Meet Our CPCRN Scholars
24 current scholarsRead more about the CPCRN Scholars Program
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Samiat Ajibola, , Emory
Samiat Ajibola is a first-generation Nigerian American graduate student at Emory University with a passion for health equity. Her journey began through her love for science and advocacy. Through her experience creating policy at all levels of government, grassroots organizing, and community-based research, she continues to use every opportunity to amplify the voices often left unheard. Samiat is an innovative, articulate, visionary who is practical and a natural leader. She strives to surpass her best, advocate for others, and leave an impact on everyone she sees.
Dina Alabsew, MS, University of North Carolina
Dina Alabsew currently works as an evaluation assistant for the North Carolina Partnership to Increase Colorectal Cancer Screening (NC PICCS) Program. She received her MS in Biomedical Science from Liberty University and BS in Health Sciences from Truman State University. Dina is passionate about global health and medicine, raising awareness and making healthcare accessible around the world. She is excited to learn more about implementation science and how to use it to effectively deliver cancer awareness worldwide. Dina plans to further her education and pursue a medical degree to practice medicine internationally.
Bianca Albers, PhD, MSc, MA, Other Center
Dr. Bianca Albers is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Implementation Science in Health Care (IfIS) in Zurich, Switzerland. She obtained her PhD from the University of Melbourne, Australia. Her research focuses on understanding and supporting the implementation of organized colorectal cancer screening programs in Switzerland with a focus on implementation determinants and strategies. Her work is also dedicated to the role of implementation support practitioners in promoting the uptake of evidence in routine service settings. With a background in political science, Bianca also maintains a deep interest in health systems research and the interface between implementation science and policy implementation.
Caitlin Allen, PhD, MPH, Other Center
Caitlin G. Allen, PhD, MPH is a social and behavioral scientist with expertise in the implementation of evidence-based research to advance precision public health initiatives aimed at reducing health disparities. Her current research focuses on the implementation and sustainability of risk-stratified approaches for cancer prevention and early detection among underserved minority population. She has conducted implementation studies about the use of genomic technologies and family history collection in community and clinical settings, used mixed methods approaches to study models of genetic service delivery and patient and provider understanding of genomics. Dr. Allen is also passionate about training the next generation of scientists in the field of precision public health.
Arica Brandford, PhD, JD, MSN, RN, Other Center
Dr. Brandford is the Assistant Associate Director for Community Outreach and Engagement at Houston Methodist Neal Cancer Center. Arica brings a wealth of experience and passion for community-based initiatives to her role. Her responsibilities include collaborating with the Houston Methodist Community Benefits Office and community-based partners to disseminate and implement evidence-based interventions, public education, and health policy recommendations, particularly in communities disproportionately impacted by cancer. Additionally, Dr. Brandford works to develop innovative approaches to prevention and screening opportunities through extramural funding avenues, as well as facilitating research proposals and initiatives in the community alongside the cancer center's research team.
Jennifer Cruz, MPH, Harvard
Jen Cruz (she/her) is a Population Health Sciences PhD student in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her overall research interests are at the intersection of social epidemiology, health equity, and implementation science. Through her dissertation, she will be exploring the heterogeneity of rurality in the US and how to leverage contextual differences in identifying setting-appropriate interventions to address persistent inequities in breast cancer screening. Jen is a predoctoral fellow at the Harvard/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Educational Program in Cancer Prevention, a National Institutes of Health T32 grant, as well as a member of the FXB Center for Health & Human Rights doctoral cohort. She is also a trainee in the Implementation Science Center for Cancer Control Equity working on projects focused on increasing preventative cancer screening in community healthcare settings. Prior to pursuing her PhD, Jen received her MPH in Global Health Epidemiology from the University of Michigan and her BS in Psychology from Seattle University.
Mayuko Ito Fukunaga, MD, MSc, FCCP, Other Center
Dr. Mayuko Ito Fukunaga is a pulmonary critical care physician and an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine at UMass Chan Medical School. Prior to joining UMass Chan, Dr. Ito Fukunaga was involved in the multiple QI project to improve access and quality of care for patients with lung cancer in rural communities and led a successful initiative to begin a lung cancer screening program as a physician champion. She currently facilitates a weekly multidisciplinary lung cancer screening conference at UMass Memorial Health. Her research focus is implementation of lung cancer screening using health informatics.
Emily Hill, PhD, MS, RDN, Other Center
Dr. Emily Hill is a Postdoctoral Fellow and registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN) at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Her research spans the translational research spectrum, with projects involving -omics approaches for the evaluation of nutrition interventions as well as studies investigating biobehavioral lifestyle modification programs for cancer prevention and control. She completed her MS and clinical training in Medical Dietetics and her PhD in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences with a specialization in Biomedical, Clinical, and Translational Science at The Ohio State University. She is currently planning the design and integration of a survivorship nutrition intervention within an established clinical exercise oncology program with support from the University of Colorado Cancer Center in an effort to improve evidence-based survivorship programming that is implemented clinically and disseminated broadly. Through this project, she is completing training in mixed-methods research and dissemination and implementation (D&I) science with the long-term goal to incorporate precision nutrition and D&I approaches into the design, delivery, and evaluation of interventions to improve health and reduce risk along the cancer control continuum.
Nicole J. Kim, MD, MPH, University of Washington - Seattle
Dr. Nicole J. Kim is a Transplant Hepatology Fellow at the University of Washington. She obtained her MD/MPH degrees at the University of Washington and completed her Internal Medicine residency training at the University of California San Francisco, and her Gastroenterology and T32 research fellowship training at the University of Washington. She is interested in promoting health equity in hepatology through patient care and research. Her research interests include the development of effective interventions to better address disparities in liver cancer care, with a focus on early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma through timely surveillance and improving the patient experience related to liver cancer care.
Sheniqua Lasker, , Emory
Sheniqua Lasker is currently a first year MPH student in Behavioral, Social, and Health Education Sciences at Emory University. Previously, she worked as a Health Communication Specialist, where she developed both print and multimedia materials for chronic disease awareness and prevention for residents in Houston, TX. She also worked as a Nutrition specialist before moving to Atlanta, GA to pursue her MPH, where she developed nutrition education and, implemented programs in elementary schools to promote healthy habits. Currently, as an MPH student, she serves as a Graduate Assistant with the Emory-Georgia Tech Healthcare Innovation Program. Her research interest includes cancer prevention and awareness, mental health access, health equity and chronic disease prevention/management.
Jan Lowery, PhD, MPH, Colorado School of Public Health
Jan Lowery, PhD, MPH is a cancer epidemiologist and public health practitioner with broad experience implementing cancer prevention and control programs in diverse settings including primary care, public health, and healthcare systems. In her current (and new) role as Assistant Director of Dissemination and Implementation (D&I) in the Office of Community Outreach and Engagement at the CU Cancer Center, Jan will be continuing these efforts across Colorado with a focus on engaging communities in all aspects of the center's work. In her faculty role in the CO School of Public Health, Jan is charged with developing a new course in D&I for MPH students. The CPCRN Scholars will provide formal training in D&I (that Jan does not have) that will help her create this course and establish a network of practitioners with whom she may partner on future research and scholarly projects.
Sukh Makhnoon, PhD, MS, Other Center
Dr. Sukh Makhnoon is an Assistant Professor at the Peter O’Donnell Jr. School of Public Health and Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Dr. Makhnoon is a genetic epidemiologist who focuses on public health genomics and the translation of genomic applications into clinical practice. As an interdisciplinary researcher, she has developed a research program applying genetics, behavioral science, epidemiology, health services, and clinical perspectives to improve utilization of cancer prevention and control innovations across the cancer continuum, with a focus on uncertain and reclassified genetic test results. Her research interests include uncertainty related to genomic sequencing, genomic variant reclassification, and patients’ experiences with genomic sequencing. She contributes to a range of empirical projects focused on clinical genomics translation and precision medicine approaches to the prevention of cancer in diverse patient populations. Prior to joining UTSW, Dr. Makhnoon was a postdoctoral fellow at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center in the Division of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences. She received her PhD in Public Health Genetics and MS in Genetic Epidemiology from the University of Washington in Seattle.
Dylan Miller, MPH, BS, University of Arizona
Dylan received his bachelor’s degree in BioHealth Sciences from Oregon State University in 2018. He received his master’s degree in Public Health with a focus in Health Policy & Management from the University of Arizona in 2020 and is currently enrolled in the PhD program in epidemiology where his research focuses on skin cancer prevention through education and behavioral interventions. Dylan has experience working on cancer prevention as the Outreach Coordinator for the University of Arizona Skin Cancer Institute and as a public health intern with the Arizona Department of Health Service’s SunWise Program.
Megan A. Mullins, PhD, MPH, Other Center
Megan A. Mullins, PhD, MPH is a cancer care delivery researcher and tenure-track assistant professor at the Peter O’Donnell Jr. School of Public Health and Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Dr. Mullins’ research program is focused on improving the quality and equity of cancer care for sexual and gender minorities and people with advanced stage cancers. Dr. Mullins uses mixed-methods approaches for care delivery research to inform the implementation of evidence-based interventions. She has specific expertise in the analysis of large population-based and medical claims data, in-depth interviewing, surveying patients and providers, and health disparities research.
Olufeyisayo "Feyi" Odebunmi, MPH, University of North Carolina
Olufeyisayo “Feyi” Odebunmi (she/her) is Nigerian and a licensed pharmacist in Nigeria. She received her Master of Public Health (MPH, 2020) in Health Services Management and Policy from East Tennessee State University (ETSU). Feyi is a third-year doctoral student in the department of Health Policy and Management, minor concentration in Quality and Access at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She is currently in the dissertation proposal phase of her program, where she would like to explore disparities in mental health care and the associated outcomes in patients with cancer and mental health disorders. Feyi's interests encompass healthcare disparities, cancer control and prevention, women’s health, program evaluation, and quality improvement. She is delighted to be among the third cohort of CPCRN scholars and grateful for the opportunity to network with other trainees and experts in the Dissemination and Implementation (D&I) and cancer disparities field. Feyi is eagerly looking forward to learning how to apply quantitative methods and D&I efforts in tackling cancer disparities.
Kelly Palmer, PhD, MHS, CCRP, University of Arizona
Dr. Palmer earned a BS in Microbiology and a BS in Natural Science from the University of Akron, a Master of Science in Health Sciences from Indiana University, and a PhD in Health Behavior Health Promotion from the University of Arizona. Dr. Palmer is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Promotion Sciences at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and the Associate Director of the UAHS Center for Health Disparities Research. Dr. Palmer spent more than a decade managing translational research studies and has extensive experience with lifestyle modification interventions for cardiometabolic disease risk reduction. She has demonstrated success with community outreach and engagement and strategies for effective participant recruitment and retention. Her research seeks to understand sociocultural influences of health behavior and to design and implement culturally informed, settings-based interventions to achieve health equity for vulnerable and underserved populations. She is interested in understanding how to better engage these populations, particularly Black women, in cancer screening, intervention, and research. Her work is centered on the experiences and perspectives of underserved racial and ethnic minority patients as well as examining the social and political determinants of cancer health disparities through the socioecological model and community and asset-based approaches. Her research has examined the hair salon's physical, cultural, and social environment as a health-promoting setting for Black women. Her training in qualitative inquiry solicits comprehensive personal accounts and contextual information that can help to improve interventions in cancer prevention and control.
Nivi Parthasarathy, MPH, University of Texas
Nivedhitha Parthasarathy (Nivi), MPH is a PhD student at the University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHealth) at Houston in the Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences. She worked as a dentist, and later pursued an MPH with a concentration in Global Health from Manipal, India. She is working towards exploring the diet behaviors of children from low-income families and their home food environment, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. She aims to direct her research towards a broader scope of cancer prevention, and design and implement culturally tailored interventions to address diet behaviors among underserved immigrant families. Outside of work, she enjoys hiking, painting, singing, and growing indoor plants.
Nivedhitha Parthasarathy (Nivi), MPH is a PhD student at the University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHealth) at Houston in the Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences. She worked as a dentist, and later pursued an MPH with a concentration in Global Health from Manipal, India. She is working towards exploring the diet behaviors of children from low-income families and their home food environment, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. She aims to direct her research towards a broader scope of cancer prevention, and design and implement culturally tailored interventions to address diet behaviors among underserved immigrant families. Outside of work, she enjoys hiking, painting, singing, and growing indoor plants.
Charles R. Rogers, PhD, MPH, MS, MCHES®, Other Center
Committed to dismantling systems of oppression to ensure equitable health for all, Dr. Charles R. Rogers currently serves as an Associate Professor of Epidemiology & Social Sciences in the Institute for Health & Equity at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW). He is also an MCW Cancer Center Research Scholar Endowed Chair and the Inaugural Associate Director of Community Outreach & Engagement for MCW’s Cancer Center. In addition to being the Founding Director of his Men’s Health Inequities Research Lab since 2014, Dr. Rogers is also an Associate Member of the University of Michigan-Mixed Methods Program. Dr. Rogers’ research agenda has contributed to translational solutions that address the complex underpinnings of inequities in men’s health, with a primary focus on colorectal cancer (CRC) awareness and prevention among African-American men for more than 10 years. In addition to being a thought leader in the CRC space, his research foci also include cancer health disparities, behavioral & community-based implementation science, mixed methods, and survey methodology.
Michelle Shin, RN, MSN, MPH, University of Washington - Seattle
Michelle B. Shin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Child, Family, and Population Health Nursing at the University of Washington (UW) School of Nursing (SON). Her research focuses on application of implementation science methods and interventions to improve cancer prevention, care delivery and equity among underserved populations. She has clinical experience in safety-net primary care settings and research experience in cervical cancer prevention (human papillomavirus [HPV] vaccination and HPV self-sampling) domestically and abroad. Michelle is involved in interdisciplinary projects that uses mixed methods and population-based data to understand and improve cancer disparities.
Rowena Tam, PT, DPT, Other Center
Rowena Tam, PT, DPT is a PhD student at San Diego State University-University of California, San Diego's Joint Doctoral Program in Public Health with an emphasis in Health Behavior. She obtained her bachelor's at UC Berkeley and Doctorate in Physical Therapy from San Diego State University. She is a Lymphedema Certified Physical Therapist interested in utilizing dissemination and implementation science methods to examine the social determinants of health impacting pelvic health, exercise rehabilitation, and quality of life outcomes in cancer survivors.
Tara Torres, MPsych, University of Arizona
Tara Torres is a PhD student in the clinical psychology program at the University of Arizona. She received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and a master’s degree in psychology from the University of Arizona. Her research interests include healthcare provider communication, symptom management, and supportive care practices for underserved cancer populations. Her recent research efforts have focused on evaluating empathic communication gaps found between providers and Hispanic cancer patients. Tara’s long-term goals include using implementation science to facilitate the systematic uptake of communication skills training interventions that lead to equitable cancer care practices.
Ha Ngan (Milkie) Vu, PhD, MA, Other Center
Dr. Ha Ngan (Milkie) Vu (she/her) is a mixed-methods researcher with nearly a decade of experience conducting community-engaged research to promote health equity. Her interdisciplinary research program addresses three interrelated themes: 1) exploring multilevel factors influencing health behaviors, with an emphasis on cancer prevention and control (e.g. HPV vaccination) among Asian Americans and migrant communities; 2) understanding and addressing health-related social needs of diverse populations; and 3) leveraging implementation science and community engagement to develop, implement, and sustain evidence-based programs, particularly in underserved communities or low-resource settings. Dr. Vu received her PhD in Behavioral, Social, and Health Education Sciences from Emory University; her MA in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago; and her BA in History & Cultural Anthropology from Duke University.
Austin Waters, , University of North Carolina
Austin Waters (he/him) is currently a doctoral student in the Department of Health Policy and Management at UNC’s Gillings School of Global Public Health. His current predoctoral fellowship research, funded by the Cancer Care Quality Training Program (CCQTP) T32, focuses on inequities in economic and mental health outcomes experienced by LGBTQ+ cancer populations. Austin has experience in a variety of methods primarily focusing on the overlap of community engagement, health equity, qualitative methods, outcomes research, and implementation science. Through his research he hopes to be able to amplify the lived experience and voices of LGBTQ+ cancer populations to catalyze movement toward health equity.
Yousra Yusuf, PhD, MPH, New York University-CUNY
Yousra Yusuf, PhD, MPH is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Section for Health Equity at NYU School of Medicine. Her current research focuses on the intersection of social determinants of health around COVID-19 vaccine uptake, food and nutrition decisions, and cancer management. Her background is on reproductive health priorities through the life course among individuals in underserved, immigrant communities. She uses mixed methods in community-engaged research to explore gender equity in racial/ ethnic and religious minority groups in the United States.
Dr. Yusuf serves as the President of the South Asian Public Health Association (SAPHA), a national nonprofit that aims to promote the health and well-being of South Asian communities in the United States through advocacy, communication, and collaboration. In addition, she is involved in various capacities in nonprofits serving the Asian and South Asian communities in New York and internationally. Dr. Yusuf completed her Masters in Public Health at the SUNY Downstate School of Public Health with a specialization in Epidemiology and a research focus in maternal health and her PhD in reproductive and maternal health with a certificate in health communications at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Prajakta Adsul, PhD, MBBS, MPH, Other Center
Dr. Prajakta Adsul is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine with a membership in the University of New Mexico's Comprehensive Cancer Center, with the Cancer Control and Population Sciences Research Program. Her research uses implementation science methods to understand the uptake and delivery of cancer screening in resource-limited clinical settings and under-served communities.
Prior to joining UNM, Dr. Adsul was a Cancer Prevention Fellow, working with the implementation science team at the National Cancer Institute. She received her medical training in India and her doctorate in Public Health at Saint Louis University College for Public Health and Social Justice.
Natoshia Askelson, PhD, MPH, University of Iowa
Natoshia M. Askelson is an Assistant Professor in the College of Public Health, Department of Community & Behavioral Health with an adjunct appointment in the Health Policy Research Program at the Public Policy Center. She currently serves as the PI for Iowa’s Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network Collaborating Center and for the PRC's core research project Active Iowa. Dr. Askelson is also Deputy Director of the Iowa PRC. She is trained as a behavioral scientist with an emphasis in health communication. Her research is focused on maternal, child and family health, with an emphasis on elementary-aged children and adolescents. She uses mixed methods to understand how policy and program changes influence positive and maladaptive behavior. She has conducted a number of studies related to Medicaid waiver programs and how enrollees understand and adapt to these programs. Additionally she has examined how parents, children and schools are responding to changes from the Healthy, Hunger-free Kids Act of 2010. Her interests in adolescent a health have resulted in a series of studies in adolescent pregnancy prevention and the HPV vaccine.
Cam Escoffery, PhD, MPH, CHES, Emory
Cam Escoffery, PhD, MPH, CHES is an Associate Professor in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. Dr. Escoffery has over 25 years of experience in health promotion, cancer prevention and control, and evaluation/implementation research. She has received funding from the National Cancer Institute, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Cancer Society, and foundations.
María Fernández, PhD, MA, University of Texas
Dr. Fernandez is the Lorne Bain Distinguished Professor in Health and Medicine, a Professor of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Texas, School of Public Health (SPH) in Houston, and Director of the Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research (CHPPR). Her research has focused on cancer prevention and control among underserved populations. She has conducted studies that range from the development and evaluation of new interventions to the science of understanding and intervening to accelerate the use of evidence-based interventions in real- world settings. Dr. Fernandez has extensive experience in research translation and dissemination and implementation (D&I) research, and has been a member of the NIH Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health Study Section. She is a PI on two NIH Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health R01s, one to develop and evaluate an online decision support system for health program planners to facilitate adoption, adaptation, and implementation of evidence-based programs and another to validate a measure of organizational readiness. Her studies have identified important behaviors and determinants of adoption and implementation of cancer control interventions in clinical and community settings and have developed implementation strategies to increase adoption and implementation of evidence-based cancer control interventions. She is an internationally known expert on Intervention Mapping and co-author on the 4th edition of Planning Health Promotion Programs: An Intervention Mapping Approach (2016). She recently authored an article on the use of IM in implementation science: Implementation Mapping: Using Intervention Mapping to Plan Implementation Strategies. She also contributed two chapters to Advancing the Science of Implementation across the Cancer Continuum, (Chambers, Vinson, Norton, Eds.; 2018).
Kristin Kilbourn, PhD, MPH, Colorado School of Public Health
Jennifer Leeman, DrPH, MPH, MDiv, University of North Carolina
Dr. Jennifer Leeman is an associate professor in the UNC School of Nursing and an implementation scientist with a focus on primary prevention in community-based settings. She currently is PI of a CDC-funded contract, “Assessing Awareness and Use of School Health Tools and Resources” that is applying mixed methods to evaluate how schools use four tools that the CDC disseminates to implement school health interventions (2015-2017). She directs the Dissemination Core of UNC’s CDC-funded Prevention Research Center and is faculty in the UNC CTSA’s Dissemination & Implementation Methods unit.
Purnima Madhivanan, MBBS, MPH, PhD, University of Arizona
Purnima Madhivanan is an Associate Professor in Health Promotion Sciences at the Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at University of Arizona, Tucson. A physician by training, she completed her MPH and PhD in Epidemiology from the University of California, Berkeley. She is the Director of the Global Health Training Program at University of Arizona, Tucson and serves as a co-PI for the Global Health Equity Scholar consortium in collaboration with Stanford, Yale and University of California, Berkeley.
For the past 20 years, her research has focused on disadvantaged populations, elucidating the dynamics of poverty, gender, and the environmental & social determinants of health, in particular the impact on women and children living in rural and limited resource communities. Dr. Madhivanan’s work focuses on addressing the systemic inequities that put women at-risk for poor health outcomes. Her current research is examining the intersection of infectious diseases and cancer, vaginal microbiome, global health, diagnostics and health disparities. Her work has resulted in more than 150 peer-review publications. She continues to develop novel lines of research and has been supported by foundations, biotechnology companies, federal and international funding organizations. Dr. Madhivanan serves as an advisor to a number of state departments of Public Health, non-profits as well as governmental research organizations.
Linda Overholser, MD, MPH, Colorado School of Public Health
Linda Overholser is an Associate Professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, as well as the Medical Director for the TACTIC (Thriving After Cancer Treatment is Complete) clinical program which seeks to assist childhood cancer survivors with transition to adult primary care. Her clinical and research interests are in the area of cancer survivorship and specifically how primary care can be empowered to more actively participate in shared care for cancer survivors. This is especially relevant for individuals diagnosed with cancer and living in rural areas, where cancer specific resources may be more limited. Dr. Overholser's research has included 1) developing and testing an intervention that successfully raised knowledge of cancer survivorship issues in rural Colorado primary care practices and 2) successfully partnering with rural communities to gain a more granular understanding of the factors that influence the provision of cancer survivorship care in those communities. She is also an active member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Survivorship Guidelines Panel.
Betsy Risendal, PhD, Colorado School of Public Health
Cynthia Thomson, PhD, MS, RDN, University of Arizona
Cynthia (Cyndi) Thomson, PhD, MS, RDN is a cancer prevention scientist with over 20 years of lifestyle intervention clinical trials research effort focused on cancer survivors. Her doctoral degree in nutritional sciences served as the foundation for her translational science career. In 2019 she completed the TIDIRC training and complimented her research program with a focus on implementation and dissemination of evidence-based information and programming with an interest in reaching those under-represented in biomedical research and under-served by cancer survivorship programming.
Mary Wangen, MPH, University of North Carolina
Mary Wangen is the Project Director for the Comprehensive Cancer Control Collaborative of North Carolina (4CNC). She earned her MPH in Health Behavior from the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health. Her research interests include disseminating and implementing evidence-based interventions into practice to promote healthy behaviors and prevent chronic disease. She has experience in qualitative research, program evaluation, project management, and research administration. She is bilingual in English and Spanish.
Karen Wickersham, PhD, RN, University of South Carolina
Dr. Wickersham is an Assistant Professor, Tenure-Track at the University of South Carolina, College of Nursing. She is a core faculty member of the Cancer Survivorship Program. She received her BSN in 1991 from the University of Virginia, her MSN with a specialty in Nursing Education from the University of Pittsburgh in 2011, and her PhD from the University of Pittsburgh in 2012. Dr. Wickersham completed her postdoctoral training at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, School of Nursing where she conducted her fellowship study, “Genetic, Clinical, and Biomarker Correlates of EGFR Inhibitor-related Rash” (NINR F32NR014753; American Nurses Foundation). Her program of research focuses on interventions to promote adherence to oral targeted therapy (OTT) and manage side effects of OTT to improve quality of life for individuals with advanced cancers who experience disparities in cancer care (race, age, rurality). Her goal is to develop: 1) interventions for management of side-effects related to OTT use, including tailoring of those interventions (i.e., dose, duration, and timing), and 2) markers for response to those interventions.
Shacoria Anderson, MPH, Emory
Shacoria Anderson is currently a PhD student in Behavioral, Social, and Health Education Sciences at Emory University. Previously, she worked as an ORISE fellow at the CDC, where she assisted with the implementation of three studies focusing on autism and developmental disabilities among children and adolescents. She also served as a research assistant at Emory Winship Cancer Institute’s Center for Community Outreach and Engagement. As an MPH student, she was inducted into the Delta Omega Public Health Honor Society. Her research interests include cancer prevention and control, implementation science, rural health, health equity, community based participatory research and mixed methods research. Her career goals are to develop comprehensive interventions and apply implementation science methods to improve cancer screening uptake among minority and rural populations, decreasing cancer disparities and burden.
Allison Antoine, MPH, CHES, Other Center
Allison Antoine is the Outreach Program Manager for the Wisconsin Cancer Collaborative (WCC). In this role, she leads the strategic outreach strategy for the WCC as they work with the 140+ member organizations to implement the Wisconsin Cancer Plan 2020-2030. Prior to this work, she led a five-year CDC funded colorectal cancer control program within nine community health centers across Wisconsin. Allison is also the Past Chair of the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors’ Cancer Council, a council of 450+ members across all CDC-funded cancer programs. Allison received her Master of Public Health from the Medical College of Wisconsin in spring 2022. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Community Health Education and Spanish from the University of Wisconsin La Crosse and has been a certified health education specialist (CHES) since 2011. Allison is thrilled to participate in the 2021- 2022 CPCRN Scholars Program!
Lauren Bates-Fraser, MA, University of North Carolina
Lauren Bates-Fraser is a doctoral student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill studying Human Movement Science in the department of Allied Health Sciences. She completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Exercise Science and Biology at SUNY Brockport and her Master’s Degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Exercise and Sport Science. Lauren’s primary research focus is exercise oncology, especially improving quality of life and reducing sedentary behavior in oncology populations. She also examines how the immune system responds to acute and chronic exercise as a potential therapy in oncology populations. Lauren is interested in the interactions of lifestyle behavioral factors and cancer risk, and the translation of basic and applied science into public health outcomes. She is extremely excited to be in the inaugural Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network Scholars program and looks forward learning more about dissemination and implementation science focused on cancer prevention and control.
Caitlin Biddell, MSPH, University of North Carolina
Caitlin Biddell is a PhD student in the Department of Health Policy and Management at UNC’s Gillings School of Global Public Health. Her research focuses on improving cancer care access and quality, particularly by understanding and addressing patient financial hardship, as a means to promoting health equity. Using a range of methodologies–including systems thinking, decision science, and implementation science–she aims to leverage available data and resources to support equitable policy development and program implementation.
Emily Bilenduke, MA, Colorado School of Public Health
Emily Bilenduke is a Clinical Health Psychology doctoral candidate at the University of Colorado Denver. She graduated from the University of Redlands with a degree in Psychology. Later, she worked at the Summit Community Care Clinic, a primary care clinic in rural Colorado, as the grant coordinator. Her time at the clinic inspired her to evaluate how people interact with their health. Emily defended her Master’s thesis on the association of microbiome and mood changes in women diagnosed with breast cancer receiving chemotherapy treatment. Her current research interests include psychosocial interventions improving mental and behavioral health in cancer patients and caregivers, barriers to psychosocial care, health disparities, and integrated care.
Enmanuel Chavarria, PhD, MS, Emory
Dr. Enmanuel ("Manny") Chavarria's research focuses on addressing cancer disparities by leveraging communication technologies. Dr. Chavarria's research implements evidence-based interventions in community-based settings delivered via culturally salient manners among medically underserved and vulnerable populations. Dr. Chavarria's research interests are twofold: 1) Investigate reasons for cancer disparities that burden underserved and vulnerable populations, and 2) develop interventions that ameliorate these disparities. Dr. Chavarria aims to promote health equity through research that looks to reduce the burden of cancer incidence and mortality among medically underserved and vulnerable populations.
Perla Chebli, PhD, MPH, New York University-CUNY
Perla Chebli, PhD, MPH is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Section for Health Equity at the NYU Department of Population Health. Her primary areas of focus are community-engaged research, cancer disparities, intervention development, and implementation science. Dr. Chebli's current research projects examine: multilevel factors influencing HPV vaccine hesitancy in immigrant communities in Brooklyn to develop responsive interventions; and community engagement strategies leveraged in the implementation of community-based cancer interventions in NYC. In past research projects, she: engaged diverse Arab American community stakeholders to explore cancer-related needs in Chicago and identify priorities for acceptable, culturally-congruent cancer interventions; analyzed interviews with Latina breast cancer survivors and providers to understand multilevel determinants of financial toxicity; and conducted a process evaluation of community-based breast cancer interventions with Latina women in Chicago. Dr. Chebli holds a Master of Public Health from New York University and a PhD in Public Health from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Derek Craig, PhD, MPH, University of Texas
Derek Craig, PhD is an NCI T32 postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHealth) at Houston School of Public Health (SPH). His research focuses on physical activity promotion, implementation science, and cancer prevention. In November 2022, Dr. Craig successfully defended his dissertation, titled "Examining the Development of Youth Physical Activity Interventions and Factors Associate," in which he used qualitative and quantitative methods to better understand the factors contributing to the implementation of school- based physical activity opportunities. Derek also serves as a research coordinator on an R01 study that is working with a national network of federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) and schools to develop and validate a measure of organizational readiness for implementation.
Prior to obtaining his PhD in Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences from UTHealth-Houston, Dr. Craig earned his MPH in Community Health Practice from DePaul University and BS in Kinesiology from Indiana University.
Derek Craig, PhD is an NCI T32 postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHealth) at Houston School of Public Health (SPH). His research focuses on physical activity promotion, implementation science, and cancer prevention. In November 2022, Dr. Craig successfully defended his dissertation, titled "Examining the Development of Youth Physical Activity Interventions and Factors Associate," in which he used qualitative and quantitative methods to better understand the factors contributing to the implementation of school- based physical activity opportunities. Derek also serves as a research coordinator on an R01 study that is working with a national network of federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) and schools to develop and validate a measure of organizational readiness for implementation.
Prior to obtaining his PhD in Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences from UTHealth-Houston, Dr. Craig earned his MPH in Community Health Practice from DePaul University and BS in Kinesiology from Indiana University.
Derek Craig, PhD is an NCI T32 postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHealth) at Houston School of Public Health (SPH). His research focuses on physical activity promotion, implementation science, and cancer prevention. In November 2022, Dr. Craig successfully defended his dissertation, titled "Examining the Development of Youth Physical Activity Interventions and Factors Associate," in which he used qualitative and quantitative methods to better understand the factors contributing to the implementation of school- based physical activity opportunities. Derek also serves as a research coordinator on an R01 study that is working with a national network of federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) and schools to develop and validate a measure of organizational readiness for implementation.
Prior to obtaining his PhD in Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences from UTHealth-Houston, Dr. Craig earned his MPH in Community Health Practice from DePaul University and BS in Kinesiology from Indiana University.
Maša Davidović, MD, MSc, Other Center
Dr. Maša Davidović is a medical doctor, epidemiologist, and PhD student in Health Sciences at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Basel, Switzerland. She holds an MSc in Health Sciences, specialization Epidemiology from the Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands, and a medical diploma from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Serbia. She has received the SSPH+ Global PhD Fellowship Program in Public Health Sciences (GlobalP3HS), funded by Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, to pursue a PhD. She worked as a teaching assistant at the Institute of Social Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade (2018-19), and as a PhD student in Cancer Research Group at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern (2019-20). Her research aims to develop and implement a standardized data set for data collection and cervical cancer screening program monitoring in collaborating sites offering cervical cancer screening to women living with HIV in four African regions. She has a huge passion for improving cancer prevention and early diagnosis among vulnerable populations in low-resource settings.
Emanuelle Dias, MPH, CPH, University of Texas
Emanuelle Dias, MPH is a PhD student at the University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHealth) at Houston in the Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences. She completed her bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from the University of Florida and her MPH degree from the University of South Florida. Her research focuses on improving cancer care access in resource-constrict settings, such as Federally Qualified Health Centers. Her overall research interests include the intersections of implementation science, cancer prevention and control, health communication, and health equity. She is very excited to join the second cohort of the Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network (CPCRN) Scholars program and looks forward to strengthening her skills and knowledge in implementation science focused on cancer prevention and control.
David O. Garcia, PhD, MS, FACSM, University of Arizona
Dr. Garcia is an Assistant Professor in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona. He has extensive experience in short and long-term intervention trials in the areas of physical activity, diet, and weight management. He received his training from leading institutions and mentors in the field. Since 2006, Dr. Garcia has worked on numerous funded research projects, including research funded by industry, National Institutes of Health (NIH) and foundations. This includes working as a lifestyle interventionist/exercise physiologist in several clinical trials with overweight and obese adults, morbidly obese adults (Class II and III obesity), and individuals with type 2 diabetes.
Since arriving at the University of Arizona, his research has focused on the development of gender and culturally-sensitive weight loss interventions for Hispanic males. To support this effort, Dr. Garcia established “Nosotros Comprometidos a Su Salud -Committed to Your Health”, a program developed to support research through community service and partnering with underserved Tucson residents. Dr. Garcia also is the Assistant Director for Community Outreach & Engagement for the University of Arizona Cancer Center. In this role, he is currently examining the burden of obesity-related disease and cancers, such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma, in Mexican-Origin adults.
Yue Guan, PhD, ScM, Emory
Dr. Yue Guan is a board-certified genetic counselor and social behavioral scientist. She holds a Masters of Science in Genetic Counseling and a PhD in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University. Her research work has focused on translational research in precision public health, including: communication research to develop and evaluate effective communications of genomic information; implementation and dissemination research to promote the adoption of evidence-based genomic applications in public health; and community engagement research to expand the reach of genomic screening programs to underserved minority populations. Dr. Guan is the co-director of the Emory Precision Public Health Research Program. She has also served on multiple national committees, including the American Board of Genetic Counselors (ABGC) Research Committee and the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) Practice Guideline Committee.
Soohyun Hwang, MPH, CHES, University of North Carolina
Soohyun Hwang is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health. She graduated from Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea, and completed her Master of Public Health degree at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Prior to pursuing her doctoral degree, she worked at the Ann Arbor VA Center for Clinical Management Research. Soohyun’s research interests focus on Implementation Science, organizational behavior, quality of cancer care, care coordination, shared decision-making, health disparities, and mixed methods. Her dissertation focuses on multilevel determinants of guideline-adherent active surveillance follow-up care for low-risk prostate cancer.
Jessica Islam, PhD, MPH, Other Center
Jessica Y. Islam, PhD, MPH is a cancer epidemiologist and tenure-track Assistant Member at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in the Cancer Epidemiology program. Dr. Islam's research focuses on describing and intervening on cancer care disparities across the continuum, at the intersection of infections and cancer. Through her research program, Dr. Islam aims to improve cancer outcomes among vulnerable populations, including racial/ethnic minorities and people living with HIV, using multi-level approaches, advanced epidemiological methods, and an equity-focused lens.
Victoria Krauss, MPH, Emory
Victoria earned her Master of Public Health degree from Emory University in 2019. Upon graduation, she became the Program Coordinator for the Ventanilla de Salud (Window to Health) Atlanta, a preventative community health program for individuals visiting the Consulate General of Mexico in Atlanta. There, she implemented a personalized behavioral health intervention which increased healthy behaviors among participants, and improved the quality of health services provided by the program. Before Emory, she served in the Peace Corps in Guatemala as a Maternal and Child Health Facilitator collaborating with the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance of Guatemala. Currently, she works as the Project Coordinator for SurvivorLink, a patient-controlled digital health platform that was created to increase follow-up care among pediatric cancer survivors. She coordinates the dissemination and implementation of the SurvivorLink project with cancer clinics across the nation.
Melissa Lopez-Pentecost, PhD, RDN, Affiliate Member
Dr. Lopez-Pentecost is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Miami CTIDE-T32 program. She obtained her bachelor's and master's degrees in Nutritional Sciences and her PhD in Clinical and Translational Sciences at the University of Arizona. Dr. Lopez is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) focusing her research training on lifestyle medicine for cancer survivors during and after their cancer treatment and cancer health disparities.
Karen Lutrick, PhD, University of Arizona
Dr. Karen Lutrick is an assistant professor in the Department of Family & Community Medicine in the College of Medicine at the University of Arizona and the Director of the National Foundation of Emergency Medicine. She has research expertise in disaster response research, clinical trials and research operations, Latinx health disparities, and is building expertise in dissemination and implementation science. In addition to research experience, she is an experienced educator and education researcher, working in the community and within higher education, and recently translating that experience into assisting emergency medicine physicians in the development of research skills.
Adriana Maldonado, PhD, MA, University of Arizona
Adriana Maldonado is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Promotion Sciences at the University of Arizona (UArizona) Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. Dr. Maldonado is committed to research that identifies and addresses the root causes of health inequities faced by the U.S. Latino population. Her research is shaped by her multidisciplinary background – from masters-level training in experimental psychology at California State University San Marcos, doctoral training in community engaged research at the University of Iowa, and post-doctoral training in cancer prevention and control.
Dr. Maldonado’s recent work is focused on understanding the influence of social, contextual, and environmental factors on chronic diseases in U.S. Latinos. During her doctoral training, she utilized a mixed-methods approach to understand how social and environmental determinants of cardiovascular health influence hypertension management in Latinos in established vs. new Latino destination states. In 2022, Dr. Maldonado joined “Nosotros Comprometidos a Su Salud – Committed to your Health”, a UArizona public health program that aims to reduce health disparities faced by the Latino community in the Southern Arizona region. As an investigator of “Nosotros Comprometidos a Su Salud”, Dr. Maldonado is leading a community-based participatory research (CBPR) project that aims to understand how the built and social context as well as allostatic load impact migrant and seasonal farmworkers’ risk for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Her areas of focus include place-based health disparities, psychosocial determinants of health, stress, chronic diseases, cardiovascular disease, and cancer control and prevention.
Clare Meernik, PhD, MPH, Other Center
Clare Meernik, PhD, MPH is a CPCRN Scholar Alumni and Postdoctoral Associate at the Duke University of School of Medicine. Dr. Meernik is a cancer epidemiologist with research interests in cancer survivorship and outcomes, specifically among adolescents and young adults. She intends to focus her career on identifying and addressing barriers to equitable, evidence-based survivorship care and optimizing long-term cancer outcomes related to survivors’ physical, cognitive, and psychosocial needs. Dr. Meernik received her PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health. Her dissertation examined fertility preservation among adolescent and young adult women with cancer in North Carolina, including the impact of fertility preservation on delay to cancer treatment and reproductive success after use of assisted reproductive technology.
Gita Mody, MD, MPH, University of North Carolina
Dr. Mody is a practicing thoracic surgeon and a health services researcher focused on improving the quality of perioperative care delivery. Her patients have diverse clinical and social risk factors and undergo high-risk surgeries for curative intent of cancer and chronic lung disease. Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is negatively impacted by these surgeries and is increasingly a focus for patient-centered research interventions now that survival for this cohort is improving. However, without robust implementation science approaches, interventions to address HRQOL perioperatively will not be widely and sustainably applied. Her current work is focused on reducing post-discharge complications and improving postoperative HRQOL using patient-reported outcomes (PRO) survey tools to track, report, and manage postoperative symptoms. She is investigating the impact of these PRO systems on clinical outcomes as well as the barriers and facilitators of implementation including at the patient and provider level.
Kristin Morrill, PhD, University of Arizona
Kristin Morrill, PhD is a current NCI-funded T32 Cancer Prevention and Control Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Arizona Cancer Center. In 2016, Dr. Morrill began her PhD in the University of Arizona Department of Nutritional Sciences as a USDA National Needs Fellow. The goal of her dissertation was to gather preliminary data needed to develop a culturally-sensitive, genotype-informed intervention to treat and/or prevent the progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in Mexican-origin women. As a part of her dissertation, Dr. Morrill received training in the following areas: conducting systematic reviews; conducting gene-diet interaction analyses; and mixed-methods research. Dr. Morrill’s research currently involves better understanding factors that influence cancer treatment delays among Hispanic/Latino/a cancer patients. Additional research interests include precision-based treatment approaches and the role of psychosocial factors in cancer survivorship.
Karly Murphy, PhD, Other Center
Karly M. Murphy, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at East Carolina University, where she is part of the Clinical Health doctoral faculty. She earned her PhD in Clinical Psychology at Seattle Pacific University while also working as a clinical research assistant at Fred Hutchinson Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Murphy then completed NCI-funded postdoctoral fellowships focused on cancer prevention and control at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Wake Forest School of Medicine. Her research focuses on understanding and addressing the unique psychosocial needs of adolescent and young adult cancer survivors. She is particularly interested in the development of remotely delivered interventions given their high potential for widespread dissemination. Currently, she is the PI of an NCI-funded study in which she is taking an iterative user-centered design approach to develop an engaging digital tool to help AYA cancer survivors cope with symptoms of depression.
Sarah Nash, PhD, MPH, CPH, University of Iowa
Sarah Nash, PhD, MPH, CPH, is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Iowa College of Public Health, a full member of the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center, and co-investigator at the Iowa Cancer Registry. Dr Nash’s research bridges population-based data science and community-based work to address cancer disparities, primarily among American Indian and Alaska Native people, and rural residents. Dr. Nash has broad training in cancer prevention, cancer surveillance, nutrition epidemiology, and community engagement, and strives to combine these interests in a diverse research program that directly benefits communities. Prior to her current appointment at the University of Iowa, Dr. Nash was the Director of Cancer Surveillance, and PI of the SEER Alaska Native Tumor Registry at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. She received her BA (Hons) in Archaeology and Anthropology from Cambridge University in 2007, PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2013, and MPH from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2014. She completed her postdoctoral training with the NCI’s Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program.
Meghan O'Leary, PhD, MA, University of North Carolina
Meghan O’Leary earned her PhD from the Department of Health Policy and Management at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health in September 2022 where she minored in Decision Sciences and Outcomes Research. She is also a trainee in the Cancer Care Quality Training Program at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. For her dissertation, Dr. O'Leary explored the use of systems science tools for informing decision-making about the implementation of colorectal cancer screening interventions. She previously completed her BA in Anthropology and American Studies at Northwestern University, and her MA in Anthropology at the University of New Mexico.
Hiten Patel, MD, MPH, Other Center
Dr. Patel is a Fellow in Urologic Oncology and Clinical Instructor of Urology at Loyola University Medical Center. He completed medical, public health, and urologic residency training at Johns Hopkins. He is a clinical researcher focused on evidence-based practices and quality improvement in the diagnosis and management of prostate cancer and renal cell carcinoma. He served on methodology teams performing systematic reviews used to inform clinical guidelines on kidney and testis cancer. He has initiated and completed randomized trials and prospective cohort studies on the prevention of venous thromboembolism, recovery of erectile function, and reduction of opioid prescribing after radical prostatectomy for localized prostate cancer. His recent focus has examined the role of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnosis and management of prostate cancer, as well as utility of predictive modeling to guide clinical decisions.
Malesa Pereira, MPH, CPH, CCRP, Other Center
Malesa Pereira is currently a third-year doctoral student in the Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences at LSUHSC School of Public Health in New Orleans. She obtained her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from Binghamton University and her Master of Public Health in Maternal and Child Health from University of South Florida. Prior to entering the doctoral program at LSUHSC, Malesa spent nine years working in clinical research, three years at Weill Cornell in pulmonary research and six years at Moffitt Cancer Center in cancer imaging research. Malesa’s research interests include improving outcomes for Pediatric, Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Patients during treatment and survivorship in rural areas.
Rogelio Robles-Morales, MD, University of Arizona
Rogelio Robles, MD is a medical doctor with a specialty in Ob-Gyn and a subspecialty in Gyn-Oncology. Dr. Robles graduated from Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City. His research focuses on cancer prevention and early detection, personalized treatments, survivorship, and cancer-related outcomes in gynecological and breast cancers. He has been invited as a speaker in multiple Gynecology and Oncology meetings. Dr. Robles recently joined "Nosotros Comprometidos a Su Salud," aiding the Clinical Translational Science branch while earning his PhD degree. He is a bilingual and bi-cultural Mexican doctor passionate about improving health care in medically underserved areas and populations in Southern Arizona and Northern Sonora.
Jingxi Sheng, PhD, RN, Other Center
Jingxi Sheng, PhD completed her doctoral studies at the College of Nursing at the University of South Carolina in Summer 2022. Her long-term research focuses are healthy behaviors and cancer prevention and control among Asian Americans. Her doctoral research was interested in understanding attitudes and beliefs about the role of physical activity in breast cancer prevention and investigating physical activity factors among Asian Americans. She is interested in inventions other than surgical or pharmaceutical treatments that can help reduce breast cancer risk, such as engaging in regular physical activity. Through her doctoral research, she explored the role of cultural context on Asian American women’s physical activity experience to better understand the physical activity determinants.
Lisa Spees, PhD, University of North Carolina
Lisa Spees is an Assistant Professor in the Health Policy and Management Department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a health services researcher interested in examining and reducing health disparities by improving cancer care quality and access among minority and rural populations. To date, her research in this area has focused on identifying multi-level (patient, provider, and organizational) barriers across the cancer care continuum using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Dr. Spees is especially knowledgeable in handling complex datasets including CIPHR (North Carolina cancer registry data linked to private and public insurance claims data) and SEER-Medicare.
Dr. Spees is currently leading projects focused on 1) examining the financial impact of hematopoietic stem cells transplant among pediatric cancer patients and their families and 2) improving access to guideline-concordant care for patients with gynecologic malignancies.
Elsa Staples, MPH, Colorado School of Public Health
Elsa currently supports implementation of the Colorado Cancer Screening Program (CCSP), housed at the University of Colorado, as well as additional cancer prevention and control initiatives. CCSP is one of the largest preventive screening programs in Colorado, focused on utilizing patient navigation to reduce health disparities for colorectal and lung cancer screening, as well as hereditary cancers. Elsa has been working in the cancer prevention field since 2016 and has also worked as a project coordinator for a college skin cancer prevention initiative and the Research Engagement Manager for a national colorectal cancer nonprofit. Elsa has a Bachelor of Science in Public Health and Master of Public Health with a concentration in Health Education and Communication from Tulane University. She is passionate about working with communities across the state and nationwide to increase equitable access to and reduce barriers to preventive care.
Samantha Werts-Pelter, PhD, MPH, Affiliate Member
Dr. Werts-Pelter is a postdoctoral associate at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology. She obtained her MPH and PhD in Health Promotion Sciences at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and completed a graduate certificate in aging at the University of Arizona. Her research focuses on addressing barriers to practicing healthy lifestyle behaviors and promoting adherence to diet and physical activity guidelines for cancer prevention. She is largely interested in cancer health disparities faced by older and rural populations.
