Meet Our Chairs

Ana Yandrich is a third-year doctoral student in the PsyD in Counseling Psychology program at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, PA. She has received training in a variety of settings and has worked with living kidney and liver donors; mothers in the perinatal period; inpatients with psychotic disorders; individuals with trauma history, substance use history, and anxiety disorders, and cancer patients and their caregivers. Her research and professional interests include social identification processes involved in the adjustment to chronic health conditions; existential concerns and coping related to medical diagnoses; grief and end-of-life processes; and advocacy for mental health care in oncological populations. She intends to pursue a career as a health psychologist working with adults with a history of cancer.

Veronica B. Decker, director of the Nurse Executive DNP program, has more than four decades of healthcare experience – three of them in appointed leadership, executive and research roles. Her research interests are in organizational management and patient care practices, including clinical, psychological and social, to improve outcomes and treatment for patients with cancer. Most recently, she is conducting research with community-dwelling older adults with depression, using an interprofessional collaborative approach inclusive of spirituality. In 2016, her DNP project, “An Automated and Tailored Intervention to Mitigate Distress in Cancer Patients,” was selected as one of the five best clinical interventions at the American Psychosocial Oncology Society. Decker has nearly 25 years of experience in cancer care and treatment. In 1984, she founded Cancer Counseling and over 15 years, advised more than 1,000 cancer patients using cognitive, behavioral and educational approaches. She is also the author of the inspirational book Coping with Cancer: A Patient Pocket Book of Thoughts, Advice and Inspiration for the Ill.