NCCN Senior Director Evelyn Handel Zapata is Named a '40 Under 40 in Cancer: Emerging Leader' for Milestone Work Improving Safe Use of Chemotherapy

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National Comprehensive Cancer Network

Sep 25, 2023, 11:52 ET

Dr. Handel Zapata oversees the NCCN Chemotherapy Order Templates program, which is marking 15 years of sharing evidence-based drug delivery information and just published new resources for children's cancer.

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa., Sept. 25, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Evelyn Handel Zapata, PharmD, BCPS, BCOP, Senior Director of Drugs & Biologics Programs at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network^® (NCCN^®) was named a 40 Under 40 in Cancer: Emerging Leader at a national reception in Chicago in June. This achievement comes as the NCCN Chemotherapy Order Templates (NCCN Templates^®) program celebrates its 15^th anniversary and launches new resources for a type of pediatric lymphoma today.

NCCN's Evelyn Handel Zapata named a ‘40 Under 40 in Cancer: Emerging Leader;' launches new pediatric chemotherapy order template available at NCCN.org/templates.

40 Under 40 in Cancer is an awards initiative that recognizes contributions being made across the field of cancer by rising stars and emerging leaders under the age of 40. The award is sponsored by The Association for Value-Based Cancer Care (AVBCC), The National Community Oncology Dispensing Association (NCODA), Swim Across America, Amplity Health, Servier, Takeda, Jasper Health, BeiGene, and Cumberland Pharmaceuticals.

"Dr. Handel Zapata is an extremely diligent and collaborative pharmacist who [helps] set protocols, standards, templates, and guidance for oncology care providers," said Eve Segal, PharmD, BCOP, Lead Clinical Pharmacist, Hematology/Oncology at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center/UW Medicine. "She is also passionate about patient education, and through her leadership within HOPA [the Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association], has supported the creation of 70 IV education handouts and over 100 oral chemotherapy handouts that are used by hundreds of oncology practitioners every day. Evelyn's work at NCCN has helped advance pharmacist involvement and provided pharmacist perspective on important national guidelines."

New Resources for Pediatric Oncology

This year marks the 15^th anniversary of the launch of the NCCN Templates^® and heralds the publication of the first NCCN Templates for a childhood cancer. The NCCN Templates^® contain critical information on dosing, administration, side effects and other monitoring and safety parameters, and are used by clinicians to ensure that they are delivering optimal treatment as recommended by the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines^®). The newly launched resources for improving the safe use of systemic therapy when treating pediatric aggressive mature b-cell lymphomas were first published on September 25, 2023.

There are now 2,531 published NCCN Templates covering 108 unique cancer types across 58 different NCCN Guidelines^®, with 328 new templates added in the past year alone. They are licensed for use in a growing number of electronic health record systems, utilization management tools, and clinical decision support tools. In addition to users who access the templates through an HIT licensor, in 2022 more than 10,000 unique subscribers downloaded more than 1.7 million NCCN Templates directly from NCCN.org/templates.

Dr. Handel Zapata joined NCCN in 2015 and serves as Senior Director of the Drugs & Biologics Programs, where she is involved with management of the NCCN Templates^® as well as providing oversight and management for the NCCN Drugs and Biologics Compendium (NCCN Compendium^®).

"Evelyn exemplifies the core values we embrace at NCCN, including passion and innovation to advance high-quality cancer care," said NCCN CEO Robert W. Carlson, MD. "She leads a team dedicated to providing the best information for the safe and effective use of drugs and biologics in cancer care. The work they do truly makes a difference for people with cancer. I am grateful for Evelyn's ongoing contributions to NCCN and the field of oncology and congratulate her on this achievement."

"It was an honor to see the work that my colleagues and I do to improve the safe use of chemotherapy be recognized in this way," said Dr. Handel Zapata. "I am grateful to HOPA for nominating me, and grateful to my team for all of their efforts over the years, most recently in the launch of a new pediatric cancer resource. I feel privileged to be part of this work advancing NCCN's mission to help all people with cancer to live better lives."

Dr. Handel Zapata's team at NCCN includes 12 oncology nurses and pharmacists, including two specializing in pediatric care. She also works with pharmacy directors across NCCN's Member Institutions as part of the NCCN Pharmacy Directors Forum. In addition to her responsibilities at NCCN, Dr. Handel Zapata also serves as the Chair of the HOPA Patient Education Committee and the President of the International Society of Oncology Pharmacy Practitioners (ISOPP).

About the National Comprehensive Cancer Network
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network^® (NCCN^®) is a not-for-profit alliance of leading cancer centers devoted to patient care, research, and education. NCCN is dedicated to improving and facilitating quality, effective, equitable, and accessible cancer care so all patients can live better lives. The NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines^®) provide transparent, evidence-based, expert consensus recommendations for cancer treatment, prevention, and supportive services; they are the recognized standard for clinical direction and policy in cancer management and the most thorough and frequently-updated clinical practice guidelines available in any area of medicine. The NCCN Guidelines for Patients^® provide expert cancer treatment information to inform and empower patients and caregivers, through support from the NCCN Foundation^®. NCCN also advances continuing education, global initiatives, policy, and research collaboration and publication in oncology. Visit NCCN.org for more information.