Cindy Murray, NP

Shannon Nixon, DN NP

CMH-NP Conference Co-Chair
Nurse Practitioner, Malignant Hematology

Shannon Nixon is a Nurse Practitioner with the Complex Malignant Hematology program at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, Ontario. She has over 20 years experience caring for patients with acute leukemia and complex lymphomas. She has recently completed the Doctor of Nursing program at the University of Toronto, where her thesis identified strategies to support interprofessional collaboration in complex malignant hematology shared-care programs and enable safe, effective care closer to home. Her continued research interests focus on health systems, implementation science, and the evaluation of innovative models of care to improve access, quality, and outcomes for patients with hematologic malignancies.

Dior Caruso MN-NP Adult, CHPCN(C)

Nurse Practitioner
Complex Malignant Hematology – Myeloma Program
Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
Toronto, ON

Dior Caruso is a Nurse Practitioner in the Multiple Myeloma Program at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. She completed the Master of Nursing Nurse Practitioner program at the University of Toronto and has over 10 years of experience working as an oncology nurse. Her current role focuses on providing care in an outpatient clinic to patients with multiple myeloma and other plasma cell disorders within the complex malignant hematology setting. She also holds a certification in palliative care and has a special interest in health advocacy.

Sheena Heslip – ACNP, MN, BSN

Director of the Adult Care Nurse Practitioner Concentration
Malignant Hematology NP Jewish General Hospital
Montréal, Québec

Sheena earned her undergraduate degree from Thompson Rivers University in 2003 and completed her master’s and acute adult nurse practitioner program at the University of Toronto in 2017. She became one of Quebec’s first NPs with an Adult Care Nurse Practitioner designation.
She works in malignant hematology at the Jewish General Hospital, managing complex patients both inpatient and outpatient. Interested in AML, she helped develop a database and outpatient clinic for acute myeloid leukemia and is involved in research on palliative care conversations for hematological malignancies, recently presenting findings at ASH. Her ongoing focus is improving goals-of-care discussions and clarifying palliative care for acute leukemia patients.
In 2022, Sheena was appointed assistant director for McGill’s adult care NP concentration and became director in 2025, where she developed a theory on nurse practitioner clinical reasoning.

Kayla Madsen, MN, NP-C, CON(C)

Specialty Nurse Practitioner
Cell Therapy & Transplant Program
Adjunct Lecturer
University of Toronto, Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing
Toronto, ON

Kayla Madsen is an experienced Nurse Practitioner with 15 years of specialized expertise in hematology and allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Over the course of her career, Kayla has worked in both inpatient and outpatient settings across Canada, contributing her skills to prominent healthcare institutions such as Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto and QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax. She has been published in leading academic journals for her research on post-transplant complications and management, aiming to improve patient outcomes. In her current role, she is responsible for the acute and long-term management of allogeneic and autologous transplants, as well as CAR T-cell therapy.

Jessica Rebeiro, MN, NP, CON(C)

Nurse Practitioner, Malignant Hematology
Juravinski Hospital
Hamilton, ON

Jessica Rebeiro has spent the entirety of her nursing career in malignant hematology over the past 14 years. She first began as an oncology nurse at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. She completed the Master of Nursing Nurse Practitioner program at the University of Toronto. She went on to complete the first Ron and Nancy Clark Nurse Practitioner Fellowship in Hematology, and has now been a Nurse Practitioner within the Malignant Hematology program at Juravinski Hospital for almost 6 years. She has experience within the inpatient and outpatient acute leukemia, allogeneic and autologous stem cell transplant, and cellular therapy programs.

Christina Zeglinski MN, RN(EC), AGNP

Acute Care Nurse Practitioner
Medical Oncology and Malignant Hematology
Adjunct Lecturer, Lawrence Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing,
University of Toronto
Practice Based Researcher, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute,
Unity Health
Toronto, ON

Christina Zeglinski is a Nurse Practitioner (NP) with 15 years of hematology oncology experience. The bulk of her career has been in the Autologous Stem Cell Transplant (ASCT) and Immune Effector Cell (IEC) Program at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (PM). During that time she co-developed both the outpatient ASCT and CAR T programs which are both NP-led programs. More recently, she transitioned to the community setting and currently works at St. Josephs Health Centre in both malignant hematology and medical oncology.

Christina actively holds an academic appointment as an Adjunct Lecturer at the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing at the University of Toronto as well as a Practice Based Researcher appointment at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at Unity Health. She is currently the primary investigator of a research study which aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS) multimodal nursing educational program in a community hospital setting.

Matthew Ades, M.D., C.M., MHPE, FRCPC

Assistant Professor, McGill University
Division of General Internal Medicine, Jewish General Hospital
Montreal, QC

Dr. Matthew Ades obtained his MD from McGill University in 2018. He completed a three-year Internal Medicine residency at the Jewish General Hospital, followed by a two-year General Internal Medicine fellowship at McGill University, which he completed in June 2023. He subsequently completed a clinical fellowship in Vascular & Thrombosis Medicine at McMaster University in 2024.

Dr. Ades also holds a Master’s degree in Health Professions Education from the University of Ottawa. He currently serves as Director of the Cardiovascular Prevention Centre and Program Director of the AFC Thrombosis Training Program at McGill University. His clinical and academic focus is on atherothromboembolic and polyvascular disease, with an emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration to develop integrated vascular medicine and arterial thrombosis care pathways.

Nicola Farnell, RN(EC), MN, CCHNC

Nurse Practitioner
Mount Sinai Fertility
Toronto, ON

Nicola Farnell is a Nurse Practitioner at Mount Sinai Fertility and an Adjunct Lecturer at Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing. She is also a CIINDE-Certified Holistic Nurse Coach (CCHNC). She completed her Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Masters of Nursing and Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Program at University of Toronto. Her areas of clinical speciality include oncofertility, elective egg freezing and fertility care for gender diverse individuals”

Inna Gong, MD, PhD, FRCPC

Hematologist, Clinician Investigator
Assistant Professor, Division of Medical Oncology and Hematology
Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
University of Toronto

Inna Gong is a Hematologist and a Clinician Investigator and Assistant Professor at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre within the Lymphoma and Cellular Therapy group. Her research interests include outcomes research, biomarker discovery for cellular therapy, and designing biomarker-driven trials.

Charlotte Holmgren NP, MSc, BScN

Nurse Practitioner, Complex Malignant Hematology
Kingston Health Sciences Centre
Kingston, ON

Charlotte Holmgren is an experienced nurse practitioner with over ten years of experience, with a specialization in Complex Malignant Hematology at Kingston Health Sciences Centre. She holds a Master of Science and a Nurse Practitioner Diploma from Queen’s University, where she has also contributed as a lecturer and preceptor to nurse practitioner students. Charlotte’s clinical expertise spans acute leukemia, complex lymphomas, and multiple myeloma, providing care in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Additionally, she plays a key role in the autologous stem cell transplant, and CAR T Cell therapy programs.

Leah Jodoin, MN – NP

Nurse Practitioner, Malignant Hematology
Cancer Centre of Southeastern Ontario
Kingston, ON

Leah Jodoin is a Nurse Practitioner at the Cancer Centre of Southeastern Ontario in Kingston. She has over 20 years of oncology nursing experience, including previous clinical roles at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and St. Michael’s Hospital. She specializes in the care of patients with plasma cell disorders, with a clinical focus on multiple myeloma and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS). She has presented nationally on the development and implementation of an NP-led MGUS clinic and has contributed to peer-reviewed publications and educational initiatives, including co-developing an accredited Queen’s University continuing professional development course and accompanying patient guide on multiple myeloma immunotherapy. Her professional interests include innovative models of care, quality improvement, and education to improve outcomes for patients with plasma cell disorders.

Monica Lauriola MN-NP

Palliative Care Service – Nurse Practitioner
Adjunct Lecturer, Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto
St. Joseph’s Health Centre, Unity Health Toronto
Toronto, ON

Monica Lauriola is a Nurse Practitioner in the Palliative Medicine Program at Unity Health Toronto – St. Joseph’s Health Centre. She helped lead the development and establishment of the Outpatient Palliative Care and Symptom Improvement Clinic at St. Joseph’s Health Centre, which launched in August 2024. Her clinical work focuses on symptom management, advance care planning, and supporting patients with complex and life-limiting illness across care settings. Monica is passionate about advancing early palliative care integration and fostering compassionate, patient-centred approaches to care.

Rachel LeBlanc, MN, NP-C, CON(C)

Specialty Nurse Practitioner
NS Cell Therapy & Transplant Program
Halifax, NS

Rachel has over a decade of nursing experience working with hematology, stem cell transplant, and cell therapy patients across the country, including Edmonton, Toronto, and Halifax. She obtained her Oncology Nursing Certification in 2017 and received her Master of Nursing (Nurse Practitioner) from U of T in 2021. She began her NP career at the Princess Margaret Cancer Center and returned home to Halifax in 2022, where she began working as the first NP in Atlantic Canada with CAR T-cell therapy patients, in addition to autologous and allogeneic transplant patients as part of the Nova Scotia Cell Therapy and Transplant Program (CTTP).

Kirsten Lewis MN-NP CON(C)

Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
Toronto, ON

Kirsten Lewis is a Nurse Practitioner in the Complex Malignant Hematology program at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (PMCC). Bringing two decades of specialized oncology nursing experience to her practice, Kirsten possesses a diverse clinical background including pediatric and adult oncology, radiation medicine, and advanced malignant hematology. She started her career in the oncology program at Sick Kids before transitioning to radiation medicine at PMCC. She then completed the Masters of Nursing and Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Program at University of Toronto. In her current NP role in the malignant hematology day unit she provides care to patients with acute leukemia, myeloid neoplasms and lymphoma. She is the NP in the Lymphoma Rapid Diagnostic Clinic, supporting patients to obtain timely and efficient diagnosis of lymphoma. Her strategic initiatives include leading the design and implementation of a virtual clinic for malignant hematology patients, as well as championing frameworks to enhance continuing education for oncology nurse practitioners across PMCC.

Kaushika Patel MN-NP Adult

Nurse Practitioner, Complex Malignant Hematology – Leukemia Program
Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
Toronto, ON

Kaushika Patel has been practicing as a Nurse Practitioner in complex malignant hematology for the past seven years. She completed a Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Queen’s University and subsequently earned a Master of Nursing degree from the University of Toronto. Prior to becoming a Nurse Practitioner, she gained seven years of experience as a critical care nurse.
She began her Nurse Practitioner career at Juravinski Hospital, where she had the opportunity to work in both inpatient and outpatient settings, managing patients undergoing treatment for acute leukemia, allogeneic and autologous stem cell transplantation, and cellular therapies. After five years, she transitioned to the inpatient leukemia program at the Princess Margaret Hospital.
Kaushika also serves as a clinical preceptor for the University of Toronto Bloomberg School of Nursing and is passionate about mentoring novice Nurse Practitioners.