Deborah K. Mayer

Deborah K. Mayer, PhD, RN, AOCN, FAAN is an advanced practice oncology nurse (ANP-BC) who has consulted with organizations on issues to improve cancer care and has over 40 years of cancer nursing practice, education, research, and management experience. Dr. Mayer earned a PhD from the University of Utah, her MSN from Yale University, her BSN from Excelsior College, her Nurse Practitioner Certificate from the University of Maryland, and her diploma from Pennsylvania Hospital School of Nursing.

Dr. Mayer is past president of the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS), was a member of the National Cancer Institute’s National Cancer Advisory Board (a Presidential appointment) and Board of Scientific Advisors. Dr. Mayer was elected as a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. She is active in ONS and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). She served as the Editor for the ONS’ Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing (CJON) from 2007-2015 and has published over 150 articles, book chapters and editorials on cancer related issues. She was awarded the ONS Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015 and, in 2016, was appointed as the only nurse to Vice President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot Blue Ribbon Panel. In 2018, she began her role as Interim Director of the Office of Cancer Survivorship with the National Cancer Institute’s Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences.

Dr. Mayer is on faculty at the School of Nursing at UNC and is the UNC Lineberger Director of Cancer Survivorship. Her program of research focuses on the issues facing cancer survivors and improving cancer care. She has a clinical practice working with breast cancer survivors. As a nurse who works “frontline” with cancer survivors, and as a cancer survivor herself, she brings a unique perspective to her clinical, research and health policy collaborations with cancer survivors and advocates, primary care providers, cancer specialists and researchers.