Samantha Mayo, an associate professor at the Lawrence Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing has been renewed as the RBC Chair in Nursing Oncology, Research and Education, a position jointly held at the Faculty of Nursing and the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre at University Health Network (UHN).
“It is an honour to receive this renewed appointment as Chair. It reinforces the significance of my work, and the commitment of the University of Toronto and UHN to enhancing the quality of life of patients and caregivers who are affected by cancer,” says Mayo.
An alumna of Bloomberg Nursing, Mayo shares that her time at the Faculty made her realize the significant contributions nurses could have through research, and that they were uniquely positioned to lead change and improve care.
“I started here at this Faculty, it has been my home base. Both my supervisor, Professor Kelly Metcalfe, and the previous Chairholder, Professor Emerita Doris Howell, encouraged me to think critically about the experiences of people affected by cancer, and consider how we as nurses, could create a lasting and critical impact in their care,” says Mayo.
At Bloomberg Nursing, Mayo remains part of a distinguished group of donor-funded, endowed research chair holders that highlight the important role the Faculty plays in advancing research that drives innovation in care outcomes for some of the most vulnerable populations.
Following her first appointment as Chairholder in 2019, Mayo has worked to establish a multi-faceted research program that focuses on improving quality of life for hematological cancer survivors including their long-term physical and psychosocial needs. In addition, Mayo has successfully co-established and currently co-leads the Oncology Nursing Research Centre for Excellence at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. In this role, she leads programming that supports point of care and advanced practice nurses by engaging them in research and scholarship.
“The renewal of Samantha’s appointment as the RBC Chair in Nursing Oncology, Research and Education demonstrates her expertise in the field of hematological cancer care, and her unique ability to build collaborative relationships with patients, caregivers, nurses at the point of care, and doctoral students, to advance quality innovation in cancer care,” says Robyn Stremler, Dean of the Lawrence Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing.
One such innovative project Mayo is currently leading is focused on cancer related cognitive impairment, particularly among patients with brain cancer. Mayo and her research team are working to co-design an intervention with patients, caregivers, and clinical staff, that assesses and helps to manage symptoms of cognitive impairment while they are receiving care. Mayo believes that interventions such as this can be scaled up and implemented across multiple sites because it is co-designed with the workflow of clinic in mind.
“One of the challenges of health interventions is ensuring that they are sustainable. Designing the intervention directly with the people receiving care and working in brain cancer clinics will hopefully ensure its future sustainability and effectiveness,” says Mayo.
In addition to its impact on her research, Mayo credits the Chair with enabling her to expand her collaborative networks in cancer care both locally and internationally. In 2021, Mayo led a group of international collaborators on a paper exploring cancer-related cognitive impairments in patients and approaches oncology clinicians could take in identifying, assessing and managing these symptoms.
As Chairholder, Samantha has been instrumental to advancing the research capacity of nurses at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre at UHN. Her mentorship of nurses and her research expertise in hematological cancer survivorship have already had a profound impact on patients and their caregivers,” says Pam Hubley, VP Health Professions & CNE at UHN.
Mayo is also profound supporter of nursing-led research. Throughout her first term as Chairholder, Mayo worked directly with two Nurse Practitioner-led research groups who were conducting research and practice-related work to impact the care provided to people affected with blood cancers. One was a project to understand the impact of multiple myeloma and the other was to develop and evaluate a peer support intervention for young adults treated with stem cell transplant . Nurse Practitioners, Mayo says are uniquely positioned to lead changes in care and can benefit from coaching and mentorship to execute their research ideas. Mayo is grateful she is able to support advanced practice nurses who are focused on not only improve quality care in cancer care populations, but also in enhancing nursing practice more broadly.
“As Chair I look forward to continuing to mentor PhD students and nurses,” says Mayo. “I always want to encourage and inspire them to take initiative in how they approach their next research question, because they truly do have the capacity to contribute to improving our health system and the care of cancer care populations in tangible and effective ways.”