Established in 1987, the NCRA Awards Program highlights outstanding contributions to the cancer registry profession and the association.
ALEXANDRIA, VA, UNITED STATES, June 21, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ — The National Cancer Registrars Association (NCRA) acknowledged three exceptional members at its Annual Educational Conference in San Diego, CA during the Recognition & Celebration Reception on May 9, 2023. Janet Reynolds, BA, CTR received the Distinguished Member Award; Sara Biese, RHIT, CTR, was honored with the Educational Achievement Award; and Andrea Sipin-Baliwas, MS, CTR was presented with the Volunteer Excellence Award. Established in 1987, the NCRA Awards Program highlights outstanding contributions to the cancer registry profession and the association.
Janet Reynolds, BA, CTR — Distinguished Member Award
The recipient of the 2023 NCRA Distinguished Member Award is Janet Reynolds, BA, CTR. The Distinguished Member Award is given to a member who has made significant contributions to our profession through their activities as an NCRA volunteer, leader, speaker and educator, as well as their professional and state-level activities.
Reynolds has been active in NCRA for many years. Currently she is in the first year of a two-year appointment as Nominating Committee Chair. She is also currently; the Liaison to Cancer PathCHART, a member of the Program Committee and the Policy and Procedure Committee, a member of the AJCC lower GI expert panel and a member of the NCRA-UCSF Workload Study Advisory Group. In the past this member has been President of NCRA, Recruitment & Retention Director, Treasurer Junior & Treasurer Senior (twice), Program Committee Chair, CTR Name Change Taskforce, Liaison to High Level Strategic Group, Nominating Committee member, and GPEC member and Chair. She was also an associate editor of the Data Collection and Abstraction chapters of Cancer Registry Management Principles and Practice for Hospitals and Central Registries, 4th Edition.
Reynolds has also been quite active in her state organization, the Texas Tumor Registrars Association. Her past positions include: Board of Trustees member; Program Committee member; 2nd VP/Publications; Parliamentarian and Program Committee co-chair; Program Committee Chair; Liaison to Texas Medical Association and consultant to Committee on Cancer; Immediate Past President, Board of Trustees Chair; President; President-elect/ Membership Chair; Secretary/ Nominating Chair; 1st VP/ Education Chair; Treasurer; and Program Committee Chair.
Sara Biese, RHIT, CTR— Educational Achievement Award
The Educational Achievement Award honors an NCRA member for significant contributions to cancer registry education. Sara Biese, RHIT, CTR has dedicated her entire career to the Cancer Registry profession and has been a CTR for over 20 years. She is currently the Director of the Cancer Information Management Program at Southwest Wisconsin Technical College with over 20 years of extensive knowledge and enthusiasm for all NCRA initiatives and cancer registry activities.
With the assistance of the Wisconsin Cancer Reporting System (WCRS) Task Force, Biese was instrumental with the implementation of the Cancer Information Management Program being offered at SWTC in 2014. She developed the CIM course curriculum for the program. This curriculum resulted in 76 graduates for the years 2016 – 2021. A significant number of those eligible have accomplished taking the NCRA Certified Tumor Registrars exam, with an overall passing rate of 86%.
She has also served as the instructor for the Fundamentals of Abstracting Workshop since 2013 in conjunction with NCRA Annual Conference. This hands-on workshop provides interactive exercises using patient cases to help new registrars focus on quality abstracting. She has also been active on NCRA’s Education Foundation Board since 2012, serving as Chair since 2015.
Andrea Sipin-Baliwas, MS, CTR — Volunteer Excellence Award
Andrea Sipin-Baliwas, MS, CTR is the recipient of the 2023 NCRA Volunteer Excellence Award. She serves in several volunteer roles for NCRA, including the Council on Certification, the JRM Editorial Board, the CTR Rename Task Force Legal Subgroup. She also serves as NAACCR’s Professional Development Steering Committee Co-Chair and Mentorship Workgroup Co-Chair and as the California Cancer Registrars Association Education Co-Chair.
Sipin-Baliwas developed the first fully virtual practicum program with the Los Angeles Cancer Surveillance Program in 2020 and administers the program annually. She has graduated fifteen students to date, three hired as full-time CTRs by the California Cancer Registry. Eight passed their CTR exams, seven are sitting for the exam this year.
Sipin-Baliwas has also instituted a partnership with a local community hospital to co-train CIM students preparing for their CTR exam. She is part of the California Cancer Registry Education Training Coordinators Group, hosts an annual educational symposium for LA County CTRs and the larger CA/US CTR community, and fosters learning through other continuing education opportunities for new and seasoned CSP/LA County CTRs.
During the awards ceremony, NCRA also acknowledged the winners of the Journal of Registry Management’s 2022 Best Paper awards competition. The Case of the Missing 2020 Cancers: Using Claims Data to Investigate a Deficit in Incident Cancer Case Reports to the New York State Cancer Registry in 2020 claimed top prize as the Best Paper Award winner. It was authored by Xiuling Zhang, PhD; Margaret Gates Kuliszewski, ScD; Amy R. Kahn, MS; and Maria J. Schymura, PhD. An Honorable Mention award was presented to Quinn Ostrom, PhD, MPH; Carol Kruchko, BA; Corey Neff, MPH; Albert Firth, BA; and Recinda Sherman, MPH, PhD, CTR for their article, The Central Brain Tumor Registry of the United States Histopathological Grouping Scheme Provides Clinically Relevant Brain and Other Central Nervous System Categories for Cancer Registry Data.
To learn more about NCRA’s awards program, go to www.ncra-usa.org/awards.
About the National Cancer Registrars Association (NCRA)
NCRA is a non-profit organization that represents over 6,500 cancer registry professionals and Certified Tumor Registrars. The mission of NCRA is to empower and advance registry professionals through innovations in education, advocacy, credentialing, and strategic partnerships. Cancer registrars are data information specialists that capture a complete history, diagnosis, treatment, and health status for every cancer patient in the U.S. The data provide essential information to researchers, healthcare providers, and public health officials to better monitor and advance cancer treatments, conduct research, and improve cancer prevention and screening programs. For more information about NCRA, visit www.ncra-usa.org and www.CancerRegistryEducation.org.
Lauren Martella
National Cancer Registry Association
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