18 u A b C o m P r e H e N S I V e C A N C e r C e N T e r

ALL SHE WANTED to do was teach. But

by the time college rolled around, tight fam-

ily finances stood between Ms. Towns and

an education in education. Forced to examine

other career options, she found inspiration in

a friend who was studying to become a nurse

anesthetist. Following her friend’s lead, Ms.

Towns took a chance on nursing school—and

it paid off in ways she hadn’t expected. “Once

I became a nurse, I realized I could do a lot

of teaching there,” she says. “I really devel-

oped a love for it.”

After graduating from the UAB School of

Nursing in 1988, Ms. Towns left UAB and

took a nursing job at Baptist Medical Center

Princeton in surgical oncology. She quickly

felt out of place. “I realized what I missed

about UAB was the access to research and

clinical support,” Ms. Towns says. At UAB,

she says, there is a “drive to continue toward

being a center of excellence. We embrace

TONI TOWNS

ALL THROUGH HER CHILDHOOD, ANTOINETTE “TONI” TOWNS, R.N., B.S.N., CHPN, DREAMED OF BEING A TEACHER.

BUT WHEN SHE WENT INTO NURSING, SHE DISCOVERED THAT TEACHING DIDN’T REQUIRE A CLASSROOM—AND THAT WHEN SHE

FOUND HER PASSION, SHE WOULD FIND A WAY TO EDUCATE THOSE AROUND HER.

“It’s fANtAstIC whAt thE CANCER CENtER Is DOINg.”

B Y C H R I S T Y M C K E N Z I E