November 8, 2007, ST. LOUIS – Maryann Coletti, BS, RN, government relations and patient advocate at the Siteman Cancer Center, is the Missouri Nurses Association (MONA), Third District, 2007 "St. Louis Nurse of the Year."

The award is given for Coletti''s patient advocacy to promote and improve quality cancer care and nurse advocacy with legislative issues. She serves as a volunteer for MONA''s Government Affairs Committee, is on the planning committee for MONA Nurse Lobby Day and developed the organization''s legislative and regulatory agenda.

"Maryann''s remarkable dedication to the nursing profession and her role in patient advocacy is why our board of directors unanimously voted for her to receive this award," says Paula M. Brown, R.N., C.L.N.C. First Vice President of MONA, Third District. "She works at the state and local level to help nurses that they are their own greatest assets when it comes to health policy and advocacy."

It''s the second honor for Coletti this year. In April, she was winner of the Excellence in Oncology Nursing Health Policy and Advocacy Award from the Oncology Nursing Society.

"Maryann has been instrumental in ensuring that colleagues of the Siteman Cancer Center are aware of legislative issues that impact cancer care, education and research," says Shirley Johnson, RN, executive director of the Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine. "She is a valuable asset to the work that we do."

Coletti has been actively engaged in health policy and advocacy in the state of Missouri for many years. In 2007 alone, she helped secured tobacco control program funding in Missouri and increased funding for the Show Me State''s Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program (BCCCP).

Prior to her career as a patient advocate, Coletti was a nurse clinician with the Women''s Cancer Control Program in Columbia, MO where she performed cancer early detection exams for asymptomatic females.