NCOMS 2026 Summer Conference

NCOMS 2026 Summer Conference

JUNE 3-5, 2026

The Power of Us 

Leadership and Patients Shaping the Future of Oncology

Leadership in oncology starts with you.  This conference empowers oncology professionals to lead with clarity, confidence, and purpose. Explore simplified leadership approaches, real-world oncology management strategies, and values-based practices that shape team culture, elevate performance, and drive meaningful results in today’s complex oncology environment.


*NOTICE: NCOMS has a reserved room block and offers special rates. Once our block is full you may still choose to register and attend. Contact the Hilton directly to inquire about room availability and rates or make a reservation at one of the many nearby hotels.

Engage with oncology experts on all types of topics.

Conference Agenda

★ Check-In: Wednesday, June 3rd at 3pm
★ Conference Adjourns: Friday, June 5th at 1pm

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2026

3:00pmCheck-in & Exhibitor Setup in Mezzanine East
6:00pmReception in Dunes Ballroom

Thursday, June 4th, 2026

7:00amRegistration in Mezzanine East
7:00amBreakfast, Coffee and Networking with Exhibitors in Center/West Ballroom
8:00amWelcome and Opening Remarks in the East Ballroom
Kandis Hill, Clinical Manager, RN, Physicians East, NCOMS President
8:30amWhen Music Enters the Room: Music Therapy in Oncology Treatment
Maddie Depriest, MT-BC, NMT, Board Certified Music Therapist, Neurologic Music Therapist, Integrative Oncology
Section, Levine Cancer

1. Define the clinical scope and evidence-based role of music therapy across outpatient, inpatient, and procedural oncology settings.
2. Identify at least three measurable patient outcomes supported by music therapy, including reductions in anxiety, pain, and treatment-related distress.
3. Describe how music therapy integrates into interdisciplinary oncology teams to enhance communication, patient engagement, and continuity of care.
4. Recognize the impact of music therapy on caregiver support, staff well-being, and the overall care environment.
5. Articulate how music therapy aligns with national priorities in oncology, including patient-centered care, experience metrics, and whole-person medicine.

10:00am Break & Networking
11:00amStrongLead
Vicki Murray, Executive Leadership Coach & Trainer

Vicki Murray is a seasoned leader, coach, and trainer with over four decades of experience developing teams, empowering professionals, and leading organizations through growth and change. Prior to joining StrongLead, she spent 39 years as a business owner, first building a successful direct sales organization of over 1,000 consultants, and later running a tile and stone showroom supporting her family’s installation business. At StrongLead, Vicki serves as an Executive Leadership Coach and Trainer. She co-facilitates the High-Performance Leaders program and leads monthly leadership training for organizations across North Carolina including Carolina Oncology, Senior TLC, and Kintegra Health. Vicki has provided training, one-on-one coaching, strategic planning, keynotes and workshops for teams and leaders across various sectors including healthcare, manufacturing, government, and nonprofit. With a leadership style rooted in authenticity and practical application, Vicki is known for helping leaders build influence, clarity, and confidence — and for equipping teams to lead well, work better together, and create environments where people thrive.

11:00amBuilding & Leading High-Performing Oncology Teams Starts with Me

High-performing teams don’t begin with processes — they begin with leaders. In the pace and pressure of oncology environments, even experienced leaders can drift into reactive leadership that limits reflection, clarity, and intentional growth. This opening session re-centers participants on the principle that leadership effectiveness starts internally before it ever shows up on a team.
Through engaging adult-learning techniques and guided reflection, participants will examine the experiences that have shaped their leadership journey, honoring lessons from the past while clarifying the direction ahead. The session will also foster meaningful peer connection, strengthening relationships among oncology leaders that will serve as a source of ongoing collaboration, support, and shared learning beyond the conference.
Attendees at the meeting will:
1. Analyze how personal leadership history and self-awareness influence current leadership effectiveness and team culture within oncology practices.
2. Apply reflective leadership tools to clarify leadership purpose, direction, and personal growth priorities.
3. Build peer connections that support ongoing collaboration, accountability, and shared problem-solving beyond the
conference setting.

12:00pmLunch and Networking in the Center/West Ballroom
1:00pmOncology Leadership Simplified — Converting Influence into Team Outcomes

As leaders grow in responsibility, their influence often becomes more complex. With multiple stakeholders, busy clinical operations, growing teams, and limited margin, influence can become unclear or diffuse — resulting in misaligned priorities, stalled initiatives, reduced buy-in, or uneven accountability. This session refocuses both new and seasoned oncology leaders on the essential truth of leadership: results ultimately flow through people. Participants will explore how influence operates in their day-to-day interactions — with physicians, clinical leaders, front office teams, business staff, and cross-department partners. Leaders will identify where influence is most needed in their own practice, consider how their communication and leadership style shape results, and clarify which outcomes truly matter most for their teams.
Attendees at the meeting will:
1. Identify key individuals and teams within their practice whom they must influence to improve collaboration, accountability, and performance.
2. Evaluate how their leadership communication and behavior impact engagement and buy-in with those stakeholders.
3. Clarify practical influence strategies tied to specific leadership outcomes they want to strengthen (e.g., teamwork, follow through, consistency, and alignment).

2:00pmBreak and Networking
3:00pmNCOMS Members Meeting – Members Only Please
4:00pmAdjourn ~ Dinner is on your own

Friday, June 5th, 2026

7:00amBreakfast & Networking
8:00amOncology Management in Action — Setting the Emotional Climate of Your Team

Experienced leaders recognize that their presence sets the emotional tone of the workplace — yet few have been taught how to intentionally manage that influence. Chronic stress, staffing shortages, and operational pressure in oncology environments often result in emotional fatigue that unintentionally spreads throughout teams. This session equips leaders to assess the emotional climate they create and develop greater emotional intelligence, confidence, and credibility as leaders. Using the Leadership Energy Matrix, participants will explore how their responses to situations and pressure affect morale, workplace stability, and productivity. Leaders will gain practical insight into modeling a non-anxious presence that strengthens trust, reinforces credibility, and promotes performance-focused leadership — providing them with tools they can immediately put into practice with their teams.
Attendees at the meeting will:
1. Evaluate how their leadership presence and emotional responses influence staff morale, engagement, and resilience within oncology teams.
2. Develop situational awareness to accurately read team dynamics and apply the appropriate leadership and emotional energy to each situation.
3. Apply practical techniques to model a confident, credible, and non-anxious leadership presence during everyday leadership moments.

9:30amBreak & Networking
10:30amValues-Driven Leadership — Modeling the Oncology Culture That Attracts
& Retains Talent

Retention challenges in oncology environments are frequently driven not by compensation issues alone, but by inconsistency in leadership behavior and cultural expectations. Unintentionally, competing demands, staffing challenges, and time constraints can quietly shift leaders into reactive mode — creating subtle misalignment between what they believe and how they show up. Over time, this inconsistency erodes trust, clarity, and team culture. This session reconnects leaders with the core values that guide their leadership and examines how consistently those values are  demonstrated in everyday decisions and interactions. Through highly engaging exercises, participants will develop their own leadership success compass, explore how to model the way for others, and be empowered to lead with greater confidence and authenticity. This is a critical step in crafting the type of oncology practice that attracts and retains top talent because of its culture.
Attendees at the meeting will:
1. Clarify and articulate their core leadership values and analyze how those values directly influence trust, engagement, and culture within their oncology teams.
2. Evaluate alignment gaps between stated values and real-world leadership behaviors, especially under stress or competing priorities.
3. Translate clarified values into observable leadership actions that strengthen credibility, reinforce expectations, and promote consistency across their practice.

12:00pmA Patient’s Story: Compassion, Care and the Cancer Journey
Angie Reid, Administrative Assistant, Operations Administration, ECU Health Medical Center
A powerful personal perspective on the cancer journey, emphasizing compassion, human connection in healing, and
meaningful reflections on the patient experience.
1:00pmAdjourn – Boxed Lunches to go – Safe Travel Everyone!

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We look forward to chatting!

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We look forward to chatting!