title: Smart Choices for Cancer Education Professional Development: Your Voice and Visibility for Leadership.
abstract: The purpose of this article is to provide reflections about the important and exciting opportunities for cancer education career advancement and professional development. Advancement in professional, personal, and career growth for clinicians and health professionals is critical to improve quality cancer care and updated health communication with patients and families. Valuable insights from my recent 2-year term as treasurer, Board of Directors, Cancer Patient Education Network, are shared inspiring others to build their rewarding professional development. The professional leadership opportunity gave me a new energy level to be invested in rapidly changing cancer education with so many diverse cancer education professionals. Professional cancer education associations are dedicated to advancing patient-centered care through professional networks. They create welcoming environments with significant networking and mentoring opportunities. Cancer education touches many lives, and the cancer education associations strongly support new advances. I encourage early or mid-career cancer education professionals to discover how their increased interest may spark leadership and inspire participation in our cancer education professional associations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, MSC 3HLS, College of Health and Social Services, New Mexico State University, P.O. Box 30001, Las Cruces, NM, 88003, USA. ckratzke@nmsu.edu.
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-4264-4563
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kratzke
mesh_terms: D002755:Choice Behavior; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing / Q000379:methods*; D004517:Education, Professional / Q000379:methods*; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000193:education*; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control*