Local Oncology nurse leader exemplifies nursing’s importance

National Nurses Week, May 6 through 12, celebrates America’s most trusted profession. There are countless stories of nurses’ compassion, dedication, leadership and more among the 4 million nurses in the U.S., but one local nurse is a shining example of nursing’s scope and power.

Jessica MacIntyre, D.N.P., M.B.A., executive director for clinica operations at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of UHealth - University of Miami Health System, discovered nursing’s importance while she was in high school, when her grandmother was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer.

“Unfortunately, she passed away from the disease. But I experienced what it was to be a nurse from her perspective. The care that she received, especially towards the end of her life, was exceptional, compassionate,” MacIntyre said. The experience made such an impact on her life that she decided to become a nurse. “Of course, my goal was to be part of finding a cure for cancer,” she said.

Today, MacIntyre is making an impact on cancer care in a big way. She is a leader at Sylvester, one of the nation’s National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer centers, and she was recently selected to sit on the Board of the Oncology Nursing Society, the country’s largest oncology nursing organization.

MacIntyre started her nursing career in 2000 after graduating from the University of Miami. Her goal was to work with cancer patients and her dream was to provide that care at Sylvester. But to work at the academic-based cancer center, MacIntyre would first have to get two years’ experience at a community hospital in Miami, where she worked at the bedside with cancer patients.

She started at Sylvester in 2022 as a hospital nurse, knowing that was only her beginning. “Sylvester is where the cutting-edge research is taking place, and I wanted to be part of that,” MacIntyre said.

Her nursing specialty, which is to care for patients with one of the deadliest cancer types, pancreatic cancer, took shape soon after she arrived at Sylvester. MacIntyre was asked to become the first nurse navigator for Sylvester’s pancreatic/gastrointestinal group. Nurse navigation was just starting to take off in the U.S. as a way to help cancer patients navigate what can be complicated care, according to MacIntyre.

“I would be the first point of contact for every patient that came through our system,” she said. MacIntyre would help patients throughout their cancer journeys, often remaining the point of contact when they had questions long after treatment. Studies have since shown that nurse navigation can impact cancer patients’ outcomes, or health and survival after cancer, according to MacIntyre.

After a decade of navigating patient care and working with a Sylvester physician who specialized in pancreatic cancer, MacIntyre wanted to do more to help patients. And the nursing profession gave her the opportunity. She went back to school, earned her master’s of nursing degree and became a nurse practitioner, which allowed MacIntyre to increase her scope and provide more directed pancreatic cancer care.

“I enjoyed providing hope for patients. I’ve seen a lot of successes and over time advances made in this cancer. We still have hope that one day this and other cancers will be cured,” she said.

Among those success stories is a patient who, after 10 years, still keeps in touch with MacIntyre. She came to Sylvester in a wheelchair after being diagnosed with advanced stage pancreatic cancer and being told at another facility that she should prepare to die. MacIntyre looked at the possibilities and helped the patient get the care she needed.

Today, she is in remission and helping to advocate for others who have been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. “She always tells me, ‘Jessica I believed in you and the team at Sylvester, and you gave me hope,’” MacIntyre said.

Stories like these drove MacIntyre to want to do even more. Advancing her education would allow MacIntyre to conduct research, which could benefit all cancer patients. MacIntyre received the highest nursing degree, a doctorate in nursing or D.N.P.

“There’s always an opportunity to improve things for our patients and our caregivers. That’s what I wanted to focus on moving forward,” she said. “I wanted to help drive organizational change through research and quality improvement.”

Among her passions are survivorship care, which focuses on quality of life, wellness and mental health long after treatment. “Survivorship care is a huge topic now, with so many people surviving cancer in the U.S.,” MacIntyre said. “Sylvester is among the most forward-thinking centers in the nation in survivorship care.”

MacIntyre is also helping to train the next generation of oncology nurses with advanced degrees. She is the director of Sylvester’s Nurse Practitioner Fellowship program, the only accredited fellowship program with distinction in Florida.

“My goal as part of the Board of the Oncology Nursing Society is to help the society with its mission to advance excellence in oncology nursing and quality cancer care by preparing nurses to care for the next generation of oncology patients, so they can continue to be the force to transform cancer care,” she said.

While MacIntyre’s cancer care goals are far-reaching, she hasn’t lost sight of the needs of South Florida. She oversees community programs at Sylvester that identify those at high risk for certain cancers and helps them to prevent or receive treatment for cancer early on. “Reaching out to the community is one of my goals and part of Sylvester’s goal as an NCI-designated cancer center,” she said.

MacIntyre hasn’t stopped reaching new heights as an oncology nurse. In April 2023, she was inducted as a Board member of the 35,000-member Oncology Nursing Society — the only South Florida nurse named to its Board.

MacIntyre said she’s proud to be a nurse at Sylvester because the cancer center and profession have given her opportunities to impact cancer patients’ care on personal and holistic levels. “We don’t just treat the disease, we treat the person. I’m very proud that we provide individual care for each patient we see. And I believe we provide that personal touch, which is why we’re so trusted,” she said.

MacIntyre hasn’t seen a cure for cancer, yet, but feels empowered by the influence she has on this disease. “We make a difference in patients’ lives and I can see that daily. Every patient that I speak to always talks about a nurse that helped them get through the tough diagnosis of cancer,” she said.