By Sarah Kuper
Deborah Kirk Walker did not grow up wanting to be an oncology nurse.
“I got out of school, I was looking for a job and a great physician agreed to mentor me,” Walker said.
But almost 20 years later, she has won one of the highest honors given by the American Cancer Society.
In January, the ACS gave Walker the Lane W. Adams Quality of Life Award for her work caring for cancer patients and advancing education in oncology care.
Walker worked for many years as an oncology nurse practitioner before transitioning to a teaching role at the UAB School of Nursing.
“I realized when I got into it, I hadn’t had a foundation for oncology in nursing school,” she said.
Walker said she believes caring for patients with cancer requires specific education.
“Cancer touches people in so many ways, whether we get it or friends or family get it,” she said. “Sometimes people don’t have someone who knows how to respond, but as nurses we have opportunity to be those people.”
Walker’s father died from metastatic melanoma in 2008 only six weeks after his diagnosis.
Walker initiated development of the oncology nurse practitioner subspecialty track at the UAB School of Nursing. She currently is the coordinator as well as an associate professor.
She said she tends to focus her teaching on the psycho-social aspect of cancer patient care.
“We need to understand what patients feel and deal with when they go home,” she said.
Walker and her students developed an app that helps cancer patients find local resources to support them through cancer treatment.
Walker said she believes nurses can improve a patient’s quality of life even beyond medical measures.
Along with five other cancer care professionals from around the country, Walker received the Lane W. Adams Quality of Life award at a ceremony in Atlanta.
“I was humbled and honored to receive the award. I didn’t know it but two of my patients wrote letters of support and that meant a lot.”
Walker said she learns a lot from her patients and her students and she hopes she has been able to help them on their journey to heal and help others as well.
In addition to her work at UAB, Walker is furthering oncology care internationally by teaching and advocating in Malawi.
She has been back and forth to the African nation for several years either on her own dime or through grants and sponsorships. She hopes to return this year.