Thank you for attending our discussion of the emotional ramifications of a cancer diagnosis, helping patients and their loving caregivers learn about the typical sequence of emotions experienced at diagnosis, treatment and beyond, understand the science behind those emotions as well as how the disease and its treatment contribute to the psychological experience, and discover how to cope with it all. 

Here is the video:


Below are downloadable materials from the program:

C. Hayes Presentation – Cancer It’s Not Just Physical

Moadel-Robblee Presentation – Cancer It’s Not Just Physical

PARTICIPANT BIOGRAPHIES

HON. LINDA M. CAPITTI, Family Court Judge, Kings County; Vice President, JALBCA

Hon. Linda Capitti was appointed as a Family Court Judge in January 2020 and is currently assigned to Kings County Family Court, where she presides in a child protective part. Prior to that, in January 2019, she was appointed as an Interim Civil Court Judge. Previously, Judge Capitti was a court attorney to the Honorable Tandra L. Dawson in New York County Integrated Domestic Violence Court and Bronx County Family Court, where she worked on cases involving domestic violence. Judge Capitti serves as a Vice President of the Judges and Lawyers Breast Cancer Alert (JALBCA) and is a member of the Board of Directors. As a two-time breast cancer survivor, Judge Capitti has an inimitable perspective as to the issues that cancer patients and survivors face before, during, and after treatment.

CYNTHIA HAYES, Author of The Big Ordeal: Understanding and Managing the Psychological Turmoil of Cancer

Cynthia Hayes, author of The Big Ordeal: Understanding and Managing the Psychological Turmoil of Cancer, learned the basics of interviewing and telling a story as a journalist. After receiving an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, she spent 25 years as a management consultant, and three years as vice president and chief marketing officer for Montefiore Medical Center. There she built relationships with cancer professionals who helped her research and write The Big Ordeal.

As a survivor herself, she now mentors patients going through gynecologic cancer as part of a program called Woman to Woman at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and serves as a BOLD Buddy peer mentor to patients receiving care at the Montefiore Einstein Center for Cancer Care in the Bronx. Cynthia also serves on the board of Moving For Life, a dance exercise program to support cancer recovery, and Global Focus on Cancer, which provides education and support for patients in developing countries.

ALYSON MOADEL-ROBBLEE, Ph.D., Professor of Clinical Epidemiology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine; Director, BOLD Cancer Wellness Program, Montefiore Einstein Cancer Center

Alyson Moadel-Robblee, Ph.D. is Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Director of the BOLD Cancer Wellness Program, a Psychosocial & Integrative Oncology initiative of the Montefiore Einstein Center for Cancer Care in Bronx, NY. She received her doctorate in Health Psychology at the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology in 1995 in Bronx, NY, and completed postdoctoral fellowship training in Psycho-oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. Dr. Moadel-Robblee is a clinician, educator, and researcher with an interest in promoting quality of life and psychosocial care for those living with cancer, driven from her own experience of losing her mother to breast cancer when she was a teenager. In 2008, she launched a cancer support initiative entitled the Bronx Oncology Living Daily (BOLD Living) Program, which offers *FREE* patient-centered services featuring mind-body therapies, creative arts, fitness/nutrition workshops, and peer support and counseling to residents of one of the most diverse communities in the U.S. In addition, through the indelible stories of countless men and women facing cancer, she has developed a counseling internship program that trains aspiring mental health counselors on the art of emotional transformation and healing through inner dialogue.

MOYA M. O’CONNOR, ESQ., Trial Attorney at Zurich North America

Moya M. O’Connor is an accomplished trial attorney whose practice focuses on the defense of complex matters in state trial and appellate courts and federal court.  Moya provides litigation counsel in the fields of premises liability, automobile liability, labor law, property damage, subrogation, personal injury, and other intricate tort matters.  Moya also has experience handling workers’ compensation matters. Moya has achieved defense verdicts and verdicts of nominal amounts in venues across the New York Metropolitan Area.

Outside of the office, Moya is very active in the legal community.  A two-year breast cancer survivor, Moya is a member of JALBCA and its Programs Committee.  She is the Founder & CEO of Caribbean Attorneys Network, Inc. (CAN), a professional organization geared towards the development of attorneys, law students, and legal professionals of Caribbean descent.  CAN was the 2016 and 2018 recipient of the Bar Leaders Innovation Award from the New York State Bar Association.

Most recently, Moya was chosen as a 2021 NY CUP Fellow by the Council of Urban Professionals (CUP) and was elected as the Secretary of the Association of Black Women Attorneys.  In 2018, the Queens Tribune Press awarded Moya with the Caribbean American Legacy Award, and Crain’s New York Business included Moya on its inaugural list of Leading Women Attorneys in New York City. In 2017, The Network Journal recognized Moya as a 40 under Forty Honoree, and News Americas Now included Moya on its list of “12 Caribbean Executives You Should Know.”  Moya was also chosen to be a member of the Defense Association of New York’s Diversity Initiative Class of 2016.

Moya has been published in the Claims & Litigation Management Alliance (CLM) Magazine and New York State Bar Association Torts, Insurance, & Compensation Law Section Journal. Moya has also spoken on various panels regarding trial advocacy and career development.

Co-Sponsors

Asian American Bar Association of New York
Association of Black Women Attorneys
Caribbean American Lawyers Association
Caribbean Attorneys Network
Haitian American Lawyers Association
Jewish Lawyers Guild
The Judicial Friends Association
Korean American Lawyers Association of Greater New York
Latino Judges Association
Long Island Hispanic Bar Association
Metropolitan Black Bar Association
SHARE Cancer Support
Sharsheret
The Tribune Society of the State of New York
Westchester Black Bar Association
Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York