Speakers
Plenary Sessions
As cancer treatments evolve rapidly, nurses require timely, practical education to safely deliver care and advocate for equity across diverse settings. This plenary focuses on how nursing knowledge, the Nursing Equity Assessment Tool (NEAT), and digital innovation are essential to ensuring novel therapies translate into better patient outcomes rather than increased risk.
Sessions will explore the application of NEAT as a structured approach to identifying inequities and unmet needs in cancer care, alongside nurse-led digital monitoring and early intervention models. The plenary will also examine the nursing implications of emerging therapies such as antibody-drug conjugates and bispecific antibodies, with a strong focus on toxicity recognition, escalation pathways, and patient education. Together, these sessions reinforce the critical role of cancer nurses in preventing harm, reducing unplanned admissions, and ensuring patients can safely and equitably access cutting-edge treatments, regardless of where they receive care.
Professor Mei Krishnasamy PhD, FAAN, is Professor of Cancer Nursing at the University of Melbourne, Research and Education Lead for Nursing at the VCCC Alliance and, Honorary Research Fellow in the Centre for Health Services Research at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. She is an internationally recognised cancer nurse-researcher who has built a leading program of consumer-informed cancer supportive care research that has been translated into health policy. Her work is defined by a commitment to addressing equitable access to cancer care, with particular focus on older people and those with poor outcome cancers. In2018, Mei was awarded lifetime membership of the Cancer Nurses Society of Australia (CNSA) for servicesto cancer nursing and in July 2022, was inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. She hasauthored or co‐authored successful competitive research grants totalling AU$38.3M and has published over 120 peer-reviewed papers. She is past President of the Cancer Nurses Society of Australia and the Clinical Oncology Society of Australia.