Congratulations to the new SGNO Board Members!

PRESIDENT

 

Dana DeMoss, APN

Dana DeMoss is the SGNO Education Committee Chairperson.  She earned her Master of Science of Nursing with a focus on Women’s Health from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1996. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of New York. She currently is a Nurse Practitioner at Tennessee Oncology in the Gynecologic Oncolgy division. She has given numerous podium presentations including a presentation for SGNO in Las Vegas in 2011 and for the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) in Nashville in 2013 and 2016.

VICE PRESIDENT & PROGRAM CHAIR

 

Leigh Minchew, DNP, RN, WHNP-BC, PMHNP-BC, SANE

Dr. Leigh Minchew is an Associate Professor of Nursing at the University of South Alabama College of Nursing in Mobile, Alabama. She earned her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Nursing from Troy University and post-graduate certificates in women’s health and psychiatric mental health advanced practice with a subspecialty in oncology from the University of South Alabama. She obtained her Doctor of Nursing Practice from Case Western Reserve University and is currently enrolled in Texas Woman’s University’s DNP-PhD Bridge program. Dr. Minchew maintains an active faculty practice providing survivorship care to gynecologic oncology patients at the USA Health Mitchell Cancer Institute in Mobile where her research focuses on the psychological impact of cancer among women. She has published on women’s health topics and presented nationally. Among her honors, Dr. Minchew counts being a fellow of the Duke-Johnson & Johnson Nurse Leadership Program and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s Elevating Leaders in Academic Nursing, being appointed by Alabama Governor Kay Ivey to the Alabama Office of Women’s Health’s Steering Committee where she serves as Chair, her academic teaching awards, and her recent nomination as a Sigma Theta Tau International Rising Star of Research and Scholarship at Texas Woman’s University as her most coveted.

Dr. Minchew currently serves as a board member of the Society of Gynecologic Nurse Oncologists where she has held roles as 1st and 2nd Vice President/Program Chair and Member at Large. She has also served her academic and professional communities as a USA College of Nursing Faculty Senator for the university; Vice President of the Alabama State Nurses District 4; and as a board member for the Bay Area Nurse Practitioner Association along the upper Gulf Coast region.  She is an active member of the Oncology Nurses Society, American Holistic Nurses Association, Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association, American Association of Nurse Practitioners, Nursing Network on Violence Against Women International, International Association of Forensic Nurses, National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health; Association of Women’s Health, Obstetrics and Neonatal Nursing, and the American Psychiatric Nurses Association.

TREASURER

 

Michele Walther, BSN, MSN, RN, OCN

Michele has been an RN for 22 years with the last 17 focusing on oncology, particularly gynecologic oncology. She is chemotherapy/immunotherapy certified and holds her OCN. She has been a member of SGNO since 2006 and has served 3 years on the Board of Directors before becoming the Secretary/Treasurer Elect in 2009. She has continued in this position alternating with Secretary/Treasurer since then. She is comfortable dealing with finances and handling SGNO's yearly taxes. 

She been with SGNO through the ups and downs of good years and bad and particularly during the Covid years. She believes it is a special organization that fulfills an important role in educating, sharing and networking with our peers and would like to continue doing her small part to enable this organization to thrive and turn over the reins to the next generation. 

Amy Brown, MSN, MA, RN, OCN

Amy is the nurse manager of the inpatient GYN/GYN-Oncology unit at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.  Amy has been a proud member of SGNO since 2010 and served as the SGNO President from 2015 to 2018.  

Kelly Crayton, MSN, RN, NE-BC

My career started at Baylor University Medical Center – Dallas in 2000 as an associate degree RN. Successfully completed my BSN and MSN in nursing administration. My entire career has been in women’s health as I started on post-partum/newborn nursery and successfully transitioned to labor & delivery and high risk antepartum. 

In 2010, I made my decision to transition to the women’s health unit, providing care to Gyn/Onc, Uro/Gyn and other benign women’s surgical procedures. In 2014, I was promoted to the nurse manager position on a 24-bed surgical oncology unit with a focus on women’s health. I currently manage 38 RNs and 15 unlicensed personnel.

Member of SGNO for 6 years and served as the 2nd vice president/program chair for the 2019 SGNO Symposium held in Dallas Fort Worth.

Kim Thistlewaite, BSN, RN, OCN

Kim Thistlewaite earned her BSN from St. Joseph’s College in Standish, Maine in 2017, ADN from University of Maine at Augusta in Augusta, Maine in 1998.  Obtained Oncology Certification from Oncology Nursing Society in 2011 and continues to maintain certification.  She has spent the majority of her nursing career specializing in oncology. She has 18 years of hematology/oncology experience and 2 years of Gynecologic Oncology experience. 

From 2009-2010 she served as vice president of Lakes Region Oncology Nursing Society Chapter. Kim has been a member of SGNO since March 2021.  Kim held a leadership role for Hem/Onc, Breast Health and Infusion Therapy Services at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center for 4 years before transferring back to patient care. She  is currently an RN at Maine Medical Partners Gynecologic Oncology Practice in Scarborough, Maine.

 Lauren Willard, MSN, RN, OCN

Lauren Willard is a Nurse Director in Medical Oncology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA. She has been a member of SGNO for 15yrs and has held various positions on the SGNO Board of Directors. She is passionate about Gyn Oncology and think it’s important to continue to educate nurses about the intricacies of caring for this special population of women.

 Sarah Eder Infantino, MHSA, RN, OCN


Sarah is currently the Patient Service Manager for women’s inpatient oncology.  She manages a 28 bed unit in a large teaching hospital with primarily gynecology oncology patients, but with some medical oncology and surgical oncology overflow.  She is also the co-chair of the rewards and recognition committee and sits on the radiation committee, the infection control committee, and is a disaster liaison.

Previous Experience Pertinent to Office Being Sought: She began her nursing career as a bedside nurse in gynecology oncology and has served as the nursing educator and assistant manager of that unit.  She has also had experience as a gyn/onc practice RN and a case manager in urological oncology while charge nurse in a busy outpatient multispecialty clinic.  She has sat on the board for The Diaper Bank of CT as well as The Jewish Federation.   

SGNO Activities/Involvement: She presented at the SGNO Symposium in 2011 and 2018 and was the Program Chair in 2020.