Rehana Punjwani has 16 years of experience as a pediatric oncology nurse, working in both direct patient care and administration. She was a founding member of and is currently the head of the Pediatric Department and Pediatric Nursing Department at the Indus Hospital in Karachi, Pakistan, which is a 300-bed tertiary care hospital that provides medical care free of cost to the underprivileged. She has worked with Pakistan’s Nursing Council to obtain approval for a post-RN diploma in pediatric oncology nursing offered by the Pediatric Oncology Nursing Education Department. Punjwani is a member of the International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP) Nursing Committee and was co-chair of the SIOP Nursing Pediatric Oncology in Developing Countries (PODC) Nursing working group.
Punjwani earned her degree in Nursing in 1994 and obtained her bachelor’s degree in 2014 from The Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. She is an integral part of the team that is managing a Sanofi Espoir Foundation ‘My Child Matters’ grant. Her objective is to improve pediatric oncology nursing not just at her hospital, but in her country and other low- and middle-income countries by establishing a practical and successful nursing framework in training and in practice.
“After I obtain my master’s degree in global child health from St. Jude, I will have a stronger voice and more influence in pediatric oncology, general pediatric nursing, nursing education, and administration,” she says. “I believe this program will prepare me to be a pediatric oncology nurse leader from a low-income country who is actively engaged in nursing training, public awareness of childhood cancer and who can take a seat at the national and international “table” of childhood cancer policy and strategy development to ensure that nursing is well represented and included.”
Education
BS – The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan (2014)
BSN – The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan (1994)