Fighting for Patients, Processes and Education

I would like to nominate Ashley Tullio, RN, for the Extraordinary Healer Award for Oncology Nursing. She has been an instrumental part of the melanoma clinic at the University of Colorado Cancer Center. She started as a clinic nurse, and in that role she improved the experience of all our patients.

From the beginning, she worked tirelessly, often later in the evening than she was supposed to. She would check in on patients even on the weekend when there were unexpected complications. She was ravenous to learn about melanoma at all of its stages and subtypes. She was eager to learn about the “new” therapies we had at that time (the immune checkpoint inhibitors) and the emerging toxicities now recognized as immune-related toxicities.

When she first started, she read the published clinical trials that led to the clinical approvals of Yervoy (ipilimumab), Opdivo (nivolumab), Keytruda (pembrolizumab) and the combination of Yervoy and Opdivo on her own. She registered for online educational webinars and was constantly and earnestly learning and reading as much as she could.

All the while, she bonded easily with patients and became their go-to person as they went through the expected stages of shock, fear, anxiety and acceptance of being diagnosed with melanoma. She was a fierce advocate for patients and made sure they received as many resources as possible. 

She was promoted to charge nurse, and in that role, she continued to serve as a patient advocate but also fought to improve the work experience for all of the clinic staff. She also improved some of the processes in place with our clinical research staff to ensure there was still nursing involvement in patient assessments and care for patients on clinical trials. She has started a new position as our tumor infiltrating lymphocyte therapy coordinator. This is a therapy approach that was recently approved and does not have a systematic process in place. She has been involved in creating and refining our program and developing patient education. She has been instrumental in getting our program off the ground. Countless patients have expressed their gratitude for the compassion and empathy Ashley has provided.

She is highly respected by her peers and colleagues. As a provider, I have depended on her insights to ensure we meet and exceed the needs of our patients. Ashley is a nurse who gives more than she gets back every day. She goes above and beyond and is tireless in trying to improve the daily experience for patients, family members and staff.

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