Angela Plette Taber, M.D., Honored Nationally for Outstanding Compassion and Cancer Care

Posted Monday, May 21, 2012

Angela Plette Taber, M.D., a medical oncologist at the Leonard and Adele R. Decof Comprehensive Cancer Center at The Miriam Hospital, is one of 11 cancer care providers across the United States to receive the American Cancer Society's 2012 Lane Adams Quality of Life Award. This national award recognizes individuals who have made a difference through innovation, leadership, and consistent excellence in providing compassionate, skilled care and counsel to persons living with cancer and their families.

The awards were presented in a ceremony in Dallas, Texas on Thursday, May 3.

Taber’s clinical interests include lung, genitourinary, head and neck cancers, and palliative care. Her sister Danielle was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, when she was 19 years old, and she lost her battle with cancer at just 26. Taber says this experience shifted her focus from not only wanting to understand the disease, but to wanting to improve the whole experience of cancer treatment for patients and their families.

“I am incredibly honored to receive this award,” Taber said. “I watched my sister fight a six-year battle with cancer, and I know firsthand how much cancer can change the life of a patient and her family. My mission as an oncologist is to do all that I can to help my patients to not only receive world-class cancer care, but to ensure that we treat the whole person, not just their cancer.”

Taber believes the honor is reflection of the entire Miriam cancer team. “Thanks to the support of Drs. Anthony Mega, Thomas Dipetrillo, Scott Triedman, Thomas Ng, Noel Javier, Jennifer Collins, NP, and our wonderful team of nurses, patient navigators, social workers, nutritionists and office staff, we have been able to develop multidisciplinary clinics for lung and genitourinary cancers, allowing patients to receive excellent, coordinated care in one visit,” she said. “I am so proud that we are able to deliver this kind of quality care right here in Providence.”

A graduate of Fitchburg State College, Taber received her medical degree from the University of Massachusetts Medical School. After serving her medical residency at Rhode Island Hospital and The Miriam Hospital, she completed the Brown University Hematology/Oncology fellowship program. She is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American Society of Hematology, and is a board member of Home and Hospice Care of Rhode Island. She plans to take her board certification exams in hospice and palliative care in October.

The American Cancer Society has recognized cancer caregivers through the Lane Adams Quality of Life Award since 1988. The awards advisory group includes longtime national Society volunteers, including Vicki Adams Quan, the daughter of Lane W. Adams, the former executive vice president of the Society who coined the term the “warm hand of service” and made attention to compassionate care a legacy of his service.

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