Opportunity for Research Excellence Meeting (Speaker Bios)

Dr. Bansal completed his residency training in Internal Medicine at New York Medical College, New York. Subsequently, he served as the Chief Resident at New York Medical College, New York. Then he completed his Gastroenterology Fellowship from the University Hospital at Stony Brook, Long Island, New York. Currently, he is the Medical Director of Gastroenterology Cancers Prevention Clinic of the NCI-designated Kansas University Cancer Center and an Professor of Medicine in the Department of Gastroenterology at the University of Kansas Health System, Kansas City, KS. His overarching research interest is cancer prevention. He conducts research in the areas of inherited gastrointestinal cancer syndromes, Barrett’s esophagus and novel imaging techniques for detection of premalignant and malignant lesions in the gastrointestinal tract. He is the principal investigator on an NCI funded 14-center trial to test a novel combination of vaccines and IL-15 superagonist in patients with Lynch syndrome. He recently was funded to repurpose itraconazole for prevention of recurrent Barrett’s esophagus in a 5-center clinical trial. He has > 100 peer-reviewed publications and is a reviewer for multiple peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Quincy J. Byrdsong, EdD, CIP, CCRP is the Vice President of Research Operations at Ballad Health where he oversees research directors and fosters collaborations with regional academic institutions to strengthen Ballad Health’s research enterprise and its mission to improve health in the Appalachian Region. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology at Middle Tennessee State University. He continued on to receive his Doctor of Education in Curriculum and Instruction at Tennessee State University. Prior to coming to Ballad Health, Dr. Byrdsong served as the Vice Provost for Health Affairs at Lipscomb University. His academic interests are clinical trial management, research ethics, and the protection of human subjects. Dr. Byrdsong is both a Certified IRB Professional (CIP) and Certified Clinical Research Professional (CCRP) as well as a past president of the Society of Clinical Research Associates (SOCRA).

Brian Cholewa is a Senior Toxicologist and Program Director for the Chemopreventive Agent Development Research Group of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Dr. Cholewa currently leads regulatory efforts for the Division of Cancer Prevention in support of the Cancer Prevention Clinical Trials Network and serves as the primary toxicologist for agent development in the PREVENT program. Dr. Cholewa completed his Ph.D. in Molecular and Environmental Toxicology at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, which was followed by a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Following a brief transition into industry, Dr. Cholewa joined the FDA as a Pharmacology/Toxicology Reviewer in the Division of Hematology Oncology Toxicology in the Office of Oncologic Diseases. He served as the primary toxicology reviewer on multiple New Drug Applications (NDAs) and hundreds of researches and commercial Investigational New Drug Applications (INDs) prior to joining the NCI in the Spring of 2020.

H-H Sherry Chow, PhD is a Research Professor of Medicine at the University of Arizona Cancer Center. She is the contact Principal Investigator for the University of Arizona Cancer Prevention Clinical Trials Network, one of the five networks funded by the NCI Division of Cancer Prevention (DCP) for conducting early-phase clinical trials of NCI, DCP-sponsored chemopreventive agents. Her expertise encompasses leading and participating in early-phase trials that evaluate repurposed drugs, well-characterized nutraceuticals, alternative dosing schedules, and innovative vaccines. These trials are focused on preventing various cancers, including smoking-associated lung and upper aerodigestive cancers, HPV-associated cancers, as well as breast, cervical, prostate, skin, and esophageal cancers. Additionally, Dr. Chow has played a key role in spearheading or participating in the analysis of pharmacokinetics, biochemical, and molecular biomarkers to assess cancer risk or drug effects.

Dr. Andrea De Censi is Director of the Medicine Department since July 1, 2021 and Director of the Division of Medical Oncology, Galliera Hospital, Genoa, Italy since January 1, 2004. He is also scientific consultant at the Division of Cancer Prevention and Genetics at the European Institute of Oncology in Milan, Italy, and Honorary Professor at the Queen Mary University of London, UK. He received his degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Pavia Medical School. He then did a specialization in Medical Oncology at the University of Genoa Postgraduate Medical School. He has served as a member on many committees for Cancer Prevention including the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Association for Cancer Research, and the European Society of Medical Oncology.His research interests are focused on cancer therapeutic prevention clinical trials and window of opportunity presurgical trials for drug repurposing and assessment of the minimal effective dose of investigational agents in breast, colon and ovarian cancer. He served as principal investigator in over 40 phase II and phase III cancer prevention and treatment clinical trials involving over 15,000 participants. All trials were not for profit and were supported by National or International Agencies, including the Italian Health Ministry, the Italian Association for Cancer Research, the Italian League against Cancer, the US-National Institute of Health/National Cancer Institute, the Breast cancer Research Foundation, Susan Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the Berlucchi Foundation.

Dr. Britt Erickson is an assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Women’s Health at the University of Minnesota. She received her medical degree at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. She went on to complete her residency at the University of Alabama at Birmingham where she also completed her gynecologic oncology fellowship. She has a subspecialty certification in gynecologic oncology by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Her clinical research interests include clinical trial development for gynecologic malignancies. She serves as the national PI for NRG-GY026, a phase II/III trial assessing the addition of HER2 targeted therapy in HER2 positive high grade endometrial cancer. She is the PI of a DCP trial evaluating exemestane as a chemo-preventive agent in low grade endometrial cancer and also serves as a Co-Investigator in many other national prevention and therapeutic trials. She serves on the Uterine Corpus committee and the Cancer Prevention and Control Committee of NRG Oncology and was recently awarded an R50 grant with a focus on enhancing enrollment of diverse populations of patients on NCI trials in urban and rural Minnesota.

Dr. Leslie Ford built clinical cancer prevention research as a scientific field when few people were considering the possibility of prevention, and is recognized as a national and international leader in cancer prevention research. She has a passion for prevention and strong belief that all clinical science must, to the fullest extent possible, derive as a translation of basic science. The European Institute of Oncology recognized her in 2007 for her "outstanding passion and pivotal role in creating, sustaining, and confirming the value of cancer prevention in modern oncology."

The creation and success of the NCI’s Community Clinical Oncology Program is largely due to her efforts and guidance. In 2007, this network of community-based cancer clinics continued to enroll fully one-third of all participants on NCI-sponsored prevention, treatment, and cancer control studies. The CCOPs are a major phase III trials network that reaches across the United States. Their existence contributes to the diffusion and adoption of new therapies more quickly than any other mechanism. The CCOP system has served as a model for clinical research in AIDS and other diseases. The CCOPs are also the focal point for well-designed trials of symptom management in cancer care.

Dr. Seema A. Khan is a Bluhm Family Professor of Cancer Research and Professor of Surgery at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. She received her medical degree in Pakistan and her master’s degree at Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Khan completed General Surgery training at Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse NY and Surgical Oncology training at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Her research interests at Northwestern University include improving the identification of women at high risk for breast cancer to improve prevention, pre-clinical investigation of new prevention, agents for breast cancer, and clinical trials that test novel approaches to improve breast cancer prevention. She is PI of the Northwestern LAO for the CPCT-Net program of NCI/DCP.

KyungMann Kim, PhD, is Professor of Biostatistics and Statistics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He serves as Director of the Clinical Trials Program in the Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics. He is PD/PI of the Cancer Prevention Clinical Trial Network Data Management, Auditing, and Coordinating Center (CP-CTNet DMACC) and MPI of the HIV/Cervical Cancer Prevention 'CASCADE' Clinical Trials Network Coordinating Center. His research interest is in statistical methods for clinical and healthcare research including group sequential methods for interim analysis, survival analysis and analysis of longitudinal and repeated measures data, and applications in cancer, cardiovascular disease, and healthcare-associated infections among others. He has served on numerous advisory committees, including two Federal Advisory Committees, study sections for NIH, VA and PCORI, and data monitoring committees for NIH, VA, DOD, and biopharmaceutical and medical device industry. He is an elected Fellow of the American Statistical Association (2005), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2012), and the Society for Clinical Trials (2012), for contributions in statistical science and clinical trials methodology, professional services to government, industry and professional organizations, and leadership role at the national and international level.

Dr. Erin Lavik is the Deputy Director and first Chief Technology Officer at the National Cancer Institute Division of Cancer Prevention. She received her bachelor’s degree in materials science and engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Lavik went on to receive both her master’s degree and her Doctor of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Previously, Dr. Lavik was a professor of chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where she was also the Associate Dean for research and faculty development in the College of Engineering and Information Technology. Her research interests at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County included translatable approaches to treat injuries and diseases of the central nervous system including spinal cord injury, glaucoma, and retinal degeneration. Dr. Lavik is a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers and the Biomedical Engineering Society.

Dr. Oukseub Lee is a Research Assistant Professor of Surgery at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University. She is a pharmacologist specializing in hormonal effects and pharmacological breast cancer prevention, adept at bridging preclinical discoveries with clinical evaluations of breast cancer risk biomarkers. Dr. Lee earned her B.S. degree in Chemistry from South Korea, followed by both her M.S. degree in Chemistry and Ph.D. degree in Pharmacognosy from the University of Illinois, Chicago. During her postdoctoral fellowship at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Dr. Lee laid the foundation for developing anti-cancer drugs for local transdermal therapy (LTT) targeting breast. She pioneered transdermal formulations of endoxifen and telapristone acetate, conducted extensive investigations on dermal pharmacokinetics and biomarker discovery using in vitro and in vivo models, garnering support from the National Cancer Institute’s PREVENT program. Dr. Lee has served as a co-investigator and scientific project leader for multiple biomarker-based Phase IIB presurgical window trials comparing LTT to breast with oral drug therapy, and Phase I trial of transdermal endoxifen gel funded by the DCP. Her current research interests focus on developing a safe and efficient transdermal nanocarrier for endoxifen delivery to the breast. Additionally, Dr. Lee investigates the blockade of progesterone signaling in BRCA1-associated mammary tumorigenesis using low doses of progesterone receptor antagonists in combination with NSAIDs.

Dr. Jennifer Ligibel is an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School and a Senior Physician in the Breast Oncology Center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Ligibel’s research focuses on the impact of energy balance factors, such as physical activity and body weight, upon cancer risk and outcomes. She has conducted more than a dozen randomized trials evaluating the impact of exercise and weight loss interventions on endpoints such as cardiorespiratory fitness, biomarkers associated with cancer risk and outcomes, body composition, and quality of life in cancer patients and survivors. This work has culminated in the design and implementation of the Breast Cancer Weight Loss (BWEL) Trial, the only fully powered Phase III clinical trial designed to test the impact of a weight loss intervention on invasive disease-free survival in women with early-stage breast cancer and obesity (NCT02750826). In addition to primary research work, Dr. Ligibel also is the Director of the Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies and Healthy Living and has built a comprehensive clinical Healthy Living Program for patients at Dana-Farber and beyond that offers an array of virtual and in-person exercise classes, nutrition seminars, weight management programs, and holistic longitudinal programs to foster wellness during and after cancer treatment.

Howard L. Parnes graduated from Cornell University with a BA in Biology, received his M.D. from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and completed a residency in internal medicine at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center (formerly Baltimore City Hospitals). After a medical oncology fellowship at the University of Maryland Cancer Center (UMCC) and 8 years as a clinical researcher on the UMCC faculty, Dr. Parnes joined the Division of Cancer Prevention, NCI where he has overseen the genitourinary cancer prevention program since 2001. During that time he served on the Steering Committees for PCPT and SELECT, the two largest prostate cancer prevention trials conducted to date. A board-certified physician in internal medicine and medical oncology, Dr. Parnes continues to see patients with prostate and bladder cancer at the NCI Clinical Research Center where he participates in phase I and II cancer treatment trials and counsel’s men with newly diagnosed prostate cancer regarding the wide range of options currently available to them. Dr. Parnes has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications and serves on the editorial board of Cancer Prevention Research.

Laurel Pracht is a Research Patient Advocate at the National Cancer Institute and a member of the Cancer Care Delivery Research Steering Committee. She obtained a dual Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Family Studies at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. She is also a faculty member of the American Association for Cancer Research. As a patient advocate, she works to ensure that advocates who are members of the scientific steering committees and their task forces are effectively and consistently integrated with the development and evaluation of clinical trials within those groups. Further, she is a 24-year survivor of ovarian cancer.

Ellen Richmond is the Deputy Chief of the GI and Other Cancers Research Group (GOCRG). As a Nurse Consultant, she is involved in the development and oversight of early phase GI cancer prevention trials and leads the Accrual Quality Improvement Program (AQuIP). She serves as Program Director for GI cancer prevention and Symptom Science grants and Project Scientist for the Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Network’s Incubator Program’s Gastric Cancer Working Group. She was involved in the conception of the Aspirin to Reduce Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) Cancer Endpoint Sub-study, an international collaboration with the National Institute on Aging and serves as NCI liaison on several ASPREE subcommittees. She is the DCP early phase cancer prevention representative on the SWOG Recruitment Committee. She has received DCP, NCI and NIH Director's awards for her work in esophageal cancer prevention, ASPREE and participant accrual. She is co-chair of the upcoming Think Tank on Gastric Cancer Prevention Research and the Communicating Scientific Uncertainty Innovation Lab.

Dr. Edward Sauter serves as a medical and program officer in the Breast and Gynecologic Cancer Research Group (BGCRG). He received his medical degree from Louisiana State University in New Orleans, LA and his Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA. He completed a residency in general surgery at the Ochsner Hospital and Clinics in New Orleans and a fellowship in surgical oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. He also received a master’s degree in health administration from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He spent 20+ years in academic medicine as a physician scientist with an NIH funded laboratory before joining BGCRG. The focus of his clinical care has been on the treatment of breast cancer. His research has centered on 1) the prevention and early detection of breast cancer using noninvasive and minimally invasive approaches, and 2) pregnancy associated breast cancer.

Suzanne Siminski is President and CEO of Frontier Science Foundation. She currently serves as Frontier Science sub-PI and Director of the Data Management and Reporting Unit for the Cancer Prevention Clinical Trials Network (CP-CTNet) and is the Contact MPI for the HIV/Cervical Cancer Prevention CASCADE Network Coordinating Center. She is also Frontier Science Principal Investigator for the Pediatric HIV/AIDS Cohort Study (PHACS), PHACS affiliate study “Health Outcomes around Pregnancy and Exposure to HIV/ARVs” (HOPE), and the Clinical Pharmacology Quality Assurance and Quality Control Project (CPQA), and is the Frontier Science PI of the Tuberculosis RePORT International Coordinating Center (TB-RiCC), all programs funded by the NIH. Ms. Siminski’s main research interest is in clinical trials data management, specifically in the areas of Cancer, HIV/AIDS, TB and drug use and addition. Additionally, she oversees Frontier Science’s compliance program and has interests in innovative data collection such as EMR data integration, geocoding, data sharing strategies, and data science initiatives. She has served as a project advisor for a large industry sponsored Phase III breast cancer clinical trial (OlympiA) which is being conducted throughout Europe. She also represents Frontier Science on the NIAID harmonization data repository hub initiative. As Chief Executive Officer of Frontier Science Foundation, Ms. Siminski is strategically increasing the repertoire of clinical research services provided by the organization, and actively building global collaborative partnerships with investigators around the world.

Kara Smigel has been the Communications Director for the National Cancer Institute (NCI)’s Division of Cancer Prevention since 2000. She coordinates and supports all aspects of communication, including media contacts, writing and editing of reports and responses, divisional websites, and social media. She oversees the Cancer Prevention Science blog and the DCP Updates newsletter, representing prevention, screening, and supportive care research supported by the division. She has been actively involved in promoting and reporting out numerous clinical trials.
Prior to joining the division in 2000, she worked for 12 years at the NCI Press Office, serving as a Senior Writer/Editor and as an associate editor for the Journal of National Cancer Institute News.

Debasish (Deb) Sundi, MD is a urologic oncologist specializing in bladder cancer at The James Cancer Hospital at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (Columbus, OH). Dr. Sundi received his medical degree from The Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University (Chicago, IL). He then went on to complete his general surgery internship and urology residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital (Baltimore, MD). His fellowship in urologic oncology was completed at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston, TX). Dr. Sundi leads a basic/translational bladder cancer laboratory that studies sex differences in anti-tumor immunity and urine-based biomarkers, currently sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense, Doris Duke Foundation, and Naren Patel GU Cancer Research Fund. Dr. Sundi serves as an associate editor for Urologic Oncology and BMC Cancer, and as a panel member of the NCCN Bladder Cancer Guidelines.

Eva Szabo, MD is the Chief of the Lung and Upper Aerodigestive Cancer Research Group in the Division of the Cancer Prevention. She graduated from Yale University with a B.S. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, received her M.D. from Duke University, and completed her internal medicine residency at Bellevue-NYU Medical Center. After completing her medical oncology fellowship at the National Cancer Institute, Dr. Szabo led a laboratory effort studying lung cancer biology.
Dr. Szabo joined the NCI Division of Cancer Prevention to oversee lung and head and neck cancer prevention trials. She is the Director of the Cancer Prevention Clinical Trials Network (CP-CTNet), through which she designs and oversees early phase cancer prevention clinical trials funded by the NCI. A board-certified physician in oncology and internal medicine, she continues to see patients with lung cancer and thymic epithelial tumors and participates in multiple phase I and phase II cancer treatment trials in the NCI Intramural Thoracic Malignancies Clinic. She is a Senior Deputy Editor for Cancer Prevention Research, has participated in multiple committees and working groups for ASCO and AACR, has participated in FDA Oncologic Drug Review Committees, recently served as the Chairperson of the US Department of Defense Lung Cancer Research Program Integration Panel, and is a member of the Cancer Research UK Prevention and Population Research Committee.

Dr. Prashanthi Thota is the medical director of Esophageal Center and a Gastroenterologist in the Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition at the Cleveland Clinic. She received her medical degree from the Gandhi Medical College, Hyderabad, India. She completed her internal medicine residency at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and further completed a gastroenterology fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic. Her research interests are in Barrett’s esophagus, a precursor lesion to esophageal adenocarcinoma. She was involved in Barrett’s Esophagus Translational Research Network (BETRNet) trials and studies looking at biomarkers for progression in Barrett’s esophagus. She is the principal investigator for NCI funded study on chemopreventive role of obeticholic acid in Barrett’s esophagus.

A physician-scientist and a medical oncologist by training, Eduardo Vilar-Sanchez, M.D., Ph.D., devotes his clinical expertise and practice to the care of patients and families diagnosed with hereditary gastrointestinal cancer syndromes, mainly Lynch syndrome and Familial Adenomatous Polyposis. Families with hereditary cancer syndromes are at extremely high risk of developing cancers during their lifetime; those with Lynch syndrome can develop cancers in several organs.

Dr. Vilar-Sanchez and his research team are contributing to the understanding of colorectal cancer carcinogenesis at the molecular level. Recently they looked at how the anti-inflammatory pain medicine naproxen works compared to aspirin in people with Lynch Syndrome. They found that in addition to reducing inflammation, naproxen had an impact on the immune response in the colon. In addition, the Vilar-Sanchez lab is heavily involved now in the development of vaccines for cancer prevention in this patient population.

Dr. Anda Vlad is Program Director in the Chemopreventive Agent Development Group at the National Cancer Institute, Division of Cancer Prevention. She received her MD degree from the University of Craiova School of Medicine in Romania and her Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Prior to joining the NCI, Dr. Vlad was tenured faculty at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Department of Obstetrics-Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, and Principal Investigator at Magee-Womens Research Institute. Her cancer immunology research focused on immune surveillance in ovarian premalignancy and malignancy, immune therapy development, and identification of immune biomarkers of response. At MWRI, she also served as Director of the Summer Undergraduate Research Program and Scientific Director of the Magee-Women’s Research Institute Flow Cytometry and Multiplex Profiling Core.