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Alumni Success Stories

Joyce O’Shaughnessy ’78

Joyce O’Shaughnessy ’78 shaped her approach to medicine at Holy Cross. Today, as a prominent medical oncologist specializing in breast cancer, she treats patients, conducts research, and is active in her field. Since 1997, she has practiced at Texas Oncology, PA, and conducted research through US Oncology, a network of 100 oncologists nationwide, at the Baylor-Sammons Cancer Center in Dallas.

O’Shaughnessy’s life took a major turn during her first year at Holy Cross, when her 10-year-old sister died of leukemia. “This event focused me on cancer research, and I knew I needed to start right away. Holy Cross made that possible with a grant for me to begin research at the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology the summer after my freshman year,” she recounts. That work resulted in her Fenwick Scholar thesis on human childhood leukemia.

O’Shaughnessy earned her M.D. at Yale Medical School and began her career in breast cancer research at the National Cancer Institute. “In medical school, I realized that I was better suited to internal medicine and adult cancer than to pediatric leukemia,” she says. “One of the most important things I’ve learned is that you need to focus on your interests, but at the same time stay open to specific opportunities. In a sense, you need to wait to find where the road will take you.”