National Cancer Institute Director's Consumer Liaison Group (DCLG) Member Biographies
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Jeff Allen, Ph.D., serves as the Executive Director of Friends of Cancer Research (Friends), a Washington, D.C. based non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating the nation's progress toward prevention and treatment of cancer by mobilizing public support for cancer research funding and providing education on key public policy issues.
Prior to joining Friends, Dr. Allen was an endocrinology fellow in the Laboratory of Clinical Investigation of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Heath. His background in cancer research focused upon molecular changes associated with cancer formation as well as treatments to prevent cancer progression. Dr. Allen has been published in numerous medical journals, including his work relating to bladder cancer, in AACR’s "Cancer Research."
Dr. Allen serves on C-Change’s Chemoprevention Advisory Committee, Patent Law Advisory Subcommittee and the Clinical Trials and Biomarker Workgroup. Allen is also a member of the National Health Council FDA Issue Team, and serves on the Global Access Project of the National Patient Advocacy Foundation. Jeff is also a foremost expert on Comparative Effectiveness Research and recently served as the organizing author of a 2009 report, "Improving Medical Decisions Through Comparative Effectiveness Research: Cancer as a Case Study" co-authored by a 25 member academic committee.
Dr. Allen received his Ph.D. in cell and molecular biology from Georgetown University Medical Center, and holds a Bachelors of Science in Biology (cum laude) from Bowling Green State University.
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Susan Braun currently serves as the Executive Director of Commonweal, a nonprofit organization located in Bolinas, CA that is home to programs that enhance human health and that serve to improve the environment. These programs include the 24-year old Cancer Help Program, the Institute for the Study of Health and Illness, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, the Regenerative Design Institute, the New School, and others. Commonweal is both a direct services organization and a home for public policy advocacy.
Prior to joining Commonweal, Susan served as the Executive Director of the ASCO Cancer Foundation. While there she oversaw the incorporation of the biomedical grant-making function into the operations of the Foundation, establishment and funding of two new grant categories, the Translational Research Professorship and the Community Oncology Research Awards, initiated an endowment, and completed a branding initiative resulting in a new name, logo, website, video, and marketing materials.
Additionally, Susan served as the President and CEO of Komen from 1996 through 2005. During her tenure at Komen, revenues increased from $21 million in to $250 million; the Foundation’s signature event, The Race for the Cure, grew into the world’s largest 5k footrace, with Races in 48 states and 5 countries; the Affiliate network expanded from from 50 to 115 in the United States and abroad; community and research grant-making mechanisms were formalized, resulting in a headquarters-run biomedical research grants program and affiliate network community grants program, which granted approximately $50 million each in 2005.
Prior to joining the cancer advocacy community, Susan worked for Bristol-Myers Squibb and a health economics consulting firm. Susan received her undergraduate degree in English and Sociology from George Mason University in 1977. She received graduate degrees in health education and business in 1977 from the University of Maryland and Westfaelische Wilhelms Universitaet respectively.
Susan has served as a volunteer in many leadership roles, including on boards and committees for the American Society os Breast Diseases, the ASCEND Foundation, SmithFarm Center for the Healing Arts, NCCC/ Americorps, the Breast Health Global Initiative, Editorial Board: CURE Magazine, California Breast Cancer Research Program, American Society of Breast Diseases, World Society for Breast Health, Sisters Network, National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, Editorial Board: The Breast Journal, STAR (clinical trial) steering committee, ASCO, AACR, and the Intercultural Cancer Council.
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 Grace Butler, Ph.D., is a professor emeritus at the University of Houston with 30 years of experience in teaching and administration in higher education. Dr. Butler is a Stage III colorectal cancer survivor who founded Hope Through Grace, Inc (HTG) in 2002. She is currently CEO of HTG - a non-profit, organization designed to reduce the incidence of colorectal cancer by offering prevention education, screening for early detection, and survivorship support. HTG covers the cost of colon cancer screening for uninsured and underinsured populations. The organization provides cancer awareness programs at shelters, churches, higher education institutions, underserved communities including senior who reside in the Houston area. HTG won the American Cancer Society "Harold P. Freeman Award, Texas Division" and has been awarded many grants by foundations and corporate sponsors to continue its work.
Dr. Butler has been honored by the Houston Area American Cancer Society with the "Partners in Courage Award" for her work as a cancer survivor. She recently was celebrated as a Purpose Prize Fellow. This recognition is given to persons who, at the age of 60 or older, considered to be an outstanding innovator who is working creatively to spearhead significant change during their "Encore Career" in an area that has significant impact in addressing a major social problem. Her leadership with Hope Through Grace catapulted her among the ranks of Purpose Prize Fellows.
She is currently a member of the NCI Consumer Advocates in Research and Related Activities (CARRA) program. She most recently served on Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP) concept review panels and the NCI Initial Review Group Subcommittee A, reviewing Cancer Center grant applications. She has also presented testimony at the President's Cancer Panel. Dr. Butler serves on an Advisory Board to Ethicon Endo-Surgery, a division of Johnson and Johnson, Inc.
She has served on the Advisory Board of the Texas Children's Cancer Center and has recently completed a three year membership on the UT M. D. Anderson Cancer Center Board of Visitors. Dr. Butler was invited by the White House as a panelist at the Roundtable on Advances in Cancer Prevention with President Bush and national health leaders, held at the Nation Institutes for Health.
She was recently cited as a Purpose Prize Fellow, Civic Ventures Assn, having been selected from among 10,000 nominations. Dr. Butler is a Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum (Houston TX); she holds life memberships with the NAACP and with Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Dr. Butler is listed in Who’s Who in Houston, TX, Who’s Who in Texas and Who’s Who in the South and Southwest.
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 Yvette Colón, Ph.D., ACSW, BCD, is an oncology social worker with over 20 years of experience, as well as an ovarian cancer survivor of 27 years. She currently is the Director of Education and Support at the American Pain Foundation, where she oversees the Pain Information Center and manages the organization's website and online support program with a membership of over 50,000, including discussion forums devoted to cancer and related topics.
Dr. Colón has been a volunteer with the American Cancer Society, Comprehensive Cancer Control Leadership Institute, C-Change, Intercultural Cancer Council, Association of Oncology Social Work, National Association of Social Workers, Maryland Cancer Control Plan, Alliance of State Pain Initiatives, Maryland Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities and Maryland Governor's Osteoporosis Prevention and Education Task Force. She is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Pain and Palliative Care Pharmacotherapy and is on the Board of Directors of the American Board of Examiners in Clinical Social Work and the Organization of Latino Social Workers – Michigan Chapter.
She has published on pain management, psychosocial oncology, diversity and disadvantage in healthcare, the experiences of lesbian and gay cancer patients at the end of their lives, and technology-based social work practice. She is on the faculty at Smith College School for Social Work Post-Master's Certificate Program in End-of-Life Care and participated in the development of the NASW Standards for Social Work Practice in Palliative and End of Life Care. She was a recipient of a Project on Death in America Social Work Leadership Development Award in 2001.
Dr. Colón is a Latina who is bilingual and knowledgeable about issues of health disparities through her volunteer and consulting work. She has received numerous awards, including the American Cancer Society Year of Achievement and Distinguished Voluntary Leadership Awards, City of New York/Latino Heritage Month Certificate of Appreciation and Certificate of Excellence in Clinical Service from the Smith College Center for Innovative Practice and Social Work Education. In 2007, she was elected as a Distinguished Practitioner in the National Academies of Practice in Social Work and in 2009, she received the Leadership in Oncology Social Work Award from the Association of Oncology Social Work.
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 Ms. Kelly L. Cotter, J.D., was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 1988 and received a bone marrow transplant from her brother that same year. The experience sparked her involvement in educating communities about childhood cancer and the need for research support. Over the last twenty years she developed a book about children with cancer, led a multidisciplinary team of health professionals to create an online resource for childhood cancer survivors, organized an annual survivor advocacy program for high-school students, educated medical students about patient perspective, worked with a team of health professionals on a national study to identify childhood cancer survivor health insurance barriers, and led numerous fundraising efforts for cancer research.
While attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison law school, she worked with a patient advocacy organization to promote successful health care though advocacy, education, and applied research. After graduating, she moved to Washington, D.C. where she became Director of Legislative Affairs for CureSearch National Childhood Cancer Foundation and worked until 2006 to improve awareness of childhood cancer issues in Congress and mobilize a national network of advocates to advance childhood cancer initiatives throughout the year.
Ms. Cotter currently lives in Illinois where she serves on the Paul P. Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center Advisors Board and is a member of the Children's Oncology Group's Data and Safety Monitoring Committee.
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 Marie Dahlstrom, MA, serves as the director of Research and Development for Familias en Acciòn, a Latino community based health organization whose mission is to promote holistic family well-being for Latinos through community engagement, education, research and advocacy for social change. Ms. Dahlstrom is clinical assistant professor with Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) Department of Radiation Medicine and is a health consultant specializing in community research, program development and training, focused on Latino health disparities both nationally and in Latin America. Ms. Dahlstrom serves as chair of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure National Hispanic/Latina Advisory Council. She also serves as an advocate with De la Mano Frente al Cancer/Hand in Hand Confronting Cancer.
Ms. Dahlstrom has co-authored numerous Latino community assessments in Oregon including Mujer Sana/Healthy Woman which provided best practices regarding breast and cervical cancer outreach and screening for Latinas. She was founding executive director of Desarrollo Integral de la Familia (DIF), executive director of the Susannah Maria Gurule (SMG) Foundation and founding co-chair of the Latino Maternal and Child Health Task Force. She is a recipient of the Balderson Leadership Project Development award through the National Public Health Leadership Institute and a two year recipient of the Fortaleza Award for her dedication to ending domestic violence in the Latino community.
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 As a cancer survivor herself, Gwen Darien brings a wealth of personal and professional experience to her positions as editor-in-chief of CR magazine and director of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Survivor and Patient Advocacy Program.
Building upon the AACR’s longstanding commitment to fostering partnerships with survivor advocates, the association established the department of Survivor and Patient Advocacy in November 2004 with Darien as its founding director. Accomplishments under Darien’s leadership include: the expansion Scientist↔Survivor; the creation of a Survivor and Patient Advocate portal on aacr.org; a podcast series for survivors and the lay public; an expanded presence and integration of advocates in all of AACR’s activities; and the development and launch of CR magazine and its website in spring 2006.
CR magazine was launched in March 2006 to serve an unmet need: a forum for sharing credible, balanced information about life with cancer and perspectives on the pressing challenges in cancer research today. Darien serves as editor-in-chief and under her direction, the magazine has published features on such timely issues as race and cancer research, how stress affects cancer, the screening debates, nanotechnology, understanding the scientific method and profiles of survivors and scientists.
Darien was previously the editor-in-chief of MAMM, the country's only consumer magazine dedicated to women with breast and reproductive cancer.
A sought-after advocate and public speaker, Darien has addressed cancer survivors and scientists across the country and in Europe at many panels, workshops and conferences. Darien is Chair of the NCI Director’s Consumer Liaison Group and is a member of the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Health, Genetics and Society. She is on the advisory board of the Health Advocacy Program at Sarah Lawrence College and an external advisor to the Breast Cancer SPORE at the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center. She has received several awards for her work, including: the Avon Foundation Media Leadership Award, the LYMPHAdvocate Award from the Cure for Lymphoma Foundation, and the Sisters’ Network Media Leadership Award.
Darien brings more than 20 years of experience in leadership positions. She was an adjunct faculty member of the MFA Photography and Related Media Program at School of the Visual Arts (1997-2003). From 1991 to 1995, she was executive director of Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE). Darien was also deputy director of P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center in Long Island City, New York from 1984 to 1990. Darien is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College.
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 Everett E. Dodson is a Community Health Educator at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University. He is responsible for developing and implementing community outreach plans for the Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities Research.
His professional experience includes Clinical Research Associate at the Howard University Cancer Center, where he served as the Director of Men Take Ten Prostate Cancer Outreach Program; Recruiter for clinical trials participation; Coordinator, Clinical Trials; and Facilitator for Community Health Education Programs.
Mr. Dodson has also been a Medical Research Assistant at the Howard University Cancer Center, an Asthma Counselor for the Howard University College of Medicine and a Public Health Advisor for the District of Columbia’s Commission of Public Health.
He has received certifications provided by the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiatives from the University of Miami for Human Participation Protection for Research, and the American Cancer Society’s Prostate Cancer education Facilitator. He has been recognized for his efforts as an advocate by the international group, The Prostate Net.
He attended the University of the District of Columbia and the University of Maryland, University College.
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 Ms. Joyce Wilcox Graff is a cancer survivor and caregiver who is currently the Executive Director of the VHL Family Alliance, a non-profit, support organization that serves more than 15,000 patients and their family members and health care teams dealing with von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease in 102 countries. Ms. Graff has been touched by cancer throughout her life. From her husband’s battle with brain and kidney cancer to her own struggle with breast cancer and her son’s experience with kidney, eye and brain tumors, Ms. Graff’s personal experience has taught her a great deal about the needs of cancer patients. She works diligently with the VHL Family Alliance to bring together resources that allow families dealing with rare disorders to better cope with the many complications they face. Ms. Graff has also served on the boards of the National Organization for Rare Disorders, the New England Regional Genetics Group, the New England Coalition for Cancer Survivorship and the National Braille Association.
Ms. Graff has gained exposure to cancer research through her work on the governing board of the Renal SPORE at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the SPORE advocates’ group, where she has participated in research meetings and the grant application assessment process. Ms. Graff has had the opportunity to collaborate with many NCI and NIH researchers to improve diagnosis and therapies for VHL-related tumors. These collaborations include her involvement assembling an expert panel to draft kidney tumor treatment guidelines, developing "questions to ask the doctor" to explore the pros and cons before using stereotactic radiation for VHL soft tumors, Radio Frequency Ablation (RFA) or cryoablation for kidney tumors, and guidelines for improving the diagnosis and treatment of pheochromocytoma.
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 Cheryl Jernigan, CPA, FACHE is a 13-year breast cancer "thriver", choosing not just to survive but also to thrive post diagnosis. In addition, she has a distinguished background as a professional and civic leader, and health advocate in the greater Kansas City area and nationally.
Among her current community service roles, Ms. Jernigan is a founding board member and a past board president of the Greater Kansas City Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure; Immediate Past Board President and founding board member of Turning Point, a non-profit organization which seeks to empower and transform the mind, body, and spirit of individuals, families, and friends living with serious or chronic physical illness; Past Board president and founding board member of Take Charge Challenge, a community-wide, year round corporate challenge designed to stimulate healthy behaviors and create a healthier Kansas City; and Chair of The Advancement Board for The University of Kansas Medical Center and The University of Kansas Hospital.
Nationally, Cheryl recently completed her term as the Affiliate Representative on Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s Board of Directors, where she also served as the chair of the Board’s Audit Committee. Currently, she is a member of their Advocates in Science Steering Committee, and Interim Treasurer of the Advocacy Alliance Board.
In 2007, Cheryl was selected to be one of 55 international delegates to the first Global Breast Cancer Advocacy Summit which was convened in Budapest, Hungary.
Her deep interest in health and science has driven her to be a Consumer/Patient Advocate in scientific research grant reviews for Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the U.S. Congressionally-Directed Breast Cancer Research Program, and the Lance Armstrong Foundation. In 2008, she was selected to participate in the American Association of Cancer Research’s Scientist↔Survivor Program.
She and her husband Jeff, who is a prostate cancer survivor, have also become active in ZERO-The Project to End Prostate Cancer.
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 Mr. Kaye has been involved in cancer diagnostics advocacy since 1996 when he co-founded the National Cervical Cancer Coalition (NCCC) with his late wife, Randi. Mr. Kaye was also the past co-owner of a national molecular/pathology laboratory for 12 years and had 40 years experience in laboratory medicine prior to his retirement. Mr. Kaye was the primary caregiver to his wife, who died of lung cancer. In addition to the NCCC, he has collaborated with several other national gynecological cancer organizations as well as the American Cancer Society (ACS), American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and Gynecologic Cancer Foundation (GCF) to create educational opportunities for clinicians.
He has helped to pioneer grassroots efforts, including outreach in Los Angeles County to increase cervical cancer awareness and human papillomavirus (HPV) education through public service announcements and a multi-lingual phone bank, including screening awareness education to women in Malawi, Africa. He has developed an award-winning cervical cancer/HPV website. Along with others, he successfully lobbied Congress to designate January as Cervical Health Awareness month and has been active in grassroots efforts for more then ten years on awareness campaigns throughout the year and during cervical health awareness month. He brought the national cervical cancer/HPV quilts to Sacramento to promote legislative awareness in California and has been responsible for overseeing the cervical cancer/HPV quilts travel nationwide to many healthcare and women's events.
As the past Executive Director of the NCCC, he has testified before the FDA on new technologies. He has been a member of the Data Safety Management Group (DSMG) at NCI on the cervical cancer/HPV vaccine for 3 years (a collaboration between industry, scientists and advocates). He was a member of the advocate planning group for a national conference held in Washington DC this past September 2007 on the cervical cancer/HPV vaccine and the past national meeting in Los Angeles, CA this past 2008. He is working again in a leadership role on the planning of the upcoming 2009 national conference on cervical cancer and HPV cancers to be held in Chicago, IL. Alan has helped to create two cervical cancer/HPV videos and helped to develop and launch the "Parents Educating Parents" program providing information to parents at local schools nationwide on cervical cancer/HPV vaccines. Day after day, week after week, month after month, through the NCCC Hotline, PhonePals program, NCCC survivors program and emails, Alan helps women and their family members battle the real issues related to all cancers, cervical cancer and HPV disease.
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 Deborah Morosini, MD is a 3rd generation physician, and sister of the late Dana Reeve.
Deborah is greatly inspired by both Dana and her husband, the late actor who played Superman, Christopher Reeve. Dana, a healthy and vital non-smoker, died from Stage IV lung cancer within a year of being widowed. Following Dana's death in March, 2006, her sister Deborah became a passionate activist in the lung cancer advocacy movement. Deborah believes that all of us can transform our own personal tragedies into inspired actions for the larger good. By raising lung cancer awareness, she hopes to save lives, and erase the long-held stigma surrounding this illness.
Dr. Morosini works as a pathologist in oncology R &D for AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals in Boston. She serves on the Board for the Lung Cancer Alliance and the Bonnie Addario Lung Cancer Foundation, and appears frequently as a public speaker. Dr. Morosini graduated from Mount Holyoke College with a BA in English, and received her MSW from NYU. She received her MD from Boston University Medical School, where she completed her pathology residency.
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 Phyllis Pettit Nassi, MSW, enrolled in the Otoe-Missouri Tribe and member of the Cherokee Nation, is Manager Native American Outreach at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) and is currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Utah’s College of Social Work. She has studied cultural and social implications on populations for more than 25 years and has worked with their representatives and organizations over the past 18 years. Raised on the Navajo, Hopi and Zuni reservations, Phyllis is well aware of the need for cultural sensitivity and awareness when providing cancer information to Native Americans. Phyllis brings experience in working with tribal governments, coordinating activities for tribes locally and from a distance, strategic planning and working across representatives of diverse populations, groups and departments. She has traveled from 150 miles north of the Arctic Circle to the pueblos, villages and towns of Northern Arizona and New Mexico to talk about cancer and to educate special populations about and to become involved in clinical trials, to enroll in Registries, and to become involved in research. Phyllis also works with researchers and their staff to understand “how *complicated* it's going to be to get it right, and how *difficult* it will be for every researcher working with American Indian people if they get it wrong” (J. Jarvis, email, 2006). Phyllis has had over 462,000 direct encounters with Native Americans and worked with members of over 150 tribes in Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. Phyllis was recruited to Huntsman Cancer Institute in November 2001.
Phyllis presently is an Advisory Council member of the American Indian Alaska Native National Advisory Committee, Susan G. Komen for the Cure; is an Advocate for the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Scientist↔Survivor Program; is a member of the Patient Advocacy Committee for the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group (ACOSOG), is on the Advisory Board of the Cancer Information and Support Network (CISN); is a Participant representative on the National Children’s Study (NCS) Steering Committee; is Co-Chair of the Southwest Region of the Intercultural Cancer Council Network, is a Members of the Consumer Advocates in Research and Related Activities (CARRA) program administered by the NCI Office of Advocacy Relations (OAR) and is on the Advisory Board of College/Graduate Horizons.
Phyllis is a member of the American Association of Cancer Educators; has taken part in the National Leadership Summit on Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health; Patient Navigator Supervisor Training and A Gathering of Cancer Support Group Training. Under her management, HCI’s Special Populations Program received recognition from the Department of Health and Human Services for its work in educating Native American communities about cancer prevention and detection. Phyllis is the recipient of Utah's American Indian Outstanding Manager Award and the University Of Utah College Of Social Work’s Pete Suazo Social Justice Award and the James Garland Woolsey Memorial Award for Professional Promise in the Field of Health and Rehabilitation.
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 Wendy K.D. Selig, a native of Princeton, New Jersey, is Vice President of External Affairs & Strategic Alliances for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), where she leads efforts to build alliances with traditional and non-traditional partners.
Ms. Selig is charged with bolstering the organization’s advocacy efforts and its visibility within key policy communities, including among corporations, foundations, trade associations and federal agencies. She leads and coordinates the Society’s campaign to bring about change in the health care system and improve access to quality health care. Additionally, she chairs United for Medical Research (UMR) a new coalition of patient advocacy groups, universities and business interests focused on sustained federal support for biomedical research funding at the NIH. She has also provided leadership for One Voice Against Cancer (OVAC), a coalition of more than 40 groups seeking enhanced federal funding for cancer programs.
Ms. Selig joined the Society as Managing Director, Federal Government Relations on May 1, 2000 after serving more than 11 years as a senior House staffer on Capitol Hill. Prior to her current role with ACS CAN, she spent four years as the organization’s Vice President for Legislative Affairs, serving as the lead federal lobbyist and overseeing all federal, policy and media advocacy activities.
During her tenure with the Society and ACS CAN, Ms. Selig has led strategic implementation of federal legislative activities across the cancer agenda, including appropriations and budget, private insurance, Medicare, health disparities and tobacco control. She assists in managing the Society’s overall government relations portfolio, and has been an architect of high profile, broad-based strategies and legislative campaigns to promote the nationwide cancer agenda. She is expert in cancer policy, including a variety of health care issues.
Ms. Selig is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Princeton University and holds a Masters in Science in Journalism degree (With Distinction) from Northwestern University.
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 Ms. Arlene Wahwasuck is an advocate, educator and breast cancer survivor who works closely with the Native American populations of Northeast Kansas. A retired Nurse Officer from the U.S. Public Health Service, Ms. Wahwasuck served on the board of the Four Tribes Women’s Wellness Coalition (FTWWC) since its inception in 2005. She resigned from the board in November 2008. While serving as a board member she provided breast health and cancer education to promote early detection of breast and cervical cancer to approximately 1,000 Native American women living in Northeast Kansas. The Native American tribes are the Kickapoo of Kansas, the Prairie Band Potawatomi, the Sac and Fox of Nebraska and Missouri, and the Iowa of Kansas. During her tenure as a member of the FTWWC board, Ms. Wahwasuck facilitated collaborations with government agencies, health providers, educators, tribal leaders and members, to create meaningful outreach efforts to promote early cancer detection. Ms. Wahwasuck continues to volunteer as an educator to decrease cancer-related health disparities. She continues to represent the perspective of cancer patients who lack access to high-quality care.
Ms. Wahwasuck serves on the boards of the Native American Cancer Education for Survivors, Native American Cancer Research, Spirit of Eagles and the Native American Advisory Council of the Komen Foundation. She now serves on the Advisory Board of the University of Kansas (KU) School of Public Health. Her role as an Advisory Board member is to assist the efforts of KU in providing cancer prevention education to the tribes of Northeast Kansas. Ms. Wahwasuck works with a broad constituency of people at risk for cancer within the Native American community. She also personally provides outreach services that educate women in these tribes about breast cancer, cervical cancer and lung cancer risks and treatment. Through health fairs and one-on-one consultations, she is able to share her experience as a Native American breast cancer survivor with men and women in her community. These experiences allow Ms. Wahwasuck to continue serving the community after a 29 year tenure as a nurse in the U.S. Public Health Service.
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 Max is CEO of Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure. Prior to joining ABC2, Max was CEO of TheraLogics, an early-stage anti-cancer biopharmaceutical company based on NFκB modulation technology developed at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He previously co-founded and served as President of Trimeris, a public biopharmaceutical company that created and brought to market the world’s first entry inhibitor, Fuzeon, establishing a new class of drugs for HIV/AIDS and other viral diseases. Max also founded and developed several other biopharmaceutical companies, including Cogent Neuroscience; Sphinx Pharmaceuticals Corporation (now a division of Eli Lilly & Co); and SARCO (now a part of PPD/Pharmaco).
Prior to starting Trimeris in 1993, Max spent 10 years on the staff of Duke University. He was a founding Investment Director of Duke Management Company, the asset management company for the University, where he developed novel approaches to technology development, commercialization and new business creation. Previously at Duke, he served in the Office of General Counsel, as the University’s Medical Center Legal Counsel, and as Duke’s Director of Government Relations. Max received a B.A. in English and Political Science from Duke and a J.D. from the University of Florida.
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