Ana Rocha is a Nurse Practitioner at the Ellison Institute of Technology, supporting the breast medical oncology program at the Ellison Clinic.
Ana has been a nurse practitioner for 5 years and a registered nurse for the last 17 years. Her nursing foundation began in the hospital setting, where she became chemotherapy and oncology certified nurse, she worked for years in the outpatient setting administering cancer therapy in an infusion center and helped to launch a new outpatient cancer center.
Ana appreciated early on in her career that Survivorship – living with, through and beyond cancer — is more than just surviving. It is about achieving your own personal goals for wellness, which includes all aspects of health: mental, social, and spiritual. She is very proud to be a nurse practitioner which has given her the opportunity to empower, teach, advocate, research, and compassionately care for people with cancer and their loved ones. She values collaboration and integrates a multidisciplinary approach for comprehensive cancer care with specialties such as Nutrition, Rehab, Social Work, Spiritual Care, and Genetics.
Ana values caring for the whole person. She has taken initiatives to create pilot programs such as Mental Health Collaborative Care Model in the Oncology population, Peer to Peer Mentorship Program, Advance Care Planning EMR Initiative, and first ever Survivors’ Day celebration and Brain Tumor Awareness month at Saint John’s, she has engaged in research for melanoma and when Covid-19 hit in March of 2020, she volunteered to help with clinical trials early on before vaccines and treatment were available. She is also active and engaged with the community and has provided outreach wellness presentations to the Latinx population.
Outside of work, Ana enjoys communing with nature, from a stroll on the beach to camping and hiking. She is currently training for a marathon. She enjoys traveling & learning about history, culture and art. She enjoys spending time gathering with family and friends.