Denise Spector
Consulting Associate in the School of Nursing

Dr. Spector is an oncology nurse practitioner, an integrative health care provider, educator, yoga instructor and previously was a volunteer integrative health coach for the Cornucopia Cancer Support Center where she counseled cancer survivors on wellness strategies. She was the prior Clinical Director for the Cancer Survivorship Program at the Duke Cancer Institute (DCI) from 2013-2017. She has been on the faculty at the Duke University School of Nursing since 2013 and has taught N-581 Nurse as Scholar II: Evidence-based Practice since 2016.  While at the DCI, she was involved in the development of the Duke Cancer Institute's Genito-urinary Cancer Survivorship Wellness Clinic and she delivered cancer survivorship wellness workshops to diverse cancer patients and their loved ones.

Currently she holds a clinical adjunct faculty appointment with the UNC Department of Family Medicine and provides integrative health & medicine consultations to oncology patients at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.  Dr. Spector’s clinical practice incorporates a holistic approach to caring for individuals affected by cancer and addresses not only physical, emotional and practical needs, but spiritual needs as well.  In 2018, Dr. Spector completed a 2-year clinical interdisciplinary fellowship through the Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine (AIHM) with the goal to incorporate more evidence-based integrative strategies into clinical practice.

Prior to her position at the DCI and DUSON, she completed a post-doctoral cancer health disparities fellowship through the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where her primary research focus was on increasing physical exercise among breast cancer survivors as a way to improve overall health, particularly among African-American breast cancer survivors.  Denise received her PhD from the School of Nursing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her Master of Public Health degree from the Gillings School of Global Public Health at UNC-Chapel Hill.  She obtained her Master of Science in Nursing with a specialty in oncology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1989 and worked for several years as an oncology clinical nurse specialist in the area of cancer pain and symptom management.  She has been an oncology nurse since the mid-1980s and has worked in various settings.  Her primary interests relate to the prevention of cancer and other chronic illnesses and the promotion of optimal wellness for cancer survivors through lifestyle behavior modifications (e.g., physical activity, healthy nutrition, weight management, etc.), use of dietary supplements/botanicals, and mind-body medicine.

When not working, Dr. Spector enjoys long nature walks with her dog, yoga, dancing, reading, healthy cooking, and traveling.




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