Decorated cancer researcher and educator assumes appointment today
The Ohio State University College of Nursing announced today that Diane Von Ah, PhD, RN, FAAN has earned the college’s prestigious Mildred E. Newton Endowed Professorship.
The professorship, named for the College of Nursing’s first dean/director, was established in 1966 and provides “support for the work of a distinguished teacher and scholar in nursing, nursing education and healthcare in the college.”
“Dean Newton’s legacy and impact carry forward through this important endowed professorship, and I’m thrilled that Dr. Von Ah has accepted this appointment,” said Karen Rose, PhD, RN, FGSA, FAAN, dean and professor at the College of Nursing. “Diane has dedicated her life’s work and purpose to improving the lives of cancer survivors, and how she has answered her calling to care for those survivors and their loved ones is inspiring.”
Von Ah came to Ohio State in 2021 as the college’s distinguished professor of cancer research and director of cancer research, working through the Center for Healthy Aging, Self-Management and Complex Care. In a feature article about her arrival in the Fall 2021 edition of the college’s Transformations in Nursing and Health magazine, Von Ah said she focused much of her work “on the late and long-term symptoms after cancer and cancer treatment. These symptoms appear to continue to occur after treatment has been completed and at a time in which survivors thought things should have returned to normal but have not.”
Von Ah and a team of co-investigators recently received a five-year, $2.77 million R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute (NIH/NCI) for the first national-scale test of a computerized cognitive training program against a computerized active attention control program. The ultimate goal is to help breast cancer survivors with cancer and cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI) and their clinicians identify treatment selections to manage the condition and improve quality of life.
“I’m genuinely humbled by the honor of assuming a professorship that carries Mildred Newton’s name,” said Von Ah, who also serves as co-leader of the Cancer Control Program at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, editorial board member of the NIH/NCI PDQ® Supportive and Palliative Care and treasurer of the Midwest Nursing Research Society (MNRS). “I plan to use this platform and support to enhance the efforts of my team to discover solutions to issues that impact cancer survivors and help them live their best lives following treatment.”
