REPRESENTATIVES-AT-LARGE

The following individuals have been nominated to run for the office of Representative-at-Large. Individuals in these roles serve as primary liaison officers between NAACCR committees, the Board, and cancer registries to facilitate the exchange of information and the organization of projects.

Isaac Hands

Curriculum Vitae

Organization: Kentucky Cancer Registry

Number of years working in central/regional cancer registry: 10

Current position and a brief description of duties:

Lead Software Architect, Kentucky Cancer Registry

I lead the software development efforts of the Kentucky Cancer Registry and assist in managing informatics operations, providing technical leadership, and designing data infrastructure at the Kentucky Cancer Registry and the UK Markey Cancer Center Research Informatics Core. I oversee the software development, database and network operations, and customer support of the state-wide cancer patient data management system in use at all hospital facilities in KY and the statewide SEER/NPCR central cancer registry software.

Thoughts regarding the direction NAACCR should be moving towards and the goals the organization should be striving to attain:

The NAACCR organization must strive to maintain its leadership role as the caretaker and integrator of several critically important data standards, while protecting the cancer registry community from overambitious changes to coding standards that may not hold up over time. NAACCR must also continue to lead the adoption of novel informatics methods, standards, and technologies where they will have the most meaningful impact, while helping central cancer registries make sense of the shifting technology landscape and focusing their limited resources on the right priorities.

Past NAACCR position(s):

(Current) Representative-at-Large, NAACCR Board of Directors
(Current) Chair, NAACCR XML Data Exchange Workgroup
Chair, NAACCR XML Task Force
Co-Chair, NAACCR Clinical Data Workgroup

Monique N. Hernandez

Curriculum Vitae

Organization: Florida Cancer Data System

Number of years working in central/regional cancer registry: 10

Current position and a brief description of duties:

I am currently the Meaningful Use Manager and work with physicians to meet their requirements for EHR reporting. I am also tasked with working on special projects, such as monograph reports, special studies, and linkage projects. I have served as the CER manager for Florida under the NPCR 3 year program.

Thoughts regarding the direction NAACCR should be moving towards and the goals the organization should be striving to attain:

The most pressing issue has been the delays and changes to program and reporting standards that affect reporters and central cancer registries. Providing support to these communities is of timely and critical importance. I also feel that a focus on recruitment and leadership building is essential for the future of the organization and cancer surveillance field.

Past NAACCR position(s):

Member of the Survival Analysis Work Group
Member and co-chair of the Physician Reporting Work Group

Deborah Hurley

Curriculum Vitae

Organization: SC Central Cancer Registry SC DHEC

Number of years working in central/regional cancer registry: 13

Current position and a brief description of duties:

I am the new Director of the SCCCR, after spending almost 13 years as Asst. Director. In addition to administrative duties (managing staff and grant activities), I oversee all data use and data reporting activities. I also serve as the primary statistician and epidemiologist.

Thoughts regarding the direction NAACCR should be moving towards and the goals the organization should be striving to attain:

I think that NAACCR should continue to adapt to both the challenges and the progress made in the ever-evolving realm of electronic data collection, data standards, and data use. We should continue to work with our partners on data standardization to achieve a goal of attaining a well-balanced program of parsimonious data items that are useful for both surveillance and research. Although I truly believe that cancer registry data is the gold standard for health surveillance data, currently collected in public health, there is always room for improvement. We need to continue to maintain a balance of core values while embracing critical feedback and swift adaptation to incorporate processes that support our goals and expand our capacity for a high quality surveillance system and the ability to use data for research to make sure that we are able to continue to monitor cancer trends, produce reliable statistics and data to assist with cancer prevention and control.

Past NAACCR position(s):

Co-chair: Survival Analysis Work Group (SAWG)
Member: National Death Index (NDI) Work Group

Lorraine Shack

Curriculum Vitae

See Lorraine’s Introduction Video

Organization: Surveillance & Reporting, Cancer Research & Analytics, CancerControl Alberta, Alberta Health Services, Alberta, Canada

Number of years working in central/regional cancer registry: 14

Current position and a brief description of duties:

Scientific Director, Surveillance & Reporting.

Provide direction, development, process improvement and strategic input to planning, operations and research development. Direct team which monitors of cancer control programs in early detection, patient treatment and care, and research. Provide recommendations and guidance to leadership based on analytics information available to leadership. Ensure Alberta is included in provincial, national and international reporting and implications are accurately reflected. Completed the AHS Executive Education Training (Jan – June 2018).

Thoughts regarding the direction NAACCR should be moving towards and the goals the organization should be striving to attain:

To maintain the highest quality cancer registry data by facilitating comparisons and use of the information. Learning from each other and collaborating are key to this.

Past NAACCR position(s):

Survival taskforce – 2014-2016, disbanded.
Research and Data Use committee, member, 2018- current

Kevin Ward

Curriculum Vitae

Organization: Georgia Cancer Registry

Number of years working in central/regional cancer registry: 21

Current position and a brief description of duties:

I am a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. I am also the Director of the Georgia Center for Cancer Statistics and the PI of the National Cancer Institute’s Georgia Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Registry

Thoughts regarding the direction NAACCR should be moving towards and the goals the organization should be striving to attain:

Population-based cancer registries have long been an invaluable resource for local cancer prevention and control activities. To maximize the likelihood of sustained funding moving forward, registries must expand the utilization of their data to provide continual return on the investment that has been made.

I believe that NAACCR can continue to play a front-line role in helping registries to collectively achieve the above objective. The Virtual Pooled Registry is a prime example of one such activity and the transition to the more flexible XML data structure is yet another. With the help of thought leaders across the surveillance community, NAACCR can and should, in my belief, expand their role in this important endeavor.

I also strongly believe that NAACCR should strive to remain a leading advocate for all of its member registries, helping the surveillance community ensure that policies are followed and timelines are adhered to as it relates to activities that can affect registry data quality. It is only through the collection of high-quality data that we can continue to engage partners to utilize our important registry data.

Finally, I believe that NAACCR can expand its role in helping registries with tools to both evaluate the quality and completeness of their own registry data and to support the creation of research ready datasets at the local registry level (especially for registries with limited staff and resources).

Past NAACCR position(s):

• Data Evaluation and Certification Committee
• Case Completeness Task Force
• Research and Data Use Steering Committee
• Professional Development Steering Committee
• Program Committee
• Strategic Planning Oversight Committee
• Survival Analysis Workgroup

Sponsoring Member Representative

The following individual has been nominated to run for the office of Treasurer. This individual will serve as the primary (non-staff) fiscal officer of NAACCR. This role will Chair the NAACCR Finance and Personnel Subcommittee among other Board duties.

Maria Schymura

Curriculum Vitae

Organization: New York State Cancer Registry

Number of years working in central/regional cancer registry: 24

Current position and a brief description of duties:

Director, Bureau of Cancer Epidemiology and Director of the New York State Cancer Registry (NYSCR). Responsible for all aspects of the NYSCR including scientific, administrative and personnel. Set priorities for system development and improvement, quality assurance, data utilization and research. Review all applications for use of confidential cancer data. Collaborate with researchers both within and outside the Department of Health. Contribute to the Department’s planning activities for cancer control. Prepare briefing materials for Health Department administrators and legislators. Respond to inquiries from the press, researchers and the public. Give presentations on the Cancer Registry and on cancer related topics to professional and community groups. Prepare grant applications, program objectives and expenditure plans. Serve on the faculty of the School of Public Health, University at Albany.

Thoughts regarding the direction NAACCR should be moving towards and the goals the organization should be striving to attain:

There’s a wealth of expertise, knowledge, motivation and commitment in the Registry Community. I see NAACCR’s main role as facilitating the sharing of information, so that we can all benefit from the initiative of our members. In this time of rapidly evolving health information technology and personalized medicine, it is critical that NAACCR help our members stay abreast of developments in these fields, ensure interoperability of cancer registry standards, and help registries to adapt to the changing landscape and difficult budgetary times by adopting more innovative, efficient and cost-effective procedures.

I believe that NAACCR should continue working collaboratively with its members and other standard setters. In particular, NAACCR should: foster communication among state, provincial, national and international cancer organizations; increase its committee membership to include a broader segment of the registry community; continue to set standards for data quality and registry operations; keep its membership apprised of and prepared for upcoming changes; and continue to develop educational materials and best-practice guidelines.

Most importantly, NAACCR should not lose sight of the fact that it represents central cancer registries.

Past NAACCR position(s):

NAACCR Board: Representative-at-Large, 6/2002-6/2006; Treasurer, 6/2007-6/2008; President-Elect,
6/2008-6/2009; President, 6/2009-6/2011; Past-President, 6/2011-6/2012; Treasurer, 2017-present;
NAACCR liaison to the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC), 9/2012-9/2017;
North American Representative to the Executive Board of the International Association of Cancer Registries 2012-16;
Research and Data Use Steering Committee, 3/2013-present.
Research Application Review Work Group, 2013-present.
Numerous other work groups.