The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has named Laura LaNiel Tenner, M.D., M.P.H. a Health Policy Leadership Development Program Fellow for 2019-2020. Dr. Tenner is a medical oncologist and assistant professor at the Mays Cancer Center, home to UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center.
During her fellowship, Dr. Tenner will participate in ASCO efforts to shape cancer-related policies that directly affect individuals with cancer and the oncology practice environment.
ASCO’s Health Policy Leadership Development Program launched in 2016 to build policy and leadership expertise among the society’s members and volunteers. Fellows receive practical experience working with ASCO policy and advocacy staff and policy counsel in crafting policy positions and statements; training in communication, leadership, and advocacy; and a mentored project that advances an ASCO policy initiative. Fellows will also be full members of the ASCO Leadership Development Program.
Dr. Tenner’s clinical focus is gastrointestinal cancers, predominantly liver, gastric and colorectal cancers. She also has specialized training in ethics in oncology and population sciences research, with a specific focus in health care systems and cancer care improvement.
“The populations research we continue to do at the cancer center allows us to identify areas of system breakdown and disparities,” said Dr. Tenner. “Through ASCO’s Health Policy Leadership Development Program, I look forward to developing the skills I need to start to develop solutions to these deficiencies and become a more effective advocate for changes to the system.”
Dr. Tenner obtained her medical degree at Texas A&M College of Medicine and completed her fellowship in medical oncology at Indiana University. She spent much of her early career studying health care systems and policy, not just in the United States, but also in Canada and England. She obtained a Master of Public Health with a focus in policy. She now directs two pharmacy and therapeutics committees for two major health systems in San Antonio, and is extensively involved in the populations work at her cancer center on disparities in care and health systems barriers.