Rupa Ghosh-Berkebile, APRN-CNP

About Me

I am an oncology-certified nurse practitioner with over 20 years of nursing experience, including inpatient medical oncology and five years of experience treating bone and soft tissue sarcoma from both the orthopedic and medical oncology perspectives. During my time as a member of the sarcoma treatment team, I initiated a survivorship clinic that provided treatment summaries and survivorship plans to patients who completed treatment. In 2016, I transferred to the Cancer Supportive Care Clinic at the OSUCCC – James, where I practice cancer survivorship on a full-time basis.

As the number of people living with and beyond their cancer continues to grow, the need for supportive care to address the physical, psychological, social, spiritual and financial impact of cancer will increase. Cancer survivorship has the potential to become a subspecialty of its own, as there will be a need for qualified oncology providers to manage the care of survivors. This is probably the most complex yet most rewarding position I have ever had. It is an ideal example of relationship-based care. Each survivor's needs are unique, and plans of care are highly individualized. Watching a survivor's quality of life improve and seeing them start to reclaim their life is immensely gratifying.

I have spent almost my entire nursing career at The James, and in my time here, I have seen many changes in technology, staff, treatment protocols and even the building itself. However, the one thing that remains constant, despite how large we’ve become, is the sense of family and collegiality, both with our patients and each other. Relationship-based care is one of the many things that makes The James unique, as well as its state-of-the-art facility, cutting-edge research and clinical trials, and high standard of care from our nursing and medical staff.

In addition to my clinical work, I have presented lectures at the local, regional and national level, and I am a peer reviewer for the Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing. I was awarded the 2018 Oncology Nursing Society Foundation Clinical Doctoral scholarship for my continued studies at Ohio State University in the Doctorate of Nursing Practice program.

Procedures and Conditions I Treat

• Survivorship