Community Engagement Advisory Council

Prior to joining NCI, she was a healthcare consultant at Deloitte Consulting LLP. She has also been a principal investigator researching tissue engineered products and cellular inflammatory responses at the National Institute of Standards and Technology as well as an adjunct professor at Morgan State University.

Dr. Bailey received her MBBS (MD equivalent) from the University of Adelaide Medical School with an emphasis on aboriginal health and pediatric oncology. Dr. Bailey also has a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics and an MS in Biological and Physical Sciences from the University of Virginia School of Medicine.

Dr. Carla Berg is a Professor of the Department of Prevention and Community Health in the Milken Institute School of Public Health and the Associate Center Director for Population Sciences and Policy within the George Washington Cancer Center. Her research primary focuses on sociocontextual factors related to substance use, particularly tobacco and marijuana, ranging from macro-level factors such as policy and marketing to interpersonal and individual factors. Dr. Berg has also conducted research on health behaviors and quality of live among cancer survivors, and has conducted large-scale survey studies involving cross sectional and longitudinal designs, mixed-methods studies, and individual- and community-level randomized control trials.

Selected Publications

Berg CJ, Duan X, Romm K, et al. Young adults' vaping, readiness to quit, and recent quit attempts: The role of co-use with cigarettes and marijuana [published online ahead of print, 2020 Dec 17]. Nicotine Tob Res. 2020;ntaa265. doi:10.1093/ntr/ntaa265

Li J, Berg CJ, Weber AA, et al. Tobacco Use at the Intersection of Sex and Sexual Identity in the U.S., 2007-2020: A Meta-Analysis [published online ahead of print, 2020 Nov 17]. Am J Prev Med. 2020;S0749-3797(20)30437-2. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2020.09.006

Cahn Z, Drope J, Douglas CE, et al. Applying the Population Health Standard to the Regulation of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems [published online ahead of print, 2020 Sep 22]. Nicotine Tob Res. 2020;ntaa190. doi:10.1093/ntr/ntaa190

Berg CJ, Yang YT, Pratt-Chapman ML, et al. Campus tobacco control policies and cessation interventions in college students: a commentary calling for research and action to address tobacco-related health disparities [published online ahead of print, 2020 Sep 7]. Transl Behav Med. 2020;ibaa083. doi:10.1093/tbm/ibaa083

Berg CJ, Haardörfer R, Lanier A, et al. Tobacco Use Trajectories in Young Adults: Analyses of Predictors Across Systems Levels. Nicotine Tob Res. 2020;22(11):2075-2084. doi:10.1093/ntr/ntaa048

Berg CJ, Vanderpool RC, Getachew B, et al. A Hope-Based Intervention to Address Disrupted Goal Pursuits and Quality of Life Among Young Adult Cancer Survivors. J Cancer Educ. 2020;35(6):1158-1169. doi:10.1007/s13187-019-01574-7

Dr. Carlisle received her medical degree from the University of Florida College of Medicine and completed her internal medicine residency at Washington University in St. Louis and Barnes Jewish Hospital. She then completed fellowship in Hematology and Medical Oncology at Emory University, where she was elected chief fellow. 

Dr. Carlisle is a member of the Discovery and Developmental Therapeutics Program and an active investigator in Emory’s Lung Cancer Spore grant from the National Cancer Institute. Her research interests include advancing understanding of immunotherapies and developing new therapies for lung cancer.  As part of the thoracic medical oncology team at Emory Winship Cancer Institute, she is passionate about ensuring all patients have appropriate molecular testing and understand their treatment options.

Melissa holds a masters degree in Legal Studies - Indigenous Peoples Law from the University of Oklahoma, and well as bachelors and associates degrees in human services from Sitting Bull College. She is actively involved with the Indigenous Ministries of the Episcopal Church and contributes to the work of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

Melissa is Húŋkpapȟa Lakȟóta and Isáŋyathi Dakhóta. In her free time, she enjoys traveling to powwows, spending time with family and friends, and working on beadwork projects.

In this role, she leads Genentech’s relationships with national malignant hematology and lung cancer patient organizations and partners. She is skilled at creating multistakeholder collaborations and finding consensus to help a team work together.

Katie joined Genentech ten years ago, bringing with her a decade of experience in advocacy. Key roles included patient services at Living Beyond Breast Cancer, community outreach at the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition, and field and government relations at the National Breast Cancer Coalition.

Katie values curiosity, people, relationship building, and creating things that improve society at large. She resides in Pennsylvania with her husband, Steven, and son, Charlie, and holds a Master of Arts in American Studies from the University of East Anglia and a Bachelors in American Studies from Dickinson College. 

She completed her internal medicine residency at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota where she was the chief fellow from 2018-2019.

Dr. Florez's clinical interests include targeted therapy for lung cancer and the care of women with lung cancer, including their unique aspects of cancer survivorship. She is the principal investigator of the Sexual Health Assessment in Women with Lung Cancer (SHAWL) Study, the largest study to date evaluating sexual dysfunction in women with lung cancer.

Apart from her clinical interests in lung cancer, she is also a leading and productive researcher in cancer health disparities, gender and racial discrimination in medical education and medicine. She received many awards including the 2018 Resident of the Year Award by the National Hispanic Medical Association, the Mayo Brothers Distinguished Fellowship award, and the 2020 Rising Star award by the LEAD national conference for women in hematology and oncology.

In addition, Dr. Florez founded the Duma Lab in 2019. The laboratory focuses on lung cancer, social justice issues in medicine, and medical education. The laboratory's long-term goals are to create a welcoming environment for medical trainees from historically underrepresented groups in medicine while improving the care of vulnerable populations. Members of the Duma Lab are agents of change.

Selected Publications

Duma N, Lambertini M. It Is Time to Talk About Fertility and Immunotherapy. Oncologist. 2020;25(4):277-278. doi:10.1634/theoncologist.2019-0837

Duma N. Gender differences in publication rates in oncology: Looking at the past, present, and future. Cancer. 2020;126(12):2759-2761. doi:10.1002/cncr.32819

Duma N, Kothadia SM, Azam TU, et al. Characterization of Comorbidities Limiting the Recruitment of Patients in Early Phase Clinical Trials. Oncologist. 2019;24(1):96-102. doi:10.1634/theoncologist.2017-0687

Duma N, Durani U, Woods CB, et al. Evaluating Unconscious Bias: Speaker Introductions at an International Oncology Conference. J Clin Oncol. 2019;37(36):3538-3545. doi:10.1200/JCO.19.01608

Duma N, Azam T, Riaz IB, Gonzalez-Velez M, Ailawadhi S, Go R. Representation of Minorities and Elderly Patients in Multiple Myeloma Clinical Trials. Oncologist. 2018;23(9):1076-1078. doi:10.1634/theoncologist.2017-0592

Idossa D, Duma N, Chekhovskiy K, Go R, Ailawadhi S. Commentary: Race and Ethnicity in Biomedical Research - Classifications, Challenges, and Future Directions. Ethn Dis. 2018;28(4):561-564. Published 2018 Oct 18. doi:10.18865/ed.28.4.561

Duma N, Vera Aguilera J, Paludo J, et al. Representation of Minorities and Women in Oncology Clinical Trials: Review of the Past 14 Years. J Oncol Pract. 2018;14(1):e1-e10. doi:10.1200/JOP.2017.025288

Regarding her overall academic focus, three of her career objectives are to 1) conduct cancer population health educational activities with community partners in SC; 2) develop specific, targeted research to reduce cancer disparities; and 3) increase the number of investigators in SC who conduct cancer population health research.  As a member of the MUSC-HCC’s Cancer Prevention and Control Program, she is a behavioral scientist with a strong commitment to cancer health research, particularly in the recruitment and retention of different populations for cancer research studies and in intervention design and conduct. She is a co-investigator of the multi-site National Cancer Institute-funded Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial. She has also led several ancillary PLCO studies funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the NCI, as well as other studies, and testing strategies to enhance the recruitment and retention of Black people to clinical trials.  

Dr. Ford co-leads the MUSC HCC-funded Minority/Underserved NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP), one of only 14 institutions in the US. She is also the MPI, with Dr. Robert Winn at the Virginia Commonwealth University and Louise Henderson from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, of a new multi-state, multi-institutional Stand Up to Cancer grant. The first aim of the study is to initiate and evaluate a high-impact, multimodal, and multilevel navigation intervention to promote lung cancer screening among Black people from both rural and urban medically underserved communities in Virginia, SC, and North Carolina. The second aim is to develop a robust, shared population-based cohort and biorepository to further support research in understanding biologic determinants or risk factors for poor lung cancer outcomes among Blacks from the three participating states. This “cell-to-society” approach is expected to create a sustainable research infrastructure and to develop better methods to identify those at the highest risk for a diagnosis of, and/or poor treatment outcomes for, lung cancer. This is South Carolina’s first Stand Up to Cancer award. 

Dr. Ford is the author or co-author of more than 125 peer-reviewed scientific papers. She co-edited the 2017 and 2020 Advances in Cancer Research volumes titled “Cancer Disparities” and “Cancer Health Equity,” respectively, and has published nine book chapters. 

Over the past three years, Dr. Ford has received numerous awards, including a 2022 MUSC Earl B. Higgins University Leadership in Diversity Award, a 2022 Remarkable Woman of the Lowcountry Award, a 2023 Top 25 Diversity Leader in Healthcare in the US award, and a 2024 National Immunization Champions Award. 

Dr. Raymond Osarogiagbon is an oncologist specializing in hematology and oncology. He serves as the director of the Multidisciplinary Thoracic Oncology Program at Baptist Cancer Center. He is focused on helping all patients benefit from the latest advances, regardless of where they live. Dr. Osarogiagbon and his colleagues have developed a kit that helps surgical teams collect the full spectrum of information needed to determine the best care for each patient.

Dr. Osarogiagbon’s interests center around improving population-based systems of care, improving the accuracy of cancer staging and evaluating the biologic drivers of outcome differences in potentially curable lung cancer.

She obtained her MD and Masters in Public Health at UNC-Chapel Hill and completed her Internal Medicine residency, fellowship in Hematology and Oncology, and Masters in Science in Health Services Research at Stanford University.  Dr. Patel's research involves evaluating systems-level and social factors that influence disparities in cancer. Her expertise lies in designing, implementing, and evaluating new models of cancer care delivery through community-based participatory research. She collaborates with academic, community, and VA oncology practices to improve patient experiences with care, clinical outcomes, and reduce unwanted healthcare utilization and health disparities. Dr. Patel also has expertise in linking large cancer registries to investigate modifiable etiologies for disparate care receipt among populations.

Scout has a long history in health policy analysis and a particular interest in ensuring research and surveillance activities include LGBTQI+ people.

They have faculty appointments at Dartmouth Cancer Center and Boston University's school of public health. They are on the advisory panel of NIH's All of Us initiative and a former member of the NIH Council of Councils as well as former co-chair of the NIH Sexual and Gender Minority Research Office Work Group. Their work has won them recognition from the US House of Representatives, two state governments, and many city governments.

Scout is an openly nonbinary and trans father of three and an avid hiker.

As faculty at MD Anderson, Dr. Singhi specializes in patient education research and young-onset lung cancer research. He serves as the Patient Safety and Quality Officer for the Thoracic Medical Oncology Service Line, Director of Thoracic Research for the MD Anderson Cancer Network Sites, and Director of the Thoracic Medical Oncology rotation for the MD Anderson medical oncology fellowship program.

Before joining NCI, Dr. Steward completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Emory University's Behavioral Genetics of Addiction Laboratory. There, she coordinated the multisite study MAPme, examining behavioral and genetic risks for substance use development in young adults. Previously, she worked as a Program Officer at NHLBI's Center for Translation Research and Implementation Science, supporting the integration of evidence-based genomic discoveries into clinical and public health settings.

Dr. Steward completed her first postdoctoral fellowship at Children's National Health System, performing genetic profiling and developing fitness tracking apps for home monitoring of children with metabolic conditions. She received her PhD in Microbiology with a focus on cellular and molecular biology from Howard University.

A former middle school educator and student success coach, Nichelle has a proven record of creating safe, empowering spaces where challenging conversations about bias, representation, and patient experience lead to meaningful transformation. Her advocacy is deeply informed by personal experience as both a lung cancer survivor and the parent of a child with hemophilia A.

Nichelle’s work has impacted healthcare systems, educational institutions, and nonprofit organizations nationwide, including collaborations with Johnson & Johnson, GSK, and LUNGevity. She brings to the boardroom an unwavering commitment to representation, intentional relationship-building, and aligning strategy with community needs. Her ability to connect across cultures and disciplines makes her a powerful voice for progress, equity, and long-term impact.

Dr. Karriem Watson is a Community Health Scientist who serves as the Associate Executive Director of the Mile Square Health Center, a group of Federally Qualified Health Clinics affiliated with the University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System. Dr. Watson also serves as the Associate Director of Community Outreach and Engagement for the University of Illinois Cancer Center at UIC and has a faculty appointment in the UIC School of Public Health as Research Assistant Professor.

Dr. Watson’s research is focused on cancer prevention and control and mitigating the impact of social determinants of health on chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension. His research and publications are focused in community engagement and health equity, and expanding diversity in clinical trials.

Selected Publications

Kim SJ, Ramirez-Valles J, Watson K, et al. Fostering health equity research: Development and implementation of the Center for Health Equity Research (CHER) Chicago. J Clin Transl Sci. 2019;4(1):53-60. Published 2019 Dec 17. doi:10.1017/cts.2019.415

Watson KS, Henderson V, Murray M, et al. Engaging African American Men as Citizen Scientists to Validate a Prostate Cancer Biomarker: Work-in-Progress. Prog Community Health Partnersh. 2019;13(5):103-112. doi:10.1353/cpr.2019.0043

Watson KS, Henderson V, Murray M, et al. Engaging African American Men as Citizen Scientists to Validate a Prostate Cancer Biomarker: Work-in-Progress. Prog Community Health Partnersh. 2019;13(5):103-112. doi:10.1353/cpr.2019.0043

Giachello AL, Watson KS, Stuart M, et al. Community-Academic Partnerships to Reduce Cancer Inequities: The ChicagoCHEC Community Engagement Core. Prog Community Health Partnersh. 2019;13(5):21-37. doi:10.1353/cpr.2019.0032

Murray M, Campbell C, Kendall L, Whitt-Glover MC, Watson KS. Perspectives from Project Brotherhood: Facilitating Engagement of African American Men in Research. Prog Community Health Partnersh. 2019;13(5):137-142. doi:10.1353/cpr.2019.0047

Just the fourth director of Massey since its 1975 National Cancer Institute designation, Winn oversees a center composed of nearly 150 scientists and clinical investigators. Leading by example, Winn is nationally recognized for his community engagement efforts in promoting new approaches to building trust among populations previously disenfranchised from healthcare or excluded or abused in research.

Most recently, during the pandemic, Winn launched a nationally heralded Facts & Faith Fridays conversation series, an initiative that creates a dialogue between science, community, and faith leaders to combat medical mistrust within the African American community. Hosted guests have included Jill Biden, EdD, Anthony Fauci, MD, Ned Sharpless, MD, and Francis Collins, MD, PhD. Winn is also the namesake of the Robert A. Winn Excellence in Clinical Trials Award Program, a $114 million training and education program in partnership with the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation.

Winn is committed to both community-engaged research and research focused on eliminating health disparities. He is principal investigator on several large multi-institutional initiatives, including a team science award from Stand Up To Cancer, a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-funded Planning SPORE focused on Lung Cancer Health Equity, and an NCI-funded institutional partnership award fostering cancer disparities research and career development collaboration between Massey and Virginia State University, a historically Black university located in Petersburg, VA—a city that has faced health and education inequities for generations.

Winn also manages his own basic and translational research laboratory, which has been supported by multiple NIH and Veterans Affairs Merit awards for nearly two decades. Winn’s laboratory focuses on the molecular mechanisms and novel therapeutic approaches for lung cancer and the confluence between societal and biological factors that may lead to disparities.

Winn’s previous faculty appointments include serving as director of the University of Illinois Cancer Center from 2015-2019 and as associate vice chancellor of health affairs for community-based practice at the University of Illinois Hospital and Health Science System from 2013-2019. Prior to his work in Chicago, Winn spent 13 years at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and School of Medicine in a variety of leadership roles, including associate dean of admissions and vice chair of career development and diversity inclusion.

The recipient of numerous awards and honors, Winn was the inaugural recipient of the 2021 Association of American Cancer Institutes’ (AACI) Cancer Health Equity Award and is AACI’s President Elect. He also serves on the boards of the American Cancer Society and LUNGevity Foundation.

Winn holds a BA from the University of Notre Dame and an MD from the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor. He completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago and a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver.