Duke University School of Nursing, The Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center, Department of Neurosurgery
Durham, North Carolina, United States
Dr. Affronti is a clinical professor and assistant dean of the Doctor of Nursing Practice Program at the Duke School of Nursing. She was an oncology advanced practice provider (APP) for ~40 years and is the SNO board member representative for Allied Health. As a primary/co-investigator, she leads practice teams to conduct significant therapeutic/supportive research projects in brain tumor populations, and symptom management. She obtained her doctorate from the Duke School of Nursing (DUSON) and Masters in Clinical Research from Duke's School of Medicine. Her research focuses on poorly controlled chemotherapy-induced nausea/vomiting (CINV) that has contributed to closing gaps in antiemetic guideline literature in patients with a glioma who are often not included in trials that establish national guidelines. She has chaired an international guideline committee and is the newly elected Vice-chair for the Multinational Association for Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC) Antiemetic Study Group. She received $2.4 million in extra-mural funding to support her position/research teams. The impact of her research is evident by >50 publications including >35 peer-reviewed, data-based articles including her doctoral project on adherence to antiemetic guidelines in patients with malignant glioma that was cited in the 2016 CINV New England of Journal of Medicine Review, as an effective US strategy for adherence to antiemetic guidelines.
She is an American Academy of Nursing Fellow and the Oncology and Adult Gerontology Nurse Practitioner (AGNP) Director for DUSON’s #1 2023-4 US AGNP Program. She is the recipient of the 2018 Southern Nursing Research Society Clinical Researcher Award, 2019 Duke Palliative Care Advocacy Award and 2020 Great 100 North Carolina Nurses. Dr. Affronti was invited as Guest Editor for a dedicated 2018 Neuro-Oncology issue in the Seminars in Oncology Nursing Journal. She was a 2019 invited National Cancer Institute (NCI) Review Board member to evaluate the NCI’s Neuro-Oncology Branch.
