Global Cancer Research and Control Seminar Series 2025 (Upcoming Webinars)

Amr Soliman, M.D., Ph.D., Director, Cancer Epidemiology Education in Special Populations (CEESP) Program
City University of New York (CUNY) School of Medicine

Over the past 25 years, Dr. Amr Soliman has collaborated with faculty members in various global settings and special populations in the United States to develop a program in cancer epidemiology and translation to cancer prevention and control. This collaboration has led to the development and maintenance of strong research infrastructure in global settings and with several medical centers in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe to investigate the epidemiology of cancers relevant to the local sites. Dr. Soliman co-led the largest global research study on inflammatory breast cancer in North Africa, along with Dr. Catherine Schairer (retired) from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). He also co-led a project in Tanzania on HIV-related malignancies. His two global research studies have provided significant training opportunities to students and trainees from the United States and in global settings.

Over the past 20 years, Dr. Soliman has served as the principal investigator of the NCI-R25-supported Cancer Epidemiology Education in Special Populations (CEESP) program at the University of Michigan, the University of Nebraska, and City University of New York. The CEESP program has trained more than 250 public health and medical students in special populations. More than 98 percent of the CEESP alumni practice and conduct research in the United States after their global training.

Dr. Soliman has also conducted collaborative research with the minority-focused SEER registry in Detroit, MI; the Michigan Cancer Consortium; the State Cancer Registry of Michigan; and the Arab American Center for Social and Economic Services. He also conducted several research studies focused on underserved populations in Michigan, rural populations in Nebraska, and unique populations in New York. Dr. Soliman’s domestic research in the United States focuses on access to cancer care, screening, and early detection in underserved populations.

Dr. Soliman is the past president of the American Association for Cancer Education and the current editor-in-chief of the Journal of Cancer Education.

Nisreen Qatamish, Director General
King Hussein Cancer Foundation

Mrs. Nisreen Qatamish is a recognized leader in social development, philanthropy, and the advancement of women’s and youth issues. She currently serves as the Director General of the King Hussein Cancer Foundation (KHCF) in Jordan, the country's largest community-based nonprofit organization. Under Ms. Qatamish’s leadership, KHCF has solidified its position as a regional and international leader in cancer care. Mrs. Qatamish oversees fundraising and advocacy efforts, leads comprehensive communications and media strategies, fosters strong partnerships across the public and private sectors, and plays a key role in garnering government support for the Foundation. An advocate for long-term sustainability, Mrs. Qatamish has been instrumental in creating innovative financial strategies to secure the Foundation’s future. Notably, she spearheaded the establishment of the KHCF Endowment and led the development of a cancer insurance program, championing its nationwide expansion as a comprehensive and socially inclusive model for financing cancer treatment.

Mrs. Qatamish holds a bachelor’s degree in resource management and the environment from the University of Jordan. She has also completed specialized training in leadership, management, and policymaking at the American University of Beirut and the Harvard Kennedy School.

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María E. Fernández, Ph.D., Vice President of Population Health and Implementation Science, and Co-Director
UTHealth Houston Institute for Implementation Science

Dr. María Fernández is Vice President of Population Health and Implementation Science at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston) and the founding Co-Director of the UTHealth Houston Institute for Implementation Science. Dr. Fernández is also the Lorne Bain Chair of Public Health and Medicine, Professor of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences, and Director of the UTHealth Houston Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research (CHPPR) at the UTHealth Houston School of Public Health.

As a researcher and a leader, Dr. Fernández has spent her career conducting participatory community-engaged research and practice to develop, evaluate, implement, and disseminate interventions to improve health and reduce health disparities. Her research focuses on cancer and chronic disease prevention and control among underserved populations in the U.S. and globally. Dr. Fernández is an expert in dissemination and implementation (D&I) research, having served as a member of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health Study Section and as faculty for several national and international D&I training programs.

Dr. Fernández has an extensive portfolio of global, federal, and state-funded research developing and improving evidence-based interventions and guidelines for the prevention and control of cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease (among others) in clinical and public health settings. Dr. Fernández has over 250 peer-reviewed publications and has co-authored several books, including the 4th edition of Planning Health Promotion Programs: An Intervention Mapping Approach (2016) and the Handbook of Community-based Participatory Research (2017). Her awards include the Association for Schools and Programs of Public Health Research Excellence Award and the UTHealth President's Scholar Award for Research Excellence.

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Kristin Schroeder, M.D., M.P.H., Associate Professor in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Associate Research Professor of Global Health, and Director
Duke Cancer Center, Global Oncology Program

Kristin Schroeder, M.D., M.P.H., is currently an Associate Professor in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Associate Research Professor of Global Health, and Director of Duke Cancer Center’s Global Oncology Program. She completed her Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, Neuro-Oncology and Global Health Fellowships at Duke University, Pediatrics Residency at UNC Children’s Hospital, her M.P.H. at West Virginia University and M.D. from Georgetown University.

Since 2014, Dr. Schroeder has spent six months of each year in Tanzania, collaborating with clinicians and administrators to develop a pediatric cancer program at Bugando Medical Center. In addition to developing capacity for pediatric cancer care, her research focuses on creating interventions to improve pediatric cancer outcomes and reducing treatment incompletion in low resource settings. Dr. Schroeder’s work in global oncology inspired her to co-found ICCARE, a non-profit whose mission is to give any child who is diagnosed with cancer the same chance of cure regardless of where they live.

Erica Samson Sanga, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist and Community Engagement Coordinator
National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) Mwanza Centre, Tanzania

Erica Samson Sanga, PhD is a Senior Research Scientist and Community Engagement Coordinator at the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) - Mwanza Centre in Tanzania. She is a public health scientist with more than 20 years of experience leading community-engaged and implementation-focused research in low-resource settings, with strong expertise in qualitative methods, stakeholder engagement, and health systems research.

Dr. Sanga has served as Co–Principal Investigator on three NCI-sponsored research projects, including studies focused on pediatric cancer awareness, stigma, digital case management, and the development of culturally tailored caregiver education programs in Tanzania. Her work has supported the integration of community perspectives into cancer research and care delivery, informing interventions aimed at improving early diagnosis, treatment engagement, and outcomes for children with cancer.

Dr. Sanga is also actively involved in research capacity strengthening, mentoring early-career scientists, and serves as a part-time lecturer in public health at the Catholic University of Health and Allied Sciences (CUHAS) in Mwanza. Her work emphasizes aligning rigorous cancer research with community priorities to support sustainable, equitable improvements in cancer prevention and care in low- and middle-income countries.