Geriatric Oncology: Cognition and Communication 2025

This complimentary virtual program and interactive skill-building workshop addresses key communication challenges when caring for older adults with cancer. Topics will include strategies for navigating conversations with patients, caregivers, and family members; assessing decision-making capacity; and effectively working with interpreters for patients facing both dementia and language barriers. The program will also feature high-level discussions on chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment, the impact of distress and anxiety on cognition, and the diagnosis and management of delirium, dementia, and depression.

Day two features a Geriatric Communication Skills Training Workshop that utilizes an immersive experiential learning approach. Participants will have an opportunity to practice newly acquired communication techniques in simulated, clinically relevant scenarios.

Upcoming Virtual Training Dates

This virtual training program is offered multiple times throughout the year and is complimentary for accepted applicants. Upcoming training dates include:

• Thursday-Friday, September 18-19, 2025
• Thursday-Friday, December 4-5, 2025

Post-Training

Following the two-day live virtual program, participants will receive access to an interactive web portal with program resources, a community message board, and follow-up evaluations for research purposes.

Additionally, over the course of the following year, participants will be invited to attend three 90-minute videoconference sessions. These sessions will provide extended geriatric oncology content, personalized coaching on communication skills, and guidance on applying these skills within their own healthcare settings.

Who Should Attend

1. Provide an overview of dementia, delirium, and depression, including their detection and management
2. Discuss the role of distress and anxiety on quality of life of older cancer patients
3. Identify challenges in decision-making and learn to assess capacity in older adults with cancer and cognitive syndromes
4. Define decision-making capacity and explain its legal implications
5. Gain familiarity with the Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment as a tool for evaluating cognitive decline in elderly cancer patients
6. Understand the principles of shared decision-making in the context of geriatric oncology
7. Observe and practice communication techniques for effective interactions with older adults with cancer and their caregivers
8. Recognize ageism and appreciate how it interferes with the medical care of older adults with cancer

Registration is complimentary for accepted applicants. To apply, please click the ‘Register’ tab at the top of the page.

This training program is offered several times a year for healthcare professionals who work with, or are interested in working with, older adults with cancer.

Participants are selected through a competitive application process, and registration is complimentary for those accepted. If your application is approved, Faith Fasakin, Clinical Research Coordinator ([email protected]), will follow up with additional details regarding the workshop.

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

AMA Credit Designation Statement

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center designates this live activity for a maximum of 18.50 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

ANCC CNE Statement*

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center - Nursing Professional Development/Continuing Education is accredited with distinction as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

Contact hours will be awarded to participants who attend the program in its entirety and complete a program evaluation. Partial credit not awarded.

Social Work Accreditation Statement*

This presentation is approved for a maximum of 14 Continuing Education Contact Hours of Live Virtual Training. Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0228.

Continuing Education for Licensed Psychologists in New York State*

This event offers 14 NYS Psychology Contact Hours.

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is recognized by the New York State Education Department State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0166.

*Not all states accept New York CEUs. Please check with the licensing board in your state for guidance on their acceptance of the credit types offered for this course as designated in the accreditation statement above.

Additionally, Nursing, Psychology, and Social Work contact hours are available for the two-day program only and do not apply to the three Post-Training Videoconference Calls. AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ will be offered for participation in the three Post-Training Videoconference Calls.

MSK Course Directors 

Patricia Parker, PhD
Member; Attending Psychologist
Director, Communication Skills Training and Research Program (Comskil)

Koshy Alexander, MD
Assistant Attending Geriatrician 
Department of Medicine

MSK Course Faculty

Yesne Alici, MD
Clinical Director; Associate Attending Psychiatrist
Medical Director, Biobehavioral Brain Health Clinic 
Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences

Smita Banerjee, PhD
Associate Attending Behavioral Scientist
Member, Comskil Laboratory 
Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Science

Liz Blackler, LCSW, MBE 
Associate Director, Ethics Committee & Consultation Services
Office of Chief Physician Executive

Nessa Coyle, NP, PhD, FAAN
Consultant, Advanced Practice Nurse

Javier González, MFA 
Senior Program Manager, Language Initiatives

Beatriz Korc-Grodzicki, MD, PhD
Former Chief, Geriatrics Service
Department of Medicine 
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Clinical Professor, Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College

Ruth Manna, MPH
Associate Director, Patient Experience Partnerships

Kelly McConnell, PhD
Associate Attending Psychologist 
Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences

Christian Nelson, PhD
Chief, Psychiatry Service
Associate Attending Psychologist 
Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences

Andrew Roth, MD
Emeritus Member
Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences

Mitigation of Relevant Financial Relationships

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center adheres to the ACCME’s Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education. 
In accordance with the ACCME's Standards, identification, mitigation and/or disclosure of financial relationships is not needed for non-clinical accredited education. The content of this activity is not clinical.