FIGURE
This lectureship was created to keep alive the memory of Robert Tiffany, co-founding member of the International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care. Robert Tiffany was the initiator of the Biennial International Cancer Nursing Conference.
Robert Tiffany started his career in cancer nursing in 1967 when he went to the Royal Marsden Hospital in London to undertake an oncology nursing course. Twenty-six years later he had transformed the hospital and the specialty of cancer nursing beyond recognition. His great commitment to cancer care spawned from the belief that nurses could dramatically change the care given to patients; it was this vision that drove him forward throughout his lifetime.
During the 1970s the mere mention of cancer instilled fear into every patient and was associated with an immediate sentence of death, loss of control, pain, and despair. Robert Tiffany started a lifelong campaign to overturn those misconceptions. He proved that skilled nurses have a crucial role in preventing cancer, in early detection of cancer, and in improving the quality of life for people with cancer. He made the Royal Marsden Hospital a very special place for the patients; a place where pride and tremendous hope ruled and where patients became involved in their own care. The Royal Marsden Hospital also became a shining example for the recognition of nurses' clinical skills. He fought hard for nurses to be educated to the Masters' degree level and he encouraged his staff to become involved in research. He concentrated all of his energy and skill on the specialty of cancer nursing.
Robert Tiffany not only headed nursing in his own hospital, he shared his talents on a much wider scale, on the regional, national, and international levels. It was Robert Tiffany who organized the first International Conference on Cancer Nursing in London in 1978 and Robert Tiffany who played an important role in the international conferences in 1980, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, and 1992.
He was a founding member and an inspirational leader of the International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care and of the European Oncology Nursing Society and he became the voice of oncology nursing internationally for everyone who wanted to listen. For those who did not want to listen, he always found ways to make them. His relentless zeal for excellence and his tenacity were well known as was his capacity to infuriate those close to him. In the end, however, his great charm and magnetism prevailed.
It surely would take too long to mention all of his achievements for cancer nursing worldwide. To say he was an inspiration is an understatement because there are thousands of nurses who never met him, but who owe him a great debt, although Robert Tiffany never saw it that way. He exposed nurses to the high professional standards he himself strove continuously to maintain and improve. He brought great credit to the nursing profession and increased knowledge to a worldwide audience. First and foremost, he was a truly committed nurse who always remained faithful to the patient's cause to the very end, and he was a strong advocate on their behalf. He did all of this with humor and good will and always managed to enlighten his messages with jokes and funny stories.
Working with Robert Tiffany meant a lot of work but also a lot of laughing and good fun. To keep those memories alive the board of the ISNCC has created a lectureship in his name.