Excellence in Nursing Practice and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship.

Overview:

This show addresses the following issues

• Recognizing that, while rare in the US, head and neck cancer is something for which people at risk should be screened
• Understanding that, as with other most cancers, head and neck cancer treatment has advanced rapidly in the past few years so people diagnosed with such cancer should seek out the best possible care.
• Knowing that there is a great deal of support available for people with head and neck cancer available through treating hospitals and in the community.

3 Key Points:

1. Head and neck cancers are possible. You want a primary care nurse or doctor who talks with you about whether you have risks and screens you for cancer appropriately
2. If you are diagnosed with a head and neck cancer, it may change how you feel about yourself – how you feel you look or speak. It’s really important to know that there are many resources to optimize your treatment and to help you feel like yourself.
3. Whether you have head and neck cancer, another cancer, or any health needs, it is really helpful to have doctors and nurses and other team members who know you as a person and whom you can trust. Tell them about yourself and what’s important to you.