The Cancer Center of Santa Barbara recently announced the promotions of Lindsay Groark and Barbara Conviser, and the hiring of new employee Katia Connal.
Groark has been promoted to marketing and communications coordinator. Since joining the organization nearly 2½ years ago, Groark held the position of wellness program assistant and wellness and marketing coordinator, and has taken a lead role in managing a variety of marketing projects within the past year.
Before joining the Cancer Center, Groark was active at UCSB. She held positions as office manager of UCSB’s Student Health Services, programming manager of UCSB’s Wellness Program and patient advocate at Student Health Services. She graduated with honors from UCSB with a bachelor’s degree in biopsychology, with minors in exercise and health science and anthropology.
Groark is actively involved in the community and has volunteered with organizations including Santa Barbara Habitat for Humanity and Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times, a year-round camp program for children with cancer and their families.
Conviser has been promoted to director of research and quality services.
She has been with the Cancer Center for five years and leads the research program under medical director Dr. Fred Kass. She oversees the accreditation process for the Santa Barbara Breast Care Alliance and develops organization-wide quality standards and goals with administration and management.
Conviser has more than 12 years of experience in the field of medical research, including positions at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, the John Wayne Cancer Institute in Santa Monica and Amgen Inc.
She also served as a scientific resource in litigation matters involving biotech clients for Baker & McKenzie law firm. During her work at Cedars-Sinai and the John Wayne Cancer Institute, Conviser authored publications concerning polycystic ovarian syndrome and chemotherapeutic treatment for adult central nervous system tumors.
Conviser has a master’s degree in public health from the UCLA School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology and a bachelor’s degree in molecular biology from Princeton University.
Connal is the Cancer Center’s new wellness program assistant.
She will focus on supporting the wellness department with program coordination and daily activities, as well as interfacing with patients as they explore and attend the variety of wellness programs.
Connal completed her training as a nuclear medicine technologist at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, one of the largest public hospitals in Australia.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in nuclear medicine from RMIT University in Melbourne, where she became the first graduate of nuclear medicine to complete the Honors program simultaneously with the internship program.
Originally from Austrialia, Connal is a member of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Nuclear Medicine and the Victorian Society of Nuclear Medicine Technologists.
— Daniella Elghanayan is a publicist.