Shawn Perkins BSN, RN, OCN

Shawn Perkins, BSN, RN, OCN, is a Nurse Navigator at the outpatient cancer center of a 218 bed community hospital. He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in nursing at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Shawn began his journey in oncology care in 1997 on a busy inpatient oncology unit at Alamance Regional Medical Center. After 13 years in the inpatient setting, he transitioned to the hospital’s outpatient cancer center. Shortly thereafter, he acquired the title of GI and Thoracic Nurse Navigator. A role that Shawn built from the ground up. He has advocated for navigation, and the essential benefits that navigation provides for oncology patients. His efforts paid off at first with a separate GI navigator, and then with the addition of another Thoracic Nurse Navigator. This allowed Shawn to follow his interest in lung cancer prevention and early detection. He is responsible for starting and developing the Alamance County Lung Cancer Screening Program. Shawn is a certified smoking cessation instructor. He has been instrumental in establishing an annual Shine a Light lung cancer awareness banquet. He has delivered local, regional, and national presentations on smoking, lung cancer, navigation, and lung cancer screening. Shawn participated in Alamance County Wellness Collaborative initiatives that resulted in laws banning all forms of tobacco at local parks and recreation facilities. He has been honored with the AONN 2019 Exceptional Research in Navigation Award, and the 2020 Great 100 Nurses of North Carolina. Shawn is passionate about providing exceptional personalized care to patients within their community.