Education Standing Committee

Nikki Dean

Incoming Chair

Nikki Dean is a highly experienced clinician with over 15 years dedicated to Cancer Nursing, with amassing expertise in Haematology, Transplantation and Clinical Trials across both inpatient and ambulatory settings. Nikki is currently working as a Clinical Nurse Educator within the Academic Nursing Unit at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.  Prior to this role, Nikki was a Practice Development Nurse, where her focus was on both the development of nursing practice within the Haematology setting as well as the professional development of Nurses. 

Nikki is deeply passionate about the development of the Cancer Nursing workforce and is focused on ensuring that Nurses are appropriately prepared to deliver patient care that is both safe and of high quality, anticipating and managing the complex needs of people with a cancer diagnosis. Nikki has completed post-graduate studies in Cancer and Palliative Care Nursing.

Lindsay Adriaansen

Lindsay Adriaansen was the Nurse Educator for Western Australia Country Health Services. She has over ten years of experience working as a Cancer Nurse both across oncology and hematology (medical, surgical, and radiation) settings, in a variety of leadership roles including education, program management, and strategic development. Lindsay has completed her Master of Nursing with a specialisation in leadership, change management, and adult education. 

Lindsay is passionate about providing high-quality person-centred care to patients affected by cancer, with a particular interest in addressing the inequalities that our more vulnerable patients face. She has a keen interest in the development of cancer nurses to ensure they are equipped to deliver safe high-quality care. 

Suzanne Bishaw

Suzanne Bishaw is currently an academic in the School of Nursing at Curtin University in Perth. Suzanne has 20 years of experience in cancer nursing as a registered nurse, nurse manager and nurse educator. She has worked predominately in Northern Territory, Queensland, United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Whilst in the UAE Suzanne was a founding member of the Emirates Oncology Nursing Society.

Suzanne has spent the last 10 years in cancer nurse education and is interested in cultural care especially at end of life. Her research has explored the experiences of expatriate nurses in the UAE providing end of life care to Muslim patients. Her PhD will explore what are the interactions that nurses providing care in the context of a life-limiting illness have to happen to create a transpersonal caring relationship. Suzanne is a member of the CNSA Education Standing Committee and Chair of the ISNCC Conference Management Committee, member of the ISNCC Membership Development Committee.  

Erin Shooter

Erin Shooter is the Cancer Nurse Educator for the Central Adelaide Local Health Network and has 17 years’ experience as a Registered Nurse within the Cancer program. Her career started in the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at the Royal Adelaide Hospital where she has worked in a variety of roles such as associate nurse unit manager, student facilitator and clinical practice consultant across Oncology and Haematology and more recently she established the clinical educator role within the Enterprise Data and Information team for SA Health. 

Erin is passionate about the development of the cancer nursing workforce to ensure nurses are equipped to deliver patient care that is safe and of high quality whilst managing the complex needs of people with a cancer diagnosis. She is committed to the challenges of nurse education in designing and delivering relevant and timely education to cancer nurses in this continually evolving area.

She is committed to and strongly believes that as nurses, we never stop learning.

Gillian Kruss

Gill currently works in two cancer care roles. She has worked as the breast cancer nurse practitioner at Monash Health since 2015 and as the Chief Clinical Lead for Education for the McGrath Foundation for over 5 years. She has completed post graduate diplomas in gerontology nursing and in oncology/ palliative care nursing; a Masters of Nurse Practitioner and is currently undertaking a post graduate certificate in Health Professionals Education at Monash University. Gill has a special interest in empowering nurses through professional development and is involved in designing and curating pedagogical initiatives aimed at enhancing the knowledge, skills and confidence of cancer nurses. She facilitates a national metastatic breast cancer nursing education program, led the development and research of a cancer nurse practitioner mentoring program and mentors oncology nurse practitioners and cancer care nurses around Australia.