Sandra K. Johnston, PhD, RN, Data Manager/Research Nurse

Sandra Johnston is registered nurse and works as a data manager and research nurse with the Neuro-Oncology group at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and UW Medicine. She has an extensive background as a clinician and researcher.

“I think my role as a researcher and nurse is to help patients and their families achieve the best possible outcome from illness,” Johnston says. “However, there are few chronic diseases that can actually be cured. Research is the key to understanding more about chronic disease and cancer treatment.”

Inspired to get her PhD in nursing research, Johnston’s doctoral work was in the area of depression and rheumatoid arthritis and she used a collaborator’s data base to identify eligible patients for her research.

“The established data base was crucial to my research,” she says. “Without this information, I wouldn’t have been able to do my work. I quickly realized that a good data base is the key to success in clinical research. The better the database, the more research questions can be asked.”

Johnston later went on to complete a post-doctoral fellowship in biomedical and health informatics.

An avid walker, Johnston recently walked 50 kilometers in one day to celebrate her birthday. She loves the outdoors and exploring the outdoors of the Pacific Northwest with her partner. She also likes to bike ride and loves to garden. “I pretty much just plant, plant, and plant in my yard and hope something takes. It’s pretty much the opposite of the planning that goes into research: strong goals and a thoughtful plan are imperative to good research outcomes.”

To read Sandra's Community of Science profile, click here.