Senior oncology nursing educator Kathryn G. Froiland has found success with Tesaro, a public pharmaceutical company based in Waltham, Massachusetts, which focuses on drug development for cancer. Hired in 2015 as an oncology nurse educator, the company was acquired by Glaxo Smith Kline in 2018. She formerly taught for GSK as an oncology clinical nurse educator between 2003 and 2015. Prior to that role, she was also a program director of the wound ostomy continence nurse education program, a senior wound ostomy continence nurse and a senior nurse instructor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Likewise, Ms. Froiland has held various nursing positions in Minnesota at the Mayo Clinic Foundation, the Methodist Hospital, and the University of Minnesota Hospitals and Clinics since 1979.
Prior to embarking upon her professional journey, Ms. Froiland studied vigorously in order to qualify for the roles she would one day assume. She received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Saint Olaf College in Minnesota in 1979. Returning to college years later, Ms. Froiland obtained a Master of Science in Nursing at the University of Texas in 1994.
Volunteering her time to the American Cancer Society in Houston since 1991, Ms. Froiland is passionate in her charitable pursuits. She is also a member of several industry-related organizations, including the Wound Ostomy Continence Nursing Society and as a former Houston chapter secretary, the president-elect, the president and a member on the board of directors at the Houston Chapter of the Oncology Nursing Society. The chapter notably honored Ms. Froiland with a Mary Mazzaway Scholarship in 2000.
In 2002, Ms. Froiland was honored with a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Texas-Houston School of Nursing. She was previously recognized as a Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nurse (WOCN) of the Year by the south-central region of the WOCN Society, received an Excellence in Clinical Care Award from NurseWeek, an Excellence in Patient Care and Clinical Education Award, and an MD Anderson Gynecologic Oncology Fellows Class of 2000 Award. A celebrated Marquis listee, Ms. Froiland has been featured in the 58th and 59th editions of Who’s Who in America.
Over the course of her career, Ms. Froiland has learned that people are not perfect. She was considered a perfectionist, and her mother wanted the best for her and her siblings. She always thought of it in a way of being a strength, but also a weakness; she was not fully satisfied with what she was doing. It took her a long time to learn that there are many things that you do that cannot be perfect, but can be good and that is fine. Ms. Froiland has learned not to be so hard on herself over time; her mother always strived and was very thorough, and gave everything and covered all the bases. She cared about everyone and people trusted her because they knew she had their best interest in mind. She learned that type of work ethic and her father was equally conscientious in his work as well.
Ms. Froiland really tries hard to find a way to reach the person she wants to influence. She tries to be creative in figuring out how to deliver information in the way she thinks it will be useful. She tries to find out what the learner needs and then uses some flexibility and creativity to meet that need in a way that is useful for them.
