Women's Health and Cancer Conference

Support During Cancer: Understanding and Navigating Patient Resources

Kristie is a health coach at the UVM Cancer Center. She specializes in supporting education around nutrition, exercise, and other healthy lifestyle behaviors.

Spirituality and the Healing Journey

Patricia Fontaine, MACP

With masters in Counseling Psychology and Transformative Language Arts, Patricia Fontaine has been facilitating workshops for many years. As someone with a complex cancer story, she is particularly interested in art and writing as a creative refuge for those living with cancer. She recently self-published a book of cancer poems, Lifting My Shirt, and two collections of student work, Healing Art & Writing: Using Creativity To Meet Illness.

Nina Thompson founded the Wake Up to Dying Project in 2012 to encourage people to think and to talk about death, dying and life, using art, story, and opportunities to engage. When the Project ended she moved to the Vermont Ethics Network as the Community Outreach Coordinator. In that role, she expanded advance care planning awareness and education for the general public across the state. Nina completed the Foundations in Buddhist Contemplative Care certificate program at the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care in 2014 and is currently enrolled in the Clinical Pastoral Education program at UVM Medical Center. She has worked as a chaplain for UVM Health Network Home Health and Hospice, and as a volunteer chaplain at Gifford Hospital in Randolph, Vermont. Nina also consults with organizations working in the death awareness movement. She brings 20+years of entrepreneurial and business-consulting experience to her work. She is experienced in community organizing, project management, event production and organizational development. Nina draws her passion and capacity for this work from her experience founding and managing the Wake Up to Dying Project, hospice and chaplaincy work, and her Zen meditation practice. 

1.3: Phthalates are Everywhere – But Do They Cause Breast Cancer?

Thomas Ahern, PhD, MPH is an Assistant Professor of Surgical Research in the Department of Biochemistry. He earned his PhD in epidemiology from the Boston University School of Public Health and trained in cancer epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. His research addresses the impact of common prescription drugs on breast cancer risk and survival, and how genetic factors and tumor molecular profiles modify associations between drug therapies and breast cancer outcomes.

Dr. Jasra is a new hematology/oncology fellow at the UVM Cancer Center.

PROVIDER TRACK: Cardiac Complications of Cancer Care

Peter van Buren, MD

 Dr. Van Buren is the director of the Cardiovascular Care Unit and the Heart Failure Program at the UVM Medical Center.  He is a tenured Associate Professor in Medicine and in Molecular Physiology and Biophysics at the Larner College of Medicine. His research interests are focused on the fundamental mechanisms of cardiac contractile function.

Integrative Cancer Care: Lifestyle Approaches

Dr. Fossati provides integrative medicine and preventive health consultations to patients by referral at the UVMCON Appletree Bay Faculty Practice. Previously a cardiologist, she became interested in helping her patients make lifestyle changes to promote their optimal health and well-being, leading her to adjust her career path. Her areas of expertise include integrative nutrition and lifestyle counseling, stress management and resiliency training, and the safe and effective use of herbal medicines and supplements to complement her patients' conventional medical care.

Thyroid Cancer: Environmental Factors and Research at UVM

Dr. Carr is a Professor of Pharmacology at UVM College of Medicine and UVM Cancer Center. She is internationally known for her research on thyroid function and thyroid cancer, and is currently studying the effects of exposure to low levels of common environmental toxins or endocrine-disrupting chemicals on thyroid function in normal development as well as the possible role in thyroid cancer.

Wellness Coaching in Cancer Survivorship: Mitigating Long-term Side Effects of Treatment

Dr. Mary Lou Galantino is a Distinguished Professor of Physical Therapy at Stockton University, Galloway, NJ, where she also coordinates an interdisciplinary Holistic Health Minor. Additionally, she is an Adjunct Scholar and Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania where she conducts research on integrative medicine and chronic diseases. In her effort to integrate evidence based complementary medicine throughout rehabilitation practice, she is involved several research projects funded by NIH and private foundations such as the Impact of aerobic exercise on women with genetic predisposition to breast cancer. WISER (Women in Steady Exercise Research) Sister study; Impact of Yoga on Quality of Life and Cognition for Women Undergoing Treatment during Chemotherapy, and Effect of a Four-week Yoga Program on Persons with HIV-related Distal Sensory Polyneuropathy and the Effects of Yoga for Mild Hypertension.

Empowerment & Renewal: Survivors Share the Benefits of Exercise

Diane is a Physical Therapist at the University of Vermont Medical Center with clinical interests in General Orthopedic Rehabilitation, Oncology Rehabilitation and Pulmonary Rehabilitation. Diane has been a practicing therapist for over 39 years. She is dedicated to helping people maximize their abilities and attain their goals. She has strongly supported the UVM Medical Center Cancer Rehabilitation Program, Steps to Wellness since the programs’ inception in 2011.

Lucian joined UVM Medical Center’s Oncology & Hematology Rehabilitation program, Steps to Wellness in 2018 as a rehabilitation exercise trainer.  He leads exercise and movement training of the program participants before, during and post-cancer treatment. Lucian holds certifications as a Personal Trainer, Exercise Therapy Specialist, Group Fitness Instructor, and Emergency Medical Technician. Before joining the Steps to Wellness team, Lucian worked at Vermont area fitness studios/gyms as the lead trainer and group fitness instructor. Lucian has a deep-seated interest in fitness and believes that evidence-based approaches to exercise are the foundation to physical and emotional rehabilitation, performance, and longevity.  

Culinary Demonstration: Pink Ribbon Cooking

Chef Curtiss Hemm

Chef Curtiss Hemm is the founder and Executive Director of Pink Ribbon Cooking, LLC. Chef Curtiss is the former Dean of Culinary Arts and Director of Online Programs at the New England Culinary Institute. Additionally Curtiss was an instructor and program coordinator at Paul Smith's College of Arts and Science. Specializing in the artistic presentation and preparation of food, Chef Curtiss is also the author of Garde Manger: The Cold Kitchen, a contemporary culinary textbook focused on the preparation and artistic expression of charcuterie, salads, sandwiches, buffets and decorative sculptures. Chef Curtiss currently sits on the Vermont Hope Lodge Advisory Committee Council 2013 and the Vermonters Taking Action Against Cancer Quality of Life Work Group. Intimately touched by his wife's breast cancer diagnosis and the loss of her mother to lung cancer, Curtiss now channels his professional skills and time toward raising awareness and supporting organizations that are on the frontline in the fight against cancer.

Dressings, Topical Agents and Wound Care for People with Cancer

Michelle Yargeau is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy at the UVM College of Nursing and Health Sciences. She is a Certified Wound Care Specialist with the American Board of Wound Management and a member of the Academy of Electrophysiology and Wound Management with the APTA. Her clinical experience includes wound care in inpatient and outpatient settings as well as neuro rehabilitation.