Oncology Nurse Combines Expertise and Compassion

Katrina exemplifies extraordinary compassion, expertise and helpfulness in every aspect of her practice. She is a deeply skilled clinician in GI and GYN oncology, as well as early-phase clinical trials, but what truly distinguishes her is the way she pairs that expertise with unwavering kindness and a genuine commitment to patient-centered care. In addition, she is an absolute joy to work with in clinic and on the inpatient floors.

Katrina's career at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) reflects both breadth and depth of experience. She started her career at MSKCC as a floor nurse in bone marrow transplant. After almost two years, she transitioned to an outpatient practice nurse position in GYN medical oncology, working with multiple highly regarded physicians, many of whom she remains close with to this day. She held this position for 12 years and witnessed the evolution of the service.

After graduating with her master's degree in nursing and becoming a certified nurse practitioner, she accepted a position on the inpatient GYN Medical Oncology (GMO) hospitalist medicine team, where she and I became teammates. As an inpatient advanced practice provider (APP), she impressed me with how easily she was able to establish rapport, even with the most disgruntled of patients. She was a master at procedures, able to easily insert nasogastric tubes and perform paracenteses. After three years inpatient, she moved to Westchester, transitioning to a GI oncology and Early Drug Development hybrid position alongside Jim Harding. I precepted Katrina for her role in clinical trials, though to be honest, she was educating me frequently during the process given her experience and knowledge base. We remain teammates and colleagues in Early Drug Development today.

Across every role, she has demonstrated an exceptional ability to build trust with patients and families, even in moments of fear, frustration or uncertainty. Her compassion is not performative; it is steady, intuitive and profoundly felt by those she cares for. I have watched her de-escalate tense situations with grace, sit with patients through difficult news, and advocate fiercely for their comfort and dignity. Her current collaborating physician, Jim Harding, frequently jokes that patients no longer want to see him and request Katrina only. They feel safe and cared for during their visits, and her clinical acumen and experience give her an exceptional knowledge base for patient and caregiver education.

Her clinical expertise is equally remarkable. Whether performing procedures on the inpatient service or managing the complexities of first-in-human phase 1 and 2 trials, Katrina approaches each task with precision, confidence and humility. Due to her vast and varied experience, familiarity with many differing chemotherapies and disease processes, and her overall friendly and helpful demeanor, she is frequently the clinician our nursing team and advanced practice providers reach out to for discussion of rare treatment side effect management and to discuss differential diagnoses. She is, without a doubt, our nursing team's favorite NP to work with. She educates us all with clinical pearls and hilarious yet pertinent anecdotes in every clinic. Her willingness to teach, always with patience, humor and clarity, has made her an indispensable resource to our entire team.

In addition to being an expert in the fields of GI and GYN malignancies, she has developed an incredibly unique set of skills as a clinical trials nurse practitioner. She cares for patients on first-in-human phase 1 and 2 studies of the service. These trials are among the most complex studies in the institution, with multiple long-day visits that require coordination of investigational product dispensing and administration, adverse event assessment, pharmacokinetic blood draws, and multiple additional protocol-defined tests and assessments. Katrina handles these visits deftly and with confidence. She practices essentially independently in Westchester, managing multiple patients on a large portfolio of clinical trials at our busy satellite office. She has become intimately involved in helping run our clinical trials, participating in both sponsor and primary investigator calls, as well as site initiation visits. She has strengthened workflows, improved scheduling systems, contributed to research initiatives, and helped shape the education of nurses, nurse practitioner fellows and new clinical trials providers. She consistently steps in where she is needed, often without being asked, and always with the goal of improving patient care.

During a recent period of significant understaffing within our clinical trials program, Katrina's compassion and helpfulness were on full display. Without hesitation, she volunteered to cover additional shifts, absorb extra patient visits and take on complex protocol-driven tasks to ensure that no patient's care was compromised. She checked in with the team constantly, not out of obligation but out of genuine concern for her colleagues' well-being and workload. Her presence was grounding during a stressful time; she offered her time, expertise and energy freely, often staying late to help others complete assessments or troubleshoot urgent issues. Her willingness to step in wherever she was needed exemplifies the selflessness and teamwork that define extraordinary oncology nursing.

Katrina has taken on multiple projects, collaborating with nurses, APPs, physicians and administration. I have had the pleasure of working with her on multiple department-based projects. The first was addressing the utilization of APPs within early-phase clinical trials. We submitted our preliminary abstract for poster presentation at JADPRO and were selected to present in fall 2023. We are continuing to collect data on how the utilization of APPs has improved outcomes for our patients using a model of independent practice, and we plan to publish in 2026. This past year, we collaborated on a project to decrease time to review of EKGs for clinical significance, ultimately decreasing patient treatment delays and expediting cardiac workups when necessary. We presented our findings at a poster presentation this past fall at JADPRO Live in Maryland.

Katrina was also instrumental in revamping the Clinical Trials APP Orientation program, giving multiple lectures on toxicity and management in targeted therapy and immunotherapy. Her lectures are not only full of clinical pearls and knowledge she obtained through years of experience, but also her trademark humor, keeping even the most routine of topics engaging for learners. She also works with APP fellows, educating on clinical trials and research best practices. She was also approached to work on a committee for an APP Clinical Trials CME Symposium to form a curriculum for clinical trials APPs, both internally and externally, and create a certification program. The inaugural Clinical Trials Symposium occurred in May 2025, where Katrina served as a facilitator and planning committee member.

In summary, patients adore her, colleagues rely on her, and our clinical trials program is stronger because of her. Katrina embodies the compassion, expertise and helpfulness that define excellence in oncology nursing. She is integral not only to the care of our patients, but also to the scientific foundation that is pushing the oncology treatment landscape forward. It is thus with great pleasure that I write this recommendation for Katrina. She has developed a sophisticated set of clinical abilities and expertise that is truly unique and benefits our patients and staff at MSKCC. She is an outstanding clinician, both within our institution and arguably around the world. Please consider her as an exceptional candidate for the Extraordinary Healer Award.

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