The Elephant in the Room is Cancer. Tea is the Relief Conversation Provides.
The mission of the AYA POWER program is to provide oncology trainees with high-yield education and resources to improve care delivery and outcomes for all adolescents and young adults (AYAs) diagnosed with cancer.
The goals of the program are:
To provide accessible, high-yield AYA education to increase oncology providers’ knowledge and comfort in caring for AYAs with cancer.
To enhance provider awareness of the gaps in care and outcomes for AYAs with cancer.
To improve AYA patient care by educating oncology providers on the unique needs of AYA cancer patients and survivors.
Season Three of AYA POWER comes at a time when oncology providers are navigating growing complexity, limited resources, and widening gaps in care. This season invites participants to reflect on the challenges facing AYA cancer care today—and to be part of shaping what comes next. Together, with guidance from experts across disciplines, we’ll explore how to move forward as a community committed to progress, equity, and better outcomes for AYAs.
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This session gives health care providers across all disciplines a practical introduction to the financial and legal landscape of AYA cancer care, with tangible takeaways to bring back to patients and caregivers.
This session will review what is known about the epidemiology of end-of-life communication for adolescents and young adults with cancer, including when conversations tend to take place and what topics are addressed.
What does survivorship actually look like for young adults today? This candid conversation centers real experiences and expert insight to examine current gaps, progress, and future priorities for meaningfully improving AYA survivorship.
This session will include practical tips for inquiry and communication about sexual health, as well as strategies for assessing common problems, and delivering helpful intervention.
This presentation discusses interviews with community-based and nonprofit psychosocial support programs in the U.S. and Canada examining program leaders’ perspectives on why AYA participation remains low despite substantial unmet need
This presentation attends to the unique challenges and opportunities in the psychosocial domains of AYA cancer care.
Oregon Health and Science University
MD Anderson Cancer Center
University of Michigan
Universitiy of Maryland
Dana Farber Cancer Institute
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children's Hospital
Triage Cancer
The Cancer Network
University of Michigan
Brand Director: Elephants and Tea
Executive Director - Steven G. Cancer Foundation
This session will share results from the One Herd Initiative, an integrative and innovative way of using content, stories, and community to better understand and effectively address health disparities in access to care for the medically underserved.
Presented by Mike Roth, MD This talk will provide an overview of recent advances in AYA cancer clinical trials, with a focus on cross-network and
Presented by Susan Parsons, MD The session will provide an overview of the problems that have interfered with cancer care for AYAs and provide insights
This session will review why narrative medicine and reflective writing are important tenants of caring for AYAs, as well as Dr. Venkataraman’s personal experiences with writing and patient care.
This session will focus on the importance of discussing the risk for infertility and fertility preservation options with AYA patients and provide various strategies and techniques for these conversations.
This session will focus on both the challenges and benefits of communication with AYAs in the context of illness and how it can significantly influence emotional well-being and overall quality of life.
University of Chicago
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Elephants and Tea
University of Utah and Huntsman Cancer Institue
Tufts University School of Medicine and Tufts Medical Center
University of Rochester
Dana Farber Cancer Institute
This session will focus on: (1) describing the prevalence of some of these common psychosocial needs and, (2) discussing strategies for providing effective support to those AYAs who most need our care.
Managing the financial costs and associated challenges of cancer care and survivorship for AYAs is critical. This session will provide real life examples of financial toxicity to illustrate the importance of assessing and advocating for your patients from the start.
This session will focus on 7 core domains of high quality care and will discuss these areas and ways to support patient-centered care in each domain
This session will focus on data regarding substance use and abuse in oncology patients and survivors, the importance of addressing substance use in oncology, and how to address these topics with patients.
This presentation on Best Practices in Pediatric, Adolescent, and Young Adult Oncofertility seeks to present strategies to improve outcomes for this population with an equity lens.
This presentation will include how to communicate with AYAs about sexual health, nuts and bolts for how to identify and assess common problems, and practical strategies for helpful intervention.
Oregon Health and Science University
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Dana Farber Cancer Institute
The University of Colorado School of Medicine and Children's Hospital Colorado
Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children's Hospital
Emory University and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
Wake Forest University School of Medicine
In 2021, the AYA Oncology Education Working Group was established to assess gaps in the AYA-O education provided to oncology trainees and develop educational interventions to address these knowledge gaps. The group included both pediatric and medical oncologists who practice at academic institutions and are active members of national oncology organizations. A needs assessment of pediatric and adult fellows and program directors was completed and found that 85% of programs lack a formal AYA curriculum, and nearly 50% of respondents reported little/no AYA topic specific education. AYA-O POWER aims to target this gap by providing live virtual lectures, as well as an online resource with additional educational materials and articles. We have partnered with the non-profit Elephants and Tea, who are helping organize and manage the program. Elephants and Tea’s commitment to improving AYA survivorship, their growth over their four years of existence within hospitals, and always wanting to tackle tough topics was the reason the AYA Oncology Education Working Group approached Elephants and Tea. Together, these two organizations look to break down barriers and ensure there is better education and resources for the oncology workforce for treating and understanding AYA’s facing cancer.
