MEMBERSHIP IN AVAHO
AVAHO's membership represents diverse professionals providing exceptional care for Veterans with cancer and hematological disorders.
AVAHO members benefit from professional development and networking, both in-person and virtually through webinars, meetings, workshops, and annual and regional conferences.
While AVAHO's focus is the VA employees and patients, membership is not exclusive to VA employees. We invite any healthcare professional with interest in the area of hematology/oncology to join our organization.
About Membership
WHO CAN JOIN?
We invite any health care professional with interest in the area of hematology/oncology to join AVAHO.
This includes, but is not limited to:
— physicians
— researchers
— pharmacists
— nurses
— social workers
— dietitians
— cancer registrars/data analytics
— educators, administrators etc.
While AVAHO's focus is the VA employees and patients, membership is not exclusive to VA employees.
Membership Dues: $75 annually
MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS
Access to quality, low- or no-cost educational forums and CEUs for licensure and continuing education requirements
Networking with other oncology and hematology professionals
Shared information regarding trends in cancer care
Opportunity to support career development of professional peers
Ability to connect with industry to understand trends and issues
Ability to vote and hold office within AVAHO
Have first opportunity to register for the annual meeting and other educational opportunities
Free subscription to Federal Practitioner
HOW TO JOIN
Fill out our application form below!
Per our bylaws, employees of commercial companies cannot be members of AVAHO.
The Definition of Member Engagement
Broadly speaking, for AVAHO member engagement can be defined as: The process of actively building, nurturing and managing relationships with all segments of the membership to increase membership involvement, real value gained and knowledge obtained to take back to the patient.
The AVAHO Board strongly encourages our members to become more engaged and play an active role in the organization, something more than only being an attendee at a once-a-year annual meeting. It is the Board’s belief that members that are engaged and share their skills with the organization not only benefits AVAHO, but the members career satisfaction and development as well. Within the AVAHO organization there are a wide range of opportunities for a member to volunteer and assist the organization in meeting its goals.
Examples of member engagement include:
ATTENDING ASSOCIATION EVENTS AND CONFERENCES (LIVE AND VIRTUAL)
Our current estimate for either annual membership association renewal and/or attending at least one live/virtual event per year exceeds 75%. This is an amazing success rate! But the organization is about much more than just an annual meeting.
Membership activities in committee or SIG (special interest groups) groups is ~1.5% of our total membership. Our 3-year goal is for a number in the range of 3-5% member involvement.
NETWORKING WITH OTHER MEMBERS
Consistently recognized as one of the greatest strengths of AVAHO in terms of members benefits and recognition for value.
REFERRING OR RECRUITING NEW MEMBERS
We desire not only new members, but committed and dedicated members who wish to be involved in the organization’s achievement of goals and missions.
We desire to increase membership in areas of specialty that are currently underserved (psychology, surgery, dental, dermatology, etc.)
PARTICIPATING IN AN AVAHO COMMITTEE OR SIG GROUP
Please visit our committees page and see if you have the desire to add yourself to a committee and add to the values provided for our members.
Volunteering to serve on a committee or be involved with a SIG is an excellent way to get involved and helped make decisions that guide the organization forward.
VOLUNTEER OR MENTOR A YOUNGER/NEWER AVAHO MEMBER
The mentee would benefit from working with a seasoned practitioner to gain knowledge, insight, and skill sets to be exceptional in their roles that will further benefit the membership in providing the highest quality of care.
One on one “teaming” of an experienced VA oncology cancer care provider with a new member to the organization who desires to learn from that experienced practioners' experiences, knowledge and wisdom.
This principal could apply to all disciplines represented within the AVAHO organization:
- Medical Oncology
- Research
- Palliative Care
- Pharmacology
- Nutrition Support
- Social Work and Cancer Navigation Care
- Cancer Registry and Data collection
Establish defined goals for the year that are individualized for that mentee that they wish to gain from working with the mentor.
- A defined and initiated research project to be completed at the end of the mentoring year with an abstract submission for the annual meeting should be an expectation regardless of the area of specialty
SUBMIT AN ARTICLE TO EITHER FEDERAL PRACTICTIONER OR THE AVAHO NEWSLETTER
Federal Practitioner is PubMed recognized and a great resource for AVAHO members to publish their work and contributions. Federal Practitioner guidelines for submissions are found here.
The AVAHO Newsletter is published quarterly, and everything related to VA cancer care is welcome for submission.
Contact either Julie Lawson or Rusty Crawford (Newsletter Editor) if you have questions or are interested in submitting an article to the newsletter
Volunteer to be a content reviewer for Federal Practitioner (contact Julie Lawson for more information)
USE OUR COMMUNITY PLATFORM, SOCIAL MEDIA, AND WEBSITE TO:
— Contribute and participate in live discussion forums
— Interact with sponsors and members
— Join and manage committees and small groups
— Register for events
— Get timely and relevant content pertaining to members' interests
— Make dues payments
— Contribute valuable data from polls and surveys
2024 Lookback
See what our annual meetings are all about and the experiences our members have shared!