The recipient of the Henry B. Spencer Scholarship is Kelly Preti, a board-certified Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner who has worked with the oncologic population in New York, NY for the past 8 years. Kelly is currently pursuing her Doctor of Nursing Practice/Master of Business Administration at Johns Hopkins University to advance both her clinical and operational skills. Kelly is also an ONCC Oncology Certified Nurse and ANCC Board-Certified Pain Management Nurse. Within her advanced degree, Kelly specializes in “Healthcare Management, Innovation, and Technology” and “Public and Private Sector Leadership”.

Kelly is committed to providing high-quality, evidence-based care, effective communication with patients and staff, and innovative and sustainable solutions. She plans to lead as a clinician, educator, and executive within the healthcare community, and give back to the nursing and nurse practitioner professions by mentoring, empowering, and collaborating with other healthcare professionals to continue advancing the field and improving practice.

Currently Kelly is the course director for the World Academy of Pain Medicine United (WAPMU) for the Advanced Practice Provider (APP) course, and serves in various leadership and mentor roles within her organization. Kelly has led numerous quality improvement, evidence-based practice, and research projects and disseminated her work at national and international conferences. Her areas of expertise include standardizing urine drug testing in the oncologic pain population, assessing clinician burnout, educating staff on bereavement practices, utilizing virtual reality to treat acute pain and anxiety, implementing nonpharmacologic modalities to treat cancer pain, and promoting multidisciplinary management of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy.

Kelly would like to express her sincere gratitude to NEF and Henry Spencer for their generous support, which has helped significantly in the pursuit of her academic and professional goals: obtaining her Doctor of Nursing Practice/ Master of Business Administration dual degree and advancing her clinical, operational, and leadership skills.