DCP New Grantee Workshop (Speaker Bios)

Amy joined NIH in 2001 as a Junior Grants Management Specialist at the National Heart, Lung, & Blood Institute. After fourteen years and three other NIH Institutes/Centers, Amy joined the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Office of Grants Management as a Team Leader in 2016. Since 2019, Amy has served as a senior member of the management team and a Branch Chief in the Office of Grants Administration at NCI. Amy represents the NCI Office of Grants Management in several different organizations such as the Society for Research Administrators, the NIH Grants Management University, as well as other internal NCI committees and groups such as the Early-Stage Investigator (ESI) Activities Committee.

Philip E. Castle, PhD, MPH is the Director of the Division of Cancer Prevention (DCP) and Senior, Tenured Investigator in the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG) at the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) (Rockville, MD, USA). From 2014-2020, he was a Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine (Bronx, NY, USA), at which he was granted tenure in 2019. Previously, Dr. Castle was the Chief Scientific Officer of the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) (2011-2). He was a Senior, Tenured Investigator (2010) and Tenure-Track Investigator (2003-10) in DCEG/NCI. From 1999-2002, Dr. Castle was a Cancer Prevention Fellow in DCP/NCI, during which time he received M.P.H. in Epidemiology in 2000 from the Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD, USA). Dr. Castle received his Ph.D. in Biophysics in 1995 from the Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Castle’s research interests are (1) epidemiology of human papillomaviruses (HPV) and cervical/anogenital cancer; (2) science and translation of cancer prevention strategies; (3) cancer screening; (4) international health; (5) health services research; and (6) evidence-based medicine.

Behrous Davani, PhD, is Chief of the Diversity Training Branch of the NCI’s CRCHD since 2022. In this capacity, he plays a central role in the strategic planning of the branch and program implementation to enhance workforce diversity in cancer research. Dr. Davani oversees the management of the NCI’s diversity-focused training programs, including the extramural Continuing Umbrella of Research Experiences (CURE) program.

Prior to his appointment as Chief, Dr. Davani served as a Program Director in the Division for Research Capacity Building, National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), where he oversaw the IDeA Regional Entrepreneurship Development Program and managed grants for the Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence, IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence, Science Education Partnership Awards, and Native American Research Centers for Health Programs. Before his time at NIGMS, Dr. Davani was a Program Director in NCI’s CRCHD, during which time he led the development, implementation, and management of various programs that address cancer health disparities. In this capacity, Dr. Davani managed, co-managed, or coordinated multiple CURE programs, Comprehensive Partnerships to Advance Cancer Health Equity (CPACHE U54) partnerships, and the PACHE Feasibility Studies to Build Collaborative Partnerships in Cancer Research (P20) program, among others.

Prior to first joining NCI, Dr. Davani served as a Scientific Review Manager in the Peer Review Science and Management Division of SRA International. While at SRA, he oversaw and managed the scientific review process for multiple research programs, including breast, ovarian, and lung cancer, for the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs. He received his PhD in molecular endocrinology from Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

Dr. Davani is committed to developing innovative research and educational programs to advance health equity and promote diversity in biomedical research.

Eileen Dimond is a nurse consultant in the Division of Cancer Prevention. She works with the NCI community oncology programs and the sites that form the community network across the U.S. and in Hawaii with a focus on clinical trial infrastructure and implementation in the community. She has over 20 years of experience as an advance practice nurse in the NCI's Intramural and Extramural programs with prior experience in medical oncology/transplant, cancer genetics, and health professional and patient communication and education about oncology clinical trials.

She is a member of the Oncology Nursing Society, the American Society of Clinical Oncology and Sigma Theta Tau Nursing Honor Society. Her awards and recognition include the Excellence in Nursing Award, and the Superior Achievement in Nursing Award from the University of Scranton, Department of Nursing, where she received her Bachelor’s Degree; the ONS/Upjohn QOL award for her publication on the Nurse's Role in Advanced Directives; and the Distinguished Nurse Award, Clinical Center Department of Nursing. She has also received individual and group Merit awards for her work in clinical trial education for the public and health care professionals, and excellent service to the public respectively. She received her Master’s Degree in Nursing from the University of Maryland at Baltimore.

Kevin Dodd, Ph.D., is a Mathematical Statistician in the Biometry Research Group.

Dr. Dodd provides statistical review of Division of Cancer Prevention (DCP) protocols and concepts, including protocols for the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) and the Consortia for Early Phase Prevention Trials. He is a statistical consultant to other programs in DCP and the Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program. He also serves on the Physician’s Data Query (PDQ) Screening and Prevention Editorial Board. Dr. Dodd is an expert in survey statistics and measurement error, especially in dietary assessment.

Dr. Dodd advises internationally on the use of the NCI Method to account for measurement error in studies of dietary intake. Application of the NCI Method permits analysis of long-term dietary intakes when data is collected using short-term recall instruments. He provides statistical and programming guidance for use of the NCI Method by the extramural research community.

Dr. Dodd earned his Ph.D. in statistics from Iowa State University in 1999, the same year he began working at NCI in the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS). He joined the Biometry Research Group in 2007.

Dr. Goli Samimi received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from the University of California, San Diego, focusing on molecular mechanisms in ovarian cancer that conferred resistance to platinum-based chemotherapy. For her post-doctorate, she joined the Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program (CPFP) at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in 2005, in which she completed her Master of Public Health degree at Harvard School of Public Health, examining associations between measures of energy balance and mammographic density using data from the Nurses’ Health Study. Her research at NCI as a CPFP Fellow focused on molecular profiling of the tumor microenvironment in high-grade serous ovarian cancer. In 2011, Dr. Samimi joined the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, Australia, as Head of the Ovarian Cancer Research Group. Her lab research focused on the development of a blood-based DNA test for early detection of ovarian cancer, and the evaluation of a novel targeted therapeutic in high-grade serous ovarian cancer.

Dr. Asad Umar received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, in 1993. He conducted his training as an Immunologist in the laboratories of Patricia Gearhart in Baltimore, MD, and in carcinogenesis at the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, NC with Dr. Thomas Kunkel. Dr. Umar's main scientific interest is to understand the molecular pathways during gastrointestinal carcinogenesis and applying molecularly targeted and immunologic interventions to prevent cancer. His research contributions are in deciphering the biochemical defects in Lynch syndrome (Hereditary Non-Polyposis Colorectal Cancer or HNPCC) and later published testing guidelines for HNPCC. As a Program Director, he oversees a wide variety of grants and contracts focusing on cancer prevention translational research, cancer screening, and clinical trials.

Dr. Yazhen Zhu is currently an Assistant Professor and Research Pathologist at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. She received her MD degree from Wuhan University in 2005 and her PhD degree in Pathology from Fudan University in 2010. In 2012, she completed her residency training in the Pathology Department of Guangdong Provincial Hospital of TCM (China) where she served as an attending pathologist for the next five years. Her clinical practice covered surgical pathology in gastrointestinal cancer, thyroid cancer, and breast cancer. In 2013-2017, she also served as the founding Director of the Molecular Pathology Laboratory of the Pathology Department, where she developed and validated a collection of laboratory-developed tests (LDTs) for detecting oncogenic mutations for targeted cancer therapy. Dr. Zhu’s experience in molecular pathology equipped her with a unique strength for identifying unmet clinical needs in translational research for cancer diagnostics. In 2015, Dr. Zhu joined UCLA Pharmacology as a visiting assistant project scientist. In 2020, she became a faculty member in the Crump Institute for Molecular Imaging and the Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology.

Dr. Wallace is a Program Director at the NCI within CRCHD. In this role, she serves as the Lead for the Disparities and Equity Program (DEP) and works to coordinate and strengthen NCI’s overall cancer disparity research portfolio, encompassing basic, clinical, translational, and population-based research. Additionally, Dr. Wallace oversees a portfolio of grant mechanisms promoting basic/translational cancer research and develops initiatives to stimulate research in underfunded areas.
Prior to joining the CRCHD, Dr. Wallace was an Oncology Scientist at Human Genome Sciences, where she managed clinically relevant research programs and conducted preclinical development of promising cancer therapeutics.

Dr. Wallace received her Ph.D. in biomedical sciences from the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL. She completed her postdoctoral training in the Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis at NCI, where she conducted basic and translational research to identify biomarkers of aggressive prostate and breast cancer.

Nastaran Zahir, Ph.D., serves as Branch Director of the Cancer Training Branch (CTB) in NCI’s Center for Cancer Training (CCT). Before joining CCT in 2021, Dr. Zahir served as Associate Director for the Physical Sciences-Oncology Network and Program Director for the Structural Biology and Molecular Applications Branch in NCI’s Division of Cancer Biology (DCB). In those roles, she coordinated programs that integrate physical sciences perspectives in cancer research, fostered collaborative team science, supported education, outreach, and advocacy activities, and promoted resources for data sharing and biospecimen standards. Dr. Zahir also served as Chair of the NCI Early Stage Investigator (ESI) Activities Committee, which plays a key role in planning and implementing NCI priorities for ESIs. In her role as Chief of the Cancer Training Branch, Dr. Zahir envisions expanding cross-disciplinary training opportunities for the next generation of cancer researchers.

Dr. Zahir's passion for advancing the integration of physical sciences and oncology stems from a decade of transdisciplinary research at the intersection of these fields. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Nuclear Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley while a research scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the areas of plasma physics and radiation biology and imaging. Dr. Zahir received a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania at the Institute for Medicine and Engineering where she investigated spatial-mechanical regulation of mammary morphogenesis and therapeutic resistance.

Dr. Yazhen Zhu is currently an Assistant Professor and Research Pathologist at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. She received her MD degree from Wuhan University in 2005 and her PhD degree in Pathology from Fudan University in 2010. In 2012, she completed her residency training in the Pathology Department of Guangdong Provincial Hospital of TCM (China) where she served as an attending pathologist for the next five years. Her clinical practice covered surgical pathology in gastrointestinal cancer, thyroid cancer, and breast cancer. In 2013-2017, she also served as the founding Director of the Molecular Pathology Laboratory of the Pathology Department, where she developed and validated a collection of laboratory-developed tests (LDTs) for detecting oncogenic mutations for targeted cancer therapy. Dr. Zhu’s experience in molecular pathology equipped her with a unique strength for identifying unmet clinical needs in translational research for cancer diagnostics. In 2015, Dr. Zhu joined UCLA Pharmacology as a visiting assistant project scientist. In 2020, she became a faculty member in the Crump Institute for Molecular Imaging and the Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology.