Peggy Jo Alker, FNP-C

Biography

Peggy-Jo “PJ” Alker is a Family Nurse Practitioner at Ochsner MD Anderson / Gayle and Tom Benson Cancer Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, where she focuses on hereditary cancer and high-risk patients. With more than two decades of advanced practice experience spanning hereditary and high-risk cancer, hematology/oncology with a focus on breast cancer, and preventive and general cardiology, she is dedicated to helping patients understand their cancer risk and adopt effective risk-reducing strategies. Since joining Ochsner in 2016, PJ has played a central role in building new models of cancer care. She served as the lead advanced practice provider (APP) in establishing the High-Risk Breast Clinic and the Oncology Urgent Care for patients undergoing chemotherapy and other treatments. Today, she is co-lead for the system-wide development and expansion of the Hereditary Cancer and High-Risk Clinic, where she provides genomic cancer risk assessment. During her time at Ochsner, she has also served on the committee guiding the evolution of the Chemotherapy Care Companion program and as a sub-investigator for multiple clinical trials. An active contributor to the advanced practice community, PJ has co-authored publications in the Journal of the Advanced Practitioner in Oncology (JADPRO), including “High-Risk Breast Clinic” (2025) and “Advanced Practitioner Professional Development Through Publication” (2026), as well as “Chemotherapy Care Companion: Enhancing Cancer Care Through Digital Remote Monitoring” in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (2024). She has presented on the High-Risk Breast Clinic at the ONS Congress and on the Chemotherapy Care Companion program at CAGLA, and her abstract on disparities in genetic testing among high-risk breast cancer patients was accepted for poster presentation at the 18th AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities. She has shared her expertise with the public on the "All in Against Cancer" podcast and NOLA Now news. She has served on the JADPRO Education Board since 2023 and as a JADPRO abstract/poster reviewer and Article of the Year reviewer. Within Ochsner, PJ founded the Hereditary and High-Risk Journal Club, presents in the educational lunch-and-learn series, collaborates with FORCE (Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered), and was named an Employee Experience Ambassador in 2025. She started "walks on the levee" with her high-risk patients in which they meet once a month to walk on the levee, meditate and watch the sunrise. She is nationally certified as a Family Nurse Practitioner by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners and completed the Intensive Course in Genomic Cancer Risk Assessment at City of Hope National Medical Center in 2026. She is a member of the City of Hope Clinical Cancer Genomics Community of Practice and the Obesity Medicine Association, and her Certificate of Advanced Education in Obesity Medicine is pending review.