Zarek Mena, OPN-CG

She / Her

Zarek is a seasoned navigator with 17 years of expertise in the field of navigation. Zarek has first hand experience as a Stage IV cancer survivor, a caregiver, and a patient navigator. Zarek was instrumental in the creation, program implementation, and accreditation of the breast center at Norwalk Hospital Nuvance Health. She is currently a Financial Patient Navigator at SHARE | Support for Women's Cancers. Zarek’s passion for serving the under-represented and historically excluded communities positively impacts patients by addressing various needs such as food insecurity, self-image due to hair loss (cold capping), grant funding, screening and prevention, integrative medicine, and financial toxicity. Her firsthand experience as a stage 4 colon cancer survivor, caregiver, and knowledgeable navigation professional provides much-needed representation in the field of patient navigation and health equity. Zarek’s professional activities include: being on the Leadership Committee of The Academy of Oncology Nurse & Patient Navigators (AONN+), Zarek facilitates the AONN+ Connecticut Patient Navigation Network (CTPNN), and co-facilitates the Oncology Patient Navigator-Virtual Network (OPN-VN). She contributes to the LNN Development and Conference Planning. She was recently appointed as a member of the American Cancer Society National Navigation Roundtable (ACS NNRT) Steering Committee. 

Jess Quiring, BS, OPN-CG, CN-BA, CDP

She / Her

Jess has over a decade in oncology navigation and cancer center programming. Jess and her late husband, Ken (diagnosed with a sarcoma - GIST), experienced patient navigation services when Ken was a patient at New Mexico Oncology Hematology Consultants and Dana Farber Cancer Institute. This personal experience ignited a passion to help others in the same way. Jess’s education and background in cancer care began as a tumor registrar, member of the cancer committee, and managing cancer registry liaison for the breast program leader and breast committee at Olathe Medical Center. In 2015, Jess became a patient navigator for the American Cancer Society working to eliminate barriers to treatment for cancer patients across the state of New Mexico with a focus on rural and underserved populations. NMOHC recruited Jess to develop, implement, and oversee a patient navigation and support program. During her tenure at NMOHC, navigation initiatives concentrated on direct patient support, removing barriers to care, developing culturally appropriate depression and anxiety screening tools to support Native American cancer patients, grant funding initiatives/management, collaborating with community programs to provide on-site support for patients, creating education programs such as a new patient orientation, and developing caregiver support programming that included supporting the children and teens of adult cancer patients. Jess has a BS in Health Care Coordination from Arizona State University and is a Health Equity MPH Candidate at Boston University. Jess’s professional activities include being the Executive Chair of the New Mexico Cancer Council, Co-facilitator of the AONN+ Oncology Patient Navigator-Virtual Network (OPN-VN), Exam Writing Committee member for the AONN+ Foundation for Learning Oncology Patient Navigator-Certified Generalist (OPN-CG) navigation certification, participant of the National Navigation Round Table Policy Committee, Cancer Services of New Mexico - Family Cancer Retreat: SeniorProgram Developer/Coordinator - Teen Program.