THERAPEUTIC AREAS

Lisa Tushla, PhD, H(ASCP), completed her doctoral work and postdoctoral work focusing on important topics in infectious diseases—from the role of the neutrophil in mediating the response to endotoxemia to the role of defensins in mediating colonization vs infection of leg ulcer fluids. Subsequently, Lisa worked on various infectious disease projects in the areas of otitis media, intra-abdominal infections, skin surface infections, and fungal infections. Her special interest in fungal infections can be attributed to her collaborations with the MSG since 2005, when she helped launch the Front-Line Fungus project with Peter Pappas, MD.

I am honored to participate in the educational efforts of the MSGERC with Terranova Medica, LLC. The activity I chaired at IDWeek 2018 was very well done, and the enduring is packed full of knowledge and does justice to the dynamite material from the speakers.

Beyond that, I appreciate Terranova’s expertise in supporting the MSGERC’s efforts to reach out to Latin America and Asia. We have extensive experience with invasive fungal infections and antifungal therapies, and with educational and advocacy programs, we would like to help these areas with their management of these serious infections through educational means and organization of experts. Fungal infections are tough, but with partners to help we can all meet the challenges of these tough infections.

John Perfect, MD
President, Mycoses Study Group Education & Research Consortium
President, International Society for Human and Animal Mycology

The Colorado Health Network is excited to provide our patients with referrals to medical providers who are knowledgeable about HIV prevention and care. We have the tools to help your patients access and pay for prevention medications that work in stopping the spread of HIV. Please visit primarycarehivprevention.org to find out more about how we can work together to end this epidemic.

Jessica Kobylinski
Program Quality Officer, Colorado Health Network, Inc.

Can we see additional updates and content on prevention of [fungal] transmissions in ICUs, ONC, transplant units?

Participant in the 2018 IDWeek fungal symposium

Amazing.
Thanks for the excellent program!

Participants in the 2017 Fungal Frontiers enduring activity

One of our proudest accomplishments in our long-standing collaboration with AIM at Melanoma is the establishment of the Melanoma Nursing Initiative (MNI), a comprehensive resource about immunotherapies and targeted therapies created for oncology nurses and advance practice providers to assist them in caring for their patients with melanoma. The initiative was developed to meet several goals—the most pressing being the need to improve the early recognition and management of side effects associated with newer melanoma therapies, particularly in the community setting. The initiative’s website, TheMelanomaNurse.org, serves as a one-stop shop for all MNI materials. It houses the MNI consensus statements (featuring care step pathways) as published in a 7-article supplement to the Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing (CJON). The website also features a Decision-Support Tool with updated information for patients about outcomes for Stage III melanoma, long-term data for adjuvant therapies, and additional resources, including content specific for caregivers. We also released a new CME/CNE activity on BRAF/MEK inhibitor therapy for melanoma and targeted therapy decision-making in melanoma, using a case-based, interview-style format.

In 2021 we partnered with Lisa Kottschade, APRN, MSN, to create a Q&A compendium for questions about BRAF in melanoma. A downloadable pamphlet is supported by short videos addressing the most common questions patients have concerning this mutation and its impact on prognosis and treatment. We have also worked with our expert faculty to create international content, with resources on BRAF available for 8 different regions.

In 2020 we partnered with Farmworker Justice and AIM at Melanoma on a new project, ReUnidos: Farmworker Connections to Skin Cancer Care, to address social determinants of health specific to migrant and seasonal farmworkers to facilitate the timely diagnosis and treatment of skin cancer. We hope that our research will address some of the barriers to healthcare faced by farmworkers and improve skin cancer outcomes in the farmworker community.

Lisa A. Tushla, PhD, H(ASCP), has a deep history in melanoma. In her postdoctoral work at the University of Pennsylvania, she worked in collaboration with her late husband, dermatologist William P. Carey, Jr, MD, and Tom Kieber-Emmons, PhD, on melanoma clinical and animal models. With the launch of PharmAdura, LLC in 2003 (now Paradigm Medical Communications), Lisa drew on her relationships and knowledge in the field to help secure the Melanoma Care Coalition project, still ongoing at Paradigm, which also helped her attain a 2007 Alliance for CME Award for outstanding collaboration. In recent years, Lisa has dived back deep in the field of melanoma and is looking forward to expanding the collaborations to the CME arena.

Please continue [this education]. It’s excellent.

Participant in the melanoma CME/CE on aimatcancerce.org

I have been working with Terranova on melanoma projects for several years. Put simply, they “get it”– whether it’s the science, the clinical gap, or the unmet educational need for patients and clinicians. Beyond that, they have long-term and strong relationships with many of their melanoma experts, which means their collaborations go smoothly and productively.

Today, we are seeing a large shift in the management of melanoma—more than 80% of patients are being treated in the community setting, by clinical teams who manage a variety of tumors and may see relatively few melanoma cases. Added to that is the challenge of identifying and treating the side effects of the newer melanoma therapies, many of which are unique, immune-mediated, and very different from those seen with chemotherapy. As a result, there is a huge unmet educational need for clear, concise, and easy-to-access education for these busy community-based professionals.

I look forward to continuing to work with Terranova on future medical education and patient education projects!

Valerie Guild, MBA, MS
President, AIM at Melanoma Foundation

The emergence of immunotherapy (specifically the checkpoint inhibitors) as a mainstay treatment for advanced melanoma highlights the importance of nursing involvement in the care of patients on these therapies. Never before has the field witnessed such a rapidly evolving and dramatic paradigm shift in the availability of effective therapies for so many patients. While oncology nurses are thought of as experts in these areas, the toxicity associated with checkpoint inhibitors and the associated management strategies vastly differ from traditional chemotherapy.  The MNI faculty have a wealth of experience using these regimens and are in the best position to provide the expert guidance on their optimal use. That is the idea of the initiative—to empower our nursing colleagues in the community with the necessary information and tools to provide the best care possible for patients receiving immunotherapy.

Krista Rubin, MS, FNP-BC
Nurse Practitioner, Center for Melanoma, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center

The rapidly moving landscape of immuno-oncology (IO) requires a platform that can be updated frequently. Starting in 2019, we added an International Resources section to the IO Essentials Initiative website at aimwithimmunotherapy.org. Since then, we have translated materials for 8 different regions, including a series of videos for optimizing care during the COVID-19 pandemic unique to each region. Additionally, we will be releasing a series of educational videos on  COVID-19 vaccines in the near future. IO Essentials, which was launched in late 2018, encompasses resources for both oncology professionals and patients, including care step pathways and patient action plans for common immune-related adverse events (irAEs). The faculty is a group of advanced practice providers and other members of the healthcare community who have extensive knowledge about cancer immunotherapies and the specific tumor types for which they are approved. Since its launch, the IO Essentials Initiative has reached over 20,000 HCPs across its website and social media platforms and has been well received throughout the world.

To support clinical utilization of IO Essentials resources, we worked with our advanced practice provider faculty to publish a February 2020 supplement in JCO^® Oncology Practice. This CE activity uses case-based scenarios to illustrate the optimal interdisciplinary management of irAEs for physicians and other healthcare professionals involved in the care of oncology patients.

Terranova’s founder and president, Lisa A. Tushla, PhD (formerly Faltyn), founded PharmAdura, LLC (now Paradigm Medical Communications) in 2003 and was instrumental in taking the company through the accreditation process. She is the recipient of 2 Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions awards for outstanding activities, 1 in melanoma and the other in multiple myeloma. Lisa’s experience in oncology, solidified at QuestMedEd, an arm of P4 Healthcare, spans across tumor types, with a particular expertise in genitourinary cancer, hematologic malignancy, and GI cancer.

For the IO Essentials Initiative, we brought together a group of 10 faculty who have expertise in each of these tumor types, looked at the materials created for the MNI, and then tailored that content for the specific tumor types. Our team is so excited to have this comprehensive range of resources available for oncology providers.

Brianna Hoffner, MSN, AOCNP, RN
Chair, IO Essentials Initiative

The I-O Essentials is a fabulous educational resource for healthcare providers as well as patients.

Marianne Davies DNP, ACNP, AOCNP
IO Essentials melanoma expert

The Immuno-Oncology Essentials is a great resource to help guide my approach to management of immune-related adverse effects. It is also indispensable for me to have a forum where I can discuss challenging cases with other clinicians and learn from their experience!

Laura J. Zitella, MS, RN, ACNP-BC, AOCN^®
IO Essentials hematology/oncology expert

In 2019 we collaborated with AIM to develop the Skin Cancer Education and Research Foundation to create a comprehensive skin cancer portal. This patient-centered website contains sections on how to prevent skin cancer and find a specialist. It also provides specific information on the management of squamous cell skin cancer and basal cell carcinoma along with links to its companion website, the AIM at Melanoma portal. To further support patients, the skin cancer portal features an “Ask an Expert” option where patients can send questions to an advanced practice provider. In 2021, we launched a webinar series featuring “Frequently Asked Questions in Skin Cancer” which allows patients to ask experts questions about the management of nonmelanoma skin cancers and offers live Q&A sessions for on-demand access to top experts in the field of dermatology and oncology. Additionally, our Skin Cancer Info YouTube channel allows us to promote these educational videos to a wider audience, helping patients to better understand nonmelanoma skin cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.

We have also recently partnered with Farmworker Justice and AIM at Melanoma on a new project, ReUnidos: Farmworker Connections to Skin Cancer Care, to address social determinants of health specific to migrant and seasonal farmworkers as a means to facilitate the timely diagnosis and treatment of skin cancer.

The staff at Terranova have been working on dermatology and oncology for over 25 years. With extensive experience in patient education and dermatologic surgery, the team was well equipped to generate this new website.

Patients with nonmelanoma skin cancer needed a place to go for reliable information specific to their needs and a social community to connect with. We are pleased by this opportunity to make a difference in nonmelanoma skin cancer, expanding our network and resources further to fight skin cancer more globally.

Valerie Guild, MBA, SCERF

This is a great resource for patients with nonmelanoma skin cancer to learn about their diagnosis and treatment options as well as ways to prevent future skin cancers.

Laura Ferris, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Dermatology at University of Pittsburgh

Terranova is a founding member of the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Educational Alliance, a collaborative medical education partnership, and has been working with this group for more than 10 years to develop and deliver MS-related educational activities for healthcare professionals.

In February 2020, through our collaboration with the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers, we released an interactive, web-based program entitled The Art of Multiple Sclerosis Therapies: Applying Immunologic Principles that is available for CE credit for physicians, nurses, and pharmacists. This activity, which reviews the immune-pathophysiology of MS and presents recent findings on immune-reconstitution therapies, also contains downloadable patient materials to assist in the risk-benefit discussion.

Terranova Medica, LLC staff members have been active in many areas of neurology continuing education, including Alzheimer’s disease, cognitive aging, cervical dystonia, narcolepsy, sleep, and particularly, MS. UNMC CCE works closely with the course chair, Lisa A. Tushla, PhD, H(ASCP), of Terranova, a biomedical scientist who has been working on neurology educational initiatives for over 15 years. Terranova’s program director, Tom Davis, has expertise in the program management and development of MS education for over 5 years. Terranova has worked with an experienced medical writer who has extensive training in neurology.

I could not agree more about the importance of emphasizing patient education and patient empowerment as part of healthcare provider education in MS. Providers need to be able to discuss the disease and how the drugs work in simple language that patients can understand. Clinic appointments can be stressful and overwhelming. Sending the patient home with patient-friendly handouts that can be read at home and shared with family is a great way to help ensure that patients have the tools they need to fully participate in the decision-making process and the care plan.

Kirk Munsch
Patient Advocacy Manager, Rare Patient Voice