Luana Pereira, MA Clin. Psych., MSW, RSW (she/her), is a Registered Social Worker and Psychotherapist with 18 years of clinical experience spanning hospital, community, and private‑practice settings. Her specialty is psychosocial oncology, and her career has taken her through some of the most respected cancer centres in Brazil and Canada, where she has supported children, adolescents, and adults through diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship — including work at SickKids and Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. Today, Luana practises at the Peter Gilgan Centre for Women’s Cancers at Women’s College Hospital, where she counsels people newly diagnosed with breast cancer, cancer survivors, and carriers of genetic mutations associated with an elevated risk of breast or ovarian cancer.
Alongside her clinical work, Luana serves as the Social Work Professional Advisor at Women’s College Hospital and as an Adjunct Lecturer with the Factor‑Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto, helping to shape the next generation of oncology social workers. Her academic grounding runs deep: a Bachelor’s in Psychology and a Master’s in Clinical Psychology from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, a Master of Social Work from the University of Toronto, a postgraduate diploma in Clinical Child Psychology, and supervised training in psychodynamic psychotherapy. She draws from a range of evidence‑based modalities including psychodynamic therapy, CBT, ACT, attachment‑based, and compassion‑focused approaches and tailors each to the person in front of her. Luana is also fluent in Brazilian Portuguese and offers sessions in Portuguese, a meaningful source of support for members of the Brazilian community in Ontario who prefer to do this work in their first language.
Luana’s connection to this field began at home. She was 14 when her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, and that early experience of watching a family move through uncertainty and change shaped the clinician she would later become. She describes her work as walking alongside patients, helping them process their experience, identify what they need, strengthen coping, build resilience, and reframe hope when life takes an unexpected turn. Luana and the Cancer Fatigue Services team are ready to support you and the people who love you through whatever the journey brings.
