New Grantee Workshop (Speaker Bios)

In her role as a Program Director, Dr. Doose advances research on long-term cancer survivorship, primary care capacity for cancer survivorship care, and health system and community level interventions. Her scientific interests include effective communication and coordination to optimize patient-care team relationships for cancer survivors, especially those with multiple chronic conditions. Dr. Doose also serves as a Project Scientist in Cancer Care Delivery Research for the NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP). Dr. Doose earned a PhD from Rutgers School of Public Health, a Master of Public Health in Community Health Sciences from UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, and bachelor's degrees in Spanish and International Studies with an emphasis in Latin America studies from Pepperdine University.

Dr. Kennedy is a Health Scientist in the Office of the Director in the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS) at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). In this role, she coordinates and leads trans-divisional and institute initiatives to promote research priorities in cancer control research and performs analyses to inform policy and decision making and program management. Amy first joined the NCI in 2014 as a Cancer Research Training Award Fellow in the Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program, and then became a Presidential Management Fellow (PMF) in the fall of 2015. Prior to rejoining the Division in 2020, Dr. Kennedy worked in the Center for Research Strategy (CRS) in the NCI Office of the Director as a Health Scientist Administrator. Dr. Kennedy earned her PhD in Public Health (Epidemiology) and MPH (Environmental Health Sciences) from Florida International University, and her BS in Biology from the University of Miami. Her dissertation work in genetic epidemiology investigated correlations among genetic mutations, birth characteristics, and the risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia in diverse populations.

Dr. Ling is internationally known for research in tobacco related to tobacco marketing, tobacco industry strategies targeting youth and young adults, marketing of novel tobacco products, and novel interventions to prevent smoking and promote smoking cessation among priority populations. She is Director of the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, and she is an experienced transdisciplinary mentor for early career researchers from a variety of fields. Her clinical practice is in general internal medicine.

As a Psychologist and Program Director at NCI, Dr. Perna provides leadership and oversees a research portfolio related to physical activity promotion, exercise intervention for cancer survivors, and skin cancer prevention and control. Prior to joining NCI, Dr. Perna was a tenured associate professor at West Virginia University and later served as an associate professor and director of health psychology at Boston University School of Medicine where he maintained an active program of funded research and a clinical health psychology practice. Other research and practice areas involved sport psychology work with professional, Olympic, and recreational athletes.

Dr. Rendle is an Associate Professor with Tenure at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. She is also the Director of the Penn Center for Cancer Care Innovation (PC3I) at Abramson Cancer Center and Director of the Cancer Implementation Research at the Penn Implementation Science Center (PISCE@LDI). Dr. Rendle leads a robust portfolio of NIH-funded research (P50, R01, U01) that integrates diverse quantitative and qualitative methods to improve access, quality, and implementation of cancer care delivery, with a substantial focus in cervical and lung cancer screening and care, in the United States and Botswana. Dr. Rendle earned her PhD in Anthropology and Social Work from the University of Michigan. She also earned her MPH in Epidemiology from the University of California, Berkeley, and completed her postdoctoral training at the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Prevention Fellowship.

Dr. Rozek is a Professor of Oncology at Georgetown University Medical Center and co-Leader of the Cancer Prevention and Control program for Georgetown-Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. She holds an MS in Epidemiology from the University of Washington School of Public Health and a PhD in Epidemiology, as well as an MA in Statistics, from the University of Michigan, where she was a tenured faculty member in the School of Public Health until her move to Georgetown in August 2022. She is a molecular cancer epidemiologist focused on cancer prevention and control, with expertise in integrating somatic, epidemiologic, and social data from studies of head and neck and colorectal cancers, identifying avenues for prevention and improved survival. She currently leads the NIH/NCI funded Disparities and Cancer Epidemiology (DANCE)- Colorectal Cancer (CRC) project namely “Aggressive CRC subtypes and social disadvantage in a racially diverse cohort” in collaboration with University of Michigan, Karmanos Comprehensive Cancer Center-Wayne State University and Louisiana State University – Health Science Campus, addressing the intersection of race and socioeconomic disadvantage in CRC outcomes. She is the PI of U01-DE033348 “Oral Dysplasias to Carcinomas: Multi-omics Study of Progression” which is a part of the NIDCR Advancing Head and Neck Cancer Early Detection (AHEAD) consortium, and MPI of “Downstream effects of HPV integration on survival/metastasis in orophyarngeal cancer” (R01-CA250214) that included a supplement to apply integrative ‘omics approaches to understanding differences in HPV-associated oropharynx cancer survival in African Americans and non-Hispanic Whites.

Dr. Srinivasan is a sociologist and the Senior Advisor in the Office of the Director, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS), National Cancer Institute (NCI). She currently coordinates activities across DCCPS, NCI, the National Institutes of Health, and with other federal and non-governmental agencies to develop programs and initiatives to improve overall health. Through NCI-funded programs she promotes the building of partnerships between communities and universities to address various health challenges in communities. Previously, she has taught and conducted research at various universities and also has worked as a research director in a community-based health organization. Her scientific portfolio is primarily on social determinants of health and place, including challenges in the utilization and access to health services. In all these projects, the goal is largely to inform health policy at the local, state, and national levels regarding health and health care.

Dr. Ted Wagener is the Founding Director of the Center for Tobacco Research and Co-Leader of the Cancer Control Program at the OSU Comprehensive Cancer Center. He leads an internationally recognized research program in addiction and tobacco regulatory science, with a particular emphasis on understanding the behavioral, pharmacological, and toxicological effects of both cigarette and non-cigarette tobacco products. His work has been continuously funded by the NIH since 2012, and he has served as Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator on over 30 NIH grants, including several large programmatic and cooperative initiatives. He currently serves as PI of the OSU Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science (OSU-TCORS). Deeply committed to training the next generation of scientists, Dr. Wagener has mentored and co-mentored a wide range of students, trainees, and postdoctoral fellows, many of whom have gone on to competitive psychology residencies, fellowships, and academic faculty positions. He has served as primary mentor or sponsor on seven NIH training grants, and as co-mentor on numerous others.

As Acting Director of the Center for Cancer Training and Director of the Cancer Training Branch, Dr. Zahir oversees career development programs supporting the intramural research program fellows and the extramural research fellowships, training, education, and career development programs funded by NCI. Dr. Zahir strives to foster collaborative team science and support cancer education, outreach, and advocacy activities spanning the cancer research continuum. She serves as vice co-chair of the NIH Training Advisory Committee and formerly served as chair of the NCI Early Stage Investigator Activities Committee. From 2013-2021, Dr. Zahir served as Associate Director at the NCI Division of Cancer Biology where she coordinated programs that integrate physical sciences perspectives in cancer research. She joined the NCI in 2009 as a Program Director in the Office of Physical Sciences-Oncology. Dr. Zahir is an elected fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering where she was recognized for her advocacy of training and support for engineering approaches to cancer research. Dr. Zahir's research experience has been in the areas of tissue engineering at the NIH for her postdoctoral fellowship, breast cancer mechanobiology at the University of Pennsylvania Department of Bioengineering for her graduate degree, and plasma physics and radiation biology as an undergraduate at the University of California, Berkeley Department of Nuclear Engineering.