LUNGevity is proud to be guided and inspired by our Health Equity Council, made up of leaders from a variety of lived experiences, racial/ethnic identities, gender identities, geographies, organizational settings, areas of professional expertise, and career stages. Together, we are committed to ensuring that all people diagnosed with lung cancer have the same opportunities for best-case outcomes and access to trusted resources, irrespective of their geographic location, socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, age, or marginalization in society.  

Members of the Health Equity Council will meet annually to optimize the impact of the Foundation’s national  community-network strategy focused on health literacy, lung cancer screening, biomarker testing, and inclusion in clinical trials.

Health Equity Council Members

Key Opinion Leaders

LeeAnn Bailey, MBBS, PhD, MS

LeeAnn Bailey, MBBS, PhD, MS

National Cancer Institute
Chief of the Integrated Networks Branch, CRCHD

Dr. Bailey develops, and assesses strategies for enhancing the integration and dissemination of diversity training, women’s health, and sexual and gender minority efforts within and across NCI, as well as within the scientific community and underserved communities through NCI-supported networks.

Carla Berg, PhD, MBA, LP

Carla Berg, PhD, MBA, LP

George Washington Cancer Center
Associate Center Director for Population Sciences and Policy
Milken Institute School of Public Health
Interim Vice Provost for Research
Professor, Department of Prevention and Community Health

Dr. Berg’s research primary focuses on socio-contextual factors related to substance use, particularly tobacco and marijuana, ranging from macro-level factors such as policy and marketing to interpersonal and individual factors.

Lynette Bonar, RN, MBA, FACHE

Lynette Bonar, RN, MBA, FACHE

Tuba City Regional Health Care Corporation
Chief Executive Officer

Lynette Bonar established the first and only cancer clinic on any American Indian reservation and she is the first woman to be in charge of a Navajo health care system.

Cherie Erkmen, MD

Cherie P. Erkmen, MD

Temple University Health Systems
Professor and Director, Temple University Lung Cancer Screening Program

Dr. Erkmen specializes in robotic techniques to deliver the highest quality of care thoracic surgery patients. She is a devoted educator and the founding Program Director of the ACGME-Accredited Thoracic Surgery Fellowship at Temple.

Narjust Florez, MD

Narjust Florez, MD

Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center
Associate Director, Cancer Care Equity Program
Thoracic medical oncologist

Dr. Narjust Florez is the Associate Director of the Cancer Care Equity Program and a thoracic medical oncologist at the Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center.

Marvella Ford, PhD

Marvella Ford, PhD

Medical University of South Carolina
Hollings Cancer Center

Associate Professor for Bioinformatics and Epidemiology
Associate Director of Cancer Disparities

Dr. Ford’s research focuses on personal and socioeconomic factors impacting cancer screening and detection among underserved and minority populations such as race, gender, and education.

Ellen Miller Sonet, MBA, JD

Ellen Miller-Sonet, MBA, JD

CancerCare
Chief Strategy and Alliance Officer

Ellen Miller-Sonet leads the strategic initiatives and national policy agenda for CancerCare, the leading national organization providing free, professional support services and information to help people manage the emotional, practical, and financial challenges of cancer.

Raymond Osarogiagbon, MD

Raymond Osarogiagbon, MD

Baptist Cancer Center
Director of the Multidisciplinary Thoracic Oncology Program
Vanderbilt University
Research Professor
Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center
Research Member

Dr. Osarogiagbon is interested on 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.

Manali I Patel MD MPH MS

Manali I. Patel MD, MPH, MS

Stanford University School of Medicine 
Assistant Professor
VA Palo Alto Health Care System
Staff Oncologist

Dr. Manali I. Patel is a medical thoracic oncologist and health services researcher at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System. 

Bruce Rapkin, PhD

Bruce Rapkin, PhD

Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Population Health
Professor, Department of Family and Social Medicine

Dr. Rapkin’s area of research focuses on building community-academic partnerships that can reduce barriers and improve standard of care.

NFN Scout, MA, PhD

NFN Scout, MA, PhD

National LGBT Cancer Network
Executive Director

Scout leads a team at National LGBT Cancer Network that focus on building tools and sharing strategies across state departments of health.

Nichelle Stigger

Nichelle Stigger

Patient Advocate
Member, LUNGevity Board of Directors

Nichelle is a lung cancer survivor-advocate with a goal to speak as an African American woman experiencing cancer, the equitable treatment of people of color in cancer, and diminishing the stigma of lung cancer.

Karriem S. Watson, DHSC, MS, MPH

Karriem S. Watson, DHSC, MS, MPH

Mile Square Health Center
Associate Executive Director
University of Illinois Cancer Center at UIC
Associate Director of Community Outreach and Engagement
UIC School of Public Health
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.

Karen Winkfield, MD, PhD

Karen Winkfield, MD, PhD

Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance
Executive Director

Dr. Winkfield is a national expert in community engagement with research focused on the design and implementation of programming to reduce sociocultural and economic barriers that contribute to disparate health outcomes for racial and ethnic minorities and underserved populations.

Robert Winn, MD

Robert Winn, MD

VCU Massey Cancer Center
Director

Dr. Winn is committed to developing methods to eliminate health disparities by empowering underserved patient populations, improve health-care deliver, and ensuring equal access to cutting-edge medical treatments.

Industry

Stacey Alphas

Stacey Alphas

Bristol Myers Squibb
Associate Director, Clinical Trial Engagement Strategy

Stacey Alphas is a passionate patient advocate and is dedicated to understanding the burden on patients as they navigate through their disease and treatment journey.

Keith Dawson

Keith Dawson, DNP, MS

Genentech, A Member of the Roche Group
Health Equity & Population Science, PD Portfolio Strategy & Execution

Keith leads Clinical Development & Medical Evidence Generation strategy to broaden population specific insights and evidence generation across the drug development lifecycle for Roche.

Ben Garcia

Ben Garcia, CPHQ, LSSGB

Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.
Director, US Diversity & Inclusion

During his career, Ben has held various sales, account management, and leadership roles at Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals, Bristol Myers Squibb, Roche Labs, Sanofi Genzyme and most recently, Novartis.

Lisa Giuroiu

Lisa Giuroiu

Amgen
Director, Global Advocacy Relations Thoracic & Gastrointestinal Cancers

Lisa leads Amgen’s collaborative relationships with lung, gastric and colorectal cancer patient advocacy organizations.

Sara Green

Sara Green

AstraZeneca
Director of Advocacy and Alliance

Sara’s deep experience includes patient and professional engagement, healthcare education and policy issues at the national and state level. She is interested in reducing disparities to care.

Karen Hamel

Karen Hamel

Novartis Oncology
Director, US Patient Engagement

Karen is responsible for engaging with lung cancer patient groups and several other solid tumor patient communities to help drive the Novartis Patient Engagement vision of being the leading pharmaceutical company that consistently and systematically engages patients across the medicines lifecycle.

Meg Harrison

Meg Harrison, MA

Genentech, A Member of the Roche Group
Patient Advocacy Relations

In Patient Advocacy Relations, Meg leads Genentech's engagements with lung, kidney, prostate and bladder cancer patient advocacy groups and contributes to critical business needs including partnerships in biomarker testing as well as Genentech's novel MyInfoMyWay launch that will support lung cancer patient navigation.

Aimee Lin, PhD

Aimee K. Lin, PhD

Eli Lilly and Company
Associate Vice President – Clinical Research, Oncology

Aimee Lin received her PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Kentucky, College of Pharmacy and has over 20 years of clinical research experience in both early and late phase development.

Devon McGoldrick, MPH, CCPH

Devon McGoldrick, MPH, CCPH

Eli Lilly
Advisor, Advocacy and Professional Relations

Devon is committed to improving experiences and outcomes for all people affected by a cancer diagnosis.

Jude Ngang

Jude Ngang, PharmD

Amgen
Director, Diversity and Representation in Clinical Research

Jude Ngang is Director, Diversity and Representation in Clinical Research at Amgen. 

Jeanette Schulz

Jeanette Schulz, MPH

Amgen
Director, Health Equity and Advocacy Relations

Jeanette leads Amgen’s health equity platform across the organization, including partnering with functional teams to align Amgen’s health equity objectives, metrics, and partnerships and connecting this work to their ESG commitments.

Vikki Walton, MBA

Vikki Walton, MBA

Novartis Oncology
Director, ESG & Health Equity Policy

Vikki is responsible for the development, alignment, and engagement of the North America Public Affairs strategic plan for Environment, Social, Governance (ESG) and Health Equity policy priorities and principles.