Meet Dr. Dina Rooney, executive director of Aunt Susie's Cancer Wellness Center

Dr. Dina K. Rooney is the executive director of Aunt Susie's Cancer Wellness Center. She lives at Meyers Lake in Canton and is single but lives with two rescue cats Sophie and Kenzi. She’s hoping to add a puppy to the mix soon.

Rooney graduated from Jackson High School in 1981 and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from The Ohio State University. She then served an internal medicine residency at the University of Vermont Medical Center and had a hematology and oncology fellowship at Indiana University.

“I knew I wanted to go to medical school as a high school student,” she said. "I spent two years as an ER doctor in Randolph, Vermont, and moonlighted in an ER in Crawfordsville, Indiana, during my fellowship.

“I returned to Canton in 1997 to practice. For most of my career, I was with TriCounty Hematology and Oncology Inc., where I served as president and vice president. I joined Dr. Farouq Ahmed in 1998 and together we built the practice from a two-physician group with six employees to four doctors and two nurse practitioners and over 50 employees in two offices, the second in Dover.”

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She has served on many committees at Mercy and Aultman hospitals and ran the general and breast tumor boards for Mercy. Rooney limited her practice to breast and gynecologic cancers for the second half of her career and served as the medical director of the Mercy Breast Center.

“I retired in 2016, hoping to open a wellness center to provide complementary support and other services to cancer patients," she said. "I joined Aunt Susie's Cancer Wellness Center for Women as a board member in May 2020 and started volunteering in the office in February of 2021.

“I initially chose to move back to Stark County to be close to my family. My mother was a nurse at Mercy for 41 years, so I have always felt connected to Canton’s medical community. The hospitals in Stark County were providing first-class health care, and the area needed more oncologists.”

Would you detail what Aunt Susie’s Cancer Wellness Center is about?

Aunt Susie's Cancer Wellness Center provides compassionate care to adults in Stark County with cancer, and their family and caregivers. We dropped "for Women" from our name in 2022 when we started providing services to men as well.

We are a registered 501c3 nonprofit that is 100% volunteer run and all of our services are provided free of charge. Services are available to all adults regardless of race, creed, color, gender orientation, nationality or disability.

We provide transportation to cancer-related medical appointments, food assistance is available in the form of grocery cards or Meals on Wheels. Housecleaning is provided in partnership with Quality Cleaning Services. Haircuts and donated wigs are provided in cooperation with Hair with Flair, Wild Orchid and Wig Style Center. We now have donated bras and prostheses. We have support groups for patients and caregivers on-site monthly.

What are some of your duties associated with being the executive director?

It is my job to run the business end of our nonprofit. I coordinate our office volunteers, assist with grant writing, help plan and run fundraising events, oversee cash flow and manage the building we currently occupy.

I coordinate with the board creating the budget, developing new programs/reporting on the existing ones and steering the organization forward. I am currently focusing on community outreach, hoping to reach more people in our community that need our assistance and finding financial and volunteer support.

I am also networking with other nonprofits here in Stark County so we can avoid duplicating services and optimize our budgets and time.

Why did you decide to get involved with the organization?

Marlene Mason, who founded Aunt Susie's in honor of her friend and Perry High School classmate Sue Nixon Darling with the help of Sue's husband Gary, contacted me a couple of times while I was still working.

I shared with anyone who would listen that my retirement plan was to start a cancer wellness center. I took some classes on nonprofit management and recognized the complexity of starting and running a 501c3. After I was slowed down with some health issues, Marlene called me again and directly asked me to get involved.

I was very impressed with the foundation they had created and the services they were providing.

Would you share some of the reasons why your commitment stayed so strong throughout your career?

I truly believe that oncology was my calling. I had a fascination with blood diseases and cancers in medical school after working under Dr. Bertha Bouroncle at Ohio State.

As a resident, the patients and families I enjoyed working with the most were my cancer patients. I was intrigued by chemotherapy and the way it works (or does not) because of my biochemistry background. I realized early that helping people live and die with dignity and compassion was every bit as important as treating or curing their cancer.

I feel that my work with Aunt Susie's is my way of giving back to the community that embraced me as a physician and made me successful.

What other organizations are you a volunteer with?

I am a member of the Mercy Service League because I believe in their mission of supporting the hospital, hospital staff, patients and community.

It has been my pleasure to serve as chairwoman for the Cause for Wine Women and Shoes since 2017 and help the Hearts and Hands Committee provide direct community service. I am also an avid supporter of the Anguilla Boat Racing Committee and I sponsor the Real Deal.

Editor's note: Five questions with ... is a Sunday feature that showcases a member of the Stark County community. If you'd like to recommend someone to participate, send an email to newsroom@cantonrep.com.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: 5 questions with Dr. Dina Rooney, executive director of Aunt Susie's