OncoVie® CES Advanced Qualification · 15th Edition

The Comprehensive Training to Become an OncoVie® Cancer Exercise Specialist

Cancer changes everything about how a body moves, recovers, and responds to exercise. This comprehensive qualification trains you to meet those changes with clinical confidence - and it is taught by Andrea Leonard, who built this field from the ground up.

Andrea developed the OncoVie® CES program over more than three decades of clinical practice, research, and collaboration with leading oncology medical teams. It covers 26 cancer types and pediatric oncology in depth.

You will learn how surgical interventions, chemotherapy, radiation, hormone therapy, and immunotherapy alter musculoskeletal function, cardiovascular capacity, and neurological health - and exactly how to adapt exercise programming in response.

Trusted by nearly 20,000 OncoVie® Cancer Exercise Specialists in 60 countries - more than any other organization in the world.

Revised August 2026 - the 15th Edition. All treatment and surgical protocols, including breast reconstruction, have been updated to current practice and standards. Nutrition has been rebuilt as Nutrition Science in Oncology, written by Andrea Leonard, MS - Functional Nutrition, with a new section on GLP-1 medications by Dr. Anna Schwartz, PhD, FNP-BC, FAAN. Complementary and alternative medicine and culinary medicine are an entirely new chapter, written by Dr. Manuel Guzman. CETI is the only certifying body in oncology exercise that revises its curriculum every two years and requires full re-examination to stay qualified.

(Email andrea@thecancerspecialist.com for enrollment questions, or click the chat button)

Who this is for

You already work with bodies. You may be a personal trainer, physical or occupational therapist, nurse, exercise physiologist, yoga or Pilates instructor, or a health coach.

What you don't yet have is a defensible answer when someone in treatment, or six months past surgery, asks whether it is safe to lift. This qualification gives you that answer - and the assessment protocol, programming framework and contraindications behind it.

It is also for professionals who want referrals. Oncologists and surgeons recommend exercise constantly and have almost nowhere to send people. A credential from the organization that established this field is what makes you findable and trustworthy to them.

No prior oncology background is required. The curriculum starts with cancer biology and builds from there.

What you'll be able to do

• Conduct a full postural and range-of-motion assessment on a client who has had cancer surgery, and understand what you are looking at
• Recognize the acute and chronic side effects of chemotherapy, radiation, hormone therapy and immunotherapy - including the ones commonly mistaken for ordinary deconditioning
• Identify lymphedema risk, know what prevents it, and know what to do when you see it
• Build individualized programming across the treatment continuum, from pre-surgical through active treatment, recovery and long-term survivorship
• Work confidently with 26 cancer types plus pediatric oncology
• Know precisely where your professional boundary sits, and when to refer
• Talk to the medical community in language it takes seriously

The curriculum: four modules, 600+ pages

Module One - Understanding Cancer

Cancer biology, staging, the immune system and the human biome, and the surgical procedures used across 26 cancer types plus pediatric oncology - with their acute and chronic side effects and the contraindications that follow from each.

This module also covers what almost nobody teaches: what to say to someone newly diagnosed, the specialist's role in palliative care, family cancer syndromes and risk-reducing surgery, and how to support caregivers.

Chapters: The "C" Word · Cancer Staging · Cancer & The Immune System · Types of Cancer & Their Surgical Procedures

Module Two - Treatment, Side Effects & Lymphedema

Breast cancer risk factors, surgery and reconstruction, the treatments and their side effects, neurological complications, and lymphedema - its prevention, identification and management.

Includes Denise Stewart, OT, on scar tissue awareness; Dr. Mark Kelly on cancer and comorbidities; and upper and lower extremity lymphatic drainage programming with Andrea Leonard.

Chapters: Breast Surgery & Reconstruction · Cancer Treatment · Neurological Complications of Cancer Treatment · Lymphedema

Module Three - Assessment & Programming

How to conduct a comprehensive postural assessment, take goniometric measurements, and run the functional tests that tell you what a client can actually do - then how to build individualized programming from what you find.

Posture, pain and muscle imbalance. Correcting range-of-motion limitations. Cardiorespiratory fitness and exercise intensity. Core, proprioception and balance. Manual stretching technique.

Module Four - Survivorship, Nutrition & Integrative Care

How a properly prescribed program helps combat fatigue, reduce pain and depression, and support long-term survivorship - and the role nutrition plays through treatment and beyond.

Eleven chapters, including three that are new or rebuilt in this edition:

• Nutrition Science in Oncology - Andrea Leonard, MS, Functional Nutrition. Protein requirements during treatment, the evidence on specific dietary patterns, what to say when a client arrives having read that sugar feeds cancer, and where the boundary sits between general nutrition guidance and medical nutrition therapy.
• GLP-1 medications and cancer - Dr. Anna Schwartz, PhD, FNP-BC, FAAN. What semaglutide and tirzepatide do, what happens to lean mass during rapid weight loss, and why resistance training matters more rather than less.
• Complementary & Alternative Medicine and Culinary Medicine - Dr. Manuel Guzman. Most clients using complementary approaches don't tell their oncologist, but they will mention it to the person they see three times a week. The material sorts modalities by evidence for symptom management, neutral, and genuine interaction risk. Culinary medicine covers working around taste changes, mouth sores, nausea and appetite loss, and food safety for immunocompromised clients.

Also: benefits of exercise · cancer-related pain · mental and physical fatigue · survivorship · the psychology of fitness · weight management · alcohol and cancer risk · taking control of your emotions · working with the medical community

Who teaches it

Video lectures from leading professionals in oncology and exercise, including Dr. Jay Harness, breast surgical oncologist; Denise Stewart, OT, on scar tissue; and Dr. Mark Kelly on cancer and comorbidities.

Every revision of this curriculum is reviewed by the CETI Medical Advisory Board - twenty-two clinicians including surgical oncologists, oncology nurses, physical therapists, and researchers, across nine countries - before it is published.

That review is the difference between a textbook and a manual.

What's included

• Four modules, 600+ pages of full-color handbooks, downloadable as PDF
• Video lectures from leading professionals in oncology and exercise
• Quizzes throughout, and case studies for practicing assessment
• Final examination
• The OncoVie® Cancer Exercise Specialist Advanced Qualification on passing
• Business forms and practice resources
• Listing in the CES Directory, where survivors and clinicians search for specialists
• Access to the private specialist group
• Email and phone support from the CETI team

Printed handbooks are available to order separately. They are printed on demand, which is how the edition stays current.

Continuing education credits

This qualification carries credits with ACE (3.5), AFAA (15), NSCA (20), CIMSPA (10 CPD), canfitpro (4), NASM (1.9), ESSA, and AUSactive via ACE.

Petition forms for other awarding bodies are supplied with the course.

Already qualified on an earlier edition?

Qualifications are renewed every two years against the current edition.

If you are working from the 13th or 14th, the treatment protocols, reconstruction approaches and lymphedema guidance you learned have moved - and the nutrition chapter has been rebuilt entirely. That is not a marketing distinction. A specialist working from an older edition is working from different medicine.

Renewal takes you to the 15th Edition and the current examination.

Common questions

Do I need a medical or clinical background?

No. The curriculum begins with cancer biology and builds from there. Most students come from personal training, yoga, Pilates, physical therapy, nursing and health coaching.

How long does it take?

Self-study has no deadline - most people finish in two to four months working around a full schedule. The Zoom cohort runs across one month with weekly live sessions.

What happens if I don't pass the exam?

You retake it. Nobody is left holding a $999 course and no qualification.

Are the printed handbooks included?

The handbooks are included as downloadable full-color PDFs. Printed copies are ordered separately - they are printed on demand, which is how the edition stays current. Allow around two weeks for delivery. Because each set is printed individually, printed handbooks cannot be returned.

How does renewal work?

Qualifications are renewed every two years against the current edition, with a full re-examination. This is the only oncology exercise credential that requires it, and it is the reason a CETI specialist is working from current medicine rather than the medicine of five years ago.

Will I be listed anywhere clients can find me?

Yes. Qualified specialists are listed in the CES Directory, where survivors and clinicians search by location.

I trained with CETI years ago. Do I start over?

No. Renewal takes you to the 15th Edition and the current examination.

How to take it

Self-study - $999. Work at your own pace. Everything above, with no deadline.

Zoom Guided Training - $1,749. The same qualification with weekly live sessions across a one-month cohort, plus business support. Suited to people who want structure and direct access to Andrea.

The Everything Package - $2,499. Twelve courses including this one, the modality qualifications, exercise and business coaching, and lifetime renewal.

Questions before you enroll?

Email andrea@thecancerspecialist.com or call 503-502-6776. You will reach the people who wrote the course.