A Gift to Patients
“I don’t know how some patients managed before this program,” said Anita McCray, a nurse navigator for patients referred to UVA Health’s Gynecologic Oncology clinic.
McCray talks to hundreds of women referred to her department each month for diagnostic and therapeutic services. Some turn out not to have cancer, some have highly treatable types, and some need urgent, complex treatment including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. According to McCray, almost all are bewildered if not terrified at the outset.
“They’ll get a call from someone who says, ‘You have (or may have) cancer, and you need to get to UVA.’ Often, I’m the first person to explain what’s really going on,” she said.
As a member of UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Nurse Navigator (NN) program, McCray provides customized care coordination, patient education, assistance in reducing barriers to care, and psychosocial support to anyone referred to her department. She used to be a “hands-on” oncology nurse, administering chemotherapy and immunotherapy, educating patients about their surgeries, and providing wound care as needed. Now, she spends most of her day on the phone, using her skills and wisdom to put patients at ease.
McCray can understand a patient’s likely treatment and prognosis just by reading their record. With this clinical knowledge, she can prepare each person, both logistically and emotionally, for what’s coming. McCray usually has a list of at least six to seven newly referred patients to contact every day. She calls each one, offering expert guidance for their first appointment. In addition to translating clinical complexities, she ensures they have access to transportation—many will travel 50 or more miles to Charlottesville for care—and that they know what to expect when they arrive.
“Many patients will say things like, ‘I’m so glad you called me. You relieved a lot of my fears.’ Or I’ll say, ‘Do you have any questions for me?’ And they’ll say, ‘No, you covered all the questions I had,’” said McCray.
It’s clear McCray helps calm referred patients’ understandable anxiety, but she knows they’ll have many more questions and concerns in the future. Now, thanks to an anonymous donor, she’ll be there to answer them. The gift has provided resources to hire a second NN in Gynecologic Oncology and, later, to support hiring a second NN to assist patients with gastrointestinal cancers.
With two on board in her department, McCray and her new colleague can remain with assigned patients throughout their cancer journeys. “We’ll be able to call patients after their surgeries to see how they’re doing post-op. We can check in with them after each round of chemo. If they’re having issues with nutrition or mental health, we can address those things. It’s really going to help them feel like they are being cared for,” said McCray.
A New Standard in Cancer Care
Providing patients with a single point of contact for care coordination has become a widespread practice in modern healthcare; however, UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center is taking it a step further by offering patients customized support based on their disease type. In 2025, the center implemented the first phase of its new NN program, assigning at least one NN to each cancer treatment area (head and neck, lung, breast, etc.). Like McCray, these NNs reach out to every patient referred to their area.
“We’ve achieved our goal of contacting patients within 72 hours of referral and making sure they’re seen in our clinic within 14 days,” said Catherine Terrell, MSN, who oversees the NN program as the director of clinical operations at the Emily Couric Clinical Cancer Center in Charlottesville. “Moreover, the NN program has already improved the time to treatment by at least 20% over our baseline.”
Last June, the center began rolling out phase two of the program, which aims to add enough NNs in each disease area to enable them to stay with patients throughout the active phase of treatment and even beyond. A second NN has already been added to Head and Neck Oncology, Breast Oncology, and UVA Health’s cancer clinic in Augusta County. Thanks to a generous donor, Gynecologic Oncology is next.
Philanthropy has been vital to the timely expansion of the NN program. Charitable support expedites hiring for new positions that would otherwise be challenging to fund. Once established, having NNs across the continuum of care produces downstream effects, including reduced healthcare costs, that render these positions self-sustaining.
“It facilitates getting patients in for follow-up sooner, reducing complications. When patients get the help they need when they need it, it decreases hospital admissions and emergency department visits,” said Terrell.
Care Beyond Medicine
“The continuity of navigation and support allows us to better treat the whole person, not just the disease,” said Lee Ann Johnson, PhD, one of the two NNs in Head and Neck Oncology.
Johnson, who was a faculty researcher at UVA School of Nursing before joining the NN team, was instrumental in implementing the program’s use of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s Distress Thermometer, an evidence-based tool for regularly assessing a patient’s distress across physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and practical domains. This information empowers NNs to intervene and connect patients with the resources to improve their quality of life.
“My mother, who never smoked, died of lung cancer in rural Arkansas. Without access to consistent support, she suffered from unnecessary confusion, fear, and pain,” Johnson said.
Johnson now helps patients overcome highly individualized challenges that compromise their ability to fight and recover from cancer or live as normally as possible while they do.
“I’ve had patients with every possible social determinant of health working against them or someone who just wants help finding resources to improve sexual functioning,” said Johnson.
“Even when the focus shifts from a curative intent to a quality-of-life intent, we can add value as oncology nurses,” said Terrell. “My dream is to staff the NN program so it can meet the holistic needs of our growing patient population from diagnosis through treatment, survivorship, and, when necessary, end-of-life care.”
To learn how you can support patient care initiatives like the Nurse Navigator program, contact the UVA Health Development Cancer Programs team at uvacancercenter@virginia.edu or call 434-924-1871.