Conference Speakers

Workshop Speakers

Dr. Diana Jeffery is a Program Director in the Office of Cancer Survivorship, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, at the National Cancer Institute, the National Institutes of Health. She was formally a practicing psychologist at Kapio’lani Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, and an epidemiology specialist in the Hawaii Department of Health. She received a doctorate in Health Psychology from Yeshiva University/Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1984, and completed 4 years of postdoctoral work at Vanderbilt University and the National Cancer Institute. Her research and publications focus on psychological and sexual sequellae of treatment for gynecologic and breast cancers, quality of life and cancer survivorship, treatment compliance, and cancer screening among underserved populations. In addition to her role as a grants administrator, she continues to conduct research on health disparities in cancer survivors, including perceived discrimination, health behaviors, and health care utilization. She is also serving as the chair of the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Sexual Function Domain.

Ronit Elk, PhD, serves as Scientific Program Director for the Cancer Control and Prevention Research at the American Cancer Society. She also directs the program “Research Targeted to the Poor and Underserved.” Since joining the Society Dr. Elk has contributed to the substantial increase in funding of applied research across the cancer continuum, including prevention, early detection, and quality of life; health policy and health services research, as well as a significant increase in funding of research projects focusing on underserved populations. Prior to joining the Society, Dr. Elk was a faculty member of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in Houston where she was the recipient of many grants from the NIH, served on several research panels of the National Institutes on Drug Abuse, and published numerous scientific papers. Dr. Elk is also the author, with Dr. Monica Morrow, of Breast Cancer for Dummies®.

Vanessa I. Farrell, MPH, is a program associate working with the Childhood Obesity Team. Prior to joining the Foundation in December 2005, Farrell worked as the health promotion coordinator with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health where she oversaw the implementation of a social marketing campaign promoting physical activity and nutrition for a Centers for Disease Control-funded (CDC) national initiative: STEPS to a Healthier Philadelphia. Farrell is a graduate of the CDC 's Public Health Prevention Service Program; a three-year training and service fellowship for master’s level public health professionals. She also worked for seven years in Brooklyn, New York, in the area of HIV education and training with the Caribbean Women’s Health Association, Inc. and SUNY Downstate Medical Center. She received an M.P.H. in community health and a B.A in health education from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York.

Luncheon Speakers

Richard C. Wender, MD, is Alumni Professor and Chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. A graduate of Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Dr. Wender directed the Family Practice residency program at Thomas Jefferson for 10 years, became Vice Chair of the Department in 1995 and Chair in 2002.

In addition to being a practicing family doctor, Dr. Wender’s major area of academic focus has been cancer prevention and screening. He was the editor of the American Cancer Society Primary Care Physicians Newsletter for 10 years and is now on the Editorial Advisory Board of CA: a Cancer Journal for Clinicians. Dr. Wender served as President of the Philadelphia Division of the American Cancer Society and first President of the newly formed Commonwealth Division, now known as the Pennsylvania Division of the American Cancer Society. He has been an at-large member of the ACS National Board of Directors and a member of the Incidence and Mortality Committee for 5 years; he Chaired this committee in 2005. He was elected President of the American Cancer Society in November 2006, becoming the first primary care clinician to serve as National President in the 93-year history of ACS

Dr. Wender has served on many ACS Committees and currently co-chairs the Primary Care Clinician Workgroup. In addition to serving on the Steering Committee of the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable, Dr. Wender has served as Co-Chair of the Clinician Workgroup of the Roundtable and currently Chairs that organization’s Professional Education and Practice Task Group. Dr. Wender worked with CDC to develop A Call to Action, a national training program for clinicians about colorectal cancer prevention and screening as well as an ACS CD ROM focusing on colorectal cancer prevention and screening. Dr. Wender was a member of the ACS Colorectal and Prostate Cancer Screening Guidelines Groups and co-authored both guidelines. He continues to serve on the Colorectal Cancer Advisory Committee. He was a co-investigator of an NCI-funded study of tailored interventions to increase colorectal cancer screening. Dr. Wender is the recipient of the American Cancer Society’s St George Medal, and National Divisional Award, and the Cancer Prevention Laurel for National Leadership from the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation.

Dr. Wender has lectured and written extensively about the role of primary care clinicians in preventive care. Understanding and overcoming barriers to primary care based preventive health services delivery and chronic disease management is his principle focus of teaching and investigation while improving access to high quality care remains his principle passion.

Elizabeth T.H. (Terry) Fontham, MPH, DrPH, is the first Dean of Louisiana State University School of Public Health and is Professor of Epidemiology as well as Professor of Pathology in the LSU School of Medicine. A graduate of Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Dr. Fontham has been on the faculty in the LSU Health Sciences Center since 1980 and was Chairman of the Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine prior to the establishment of the School of Public Health. She is Associate Director of the Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center and is Senior Consultant Epidemiologist to the Louisiana Office of Public Health.

Dr. Fontham’s major area of research is cancer epidemiology with a focus on the etiology of tobacco- and diet-related cancers. She has made significant contributions in establishing the risk of lung cancer associated with involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke. She was an author of the first U.S. case-control study of lung cancer reporting an increased risk of lung cancer in nonsmokers passively exposed to tobacco. Subsequently she led the largest study of lung cancer in nonsmoking women, a U.S. multi-center study that provided critical information on the association between passive smoking and lung cancer risk. Dr. Fontham has also published extensively on premalignant lesions leading to gastric cancer, modifiable factors associated with progression, and chemoprevention of this cancer.

Dr. Fontham has served as a member of the NCI Board of Scientific Counselors. She was Treasurer and member of the Board of Directors of the American College of Epidemiology of which she is a Fellow. She was a member of the inaugural Editorial Board of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention, Chairman of the Scientific Editorial Board of the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries and has been a co-author of both the Surgeon General’s Report and International Agency for Cancer Research Carcinogenesis Monograph series. She is recipient of the C.L. Brown Award for Leadership Excellence in Tobacco Prevention, the Leadership and Distinguished Service Award of the American College of Epidemiology, and the Pfizer Award for Excellence in Research, Education and Patient Care.

Dr. Fontham is a long-time active volunteer in the American Cancer Society at the local, division and national levels. She has served as President of the Greater New Orleans Unit Board, Chairman of the Board of the Mid-South Division, and is a member of the ACS National Board of Directors where she serves as the First Vice President. She was a member of the ACS Cancer Action Network Board of Directors and has served on many ACS committees. She currently chairs the national Reduction of Cancer Incidence and Mortality Committee and co-chairs the International Affairs Advisory Committee. Other current committee/workgroup memberships include Research and Medical Affairs Committee and Advocacy and Public Policy Committee. She is a recipient of the ACS Capitol Dome Award and the St. George Medal as well as Life Saver Awards from both her unit and division.

Dr. Fontham and her husband, Mike, live in New Orleans, Louisiana, and are the parents of Jack and Michelle and three grandchildren.


Closing Plenary Speakers

Dr. Linda Burhansstipanov (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma) completed both graduate degrees from UCLA. She taught full-time at universities for 18 years. She developed and implemented the Native American Cancer Research Program at the National Cancer Institute from 1989-1993. She is the Executive Director of Native American Cancer Research, a non-profit community-based, American Indian operated corporation. She currently is the principal investigator of NIH grants such as, “Quality of Life: Native American Cancer Education for Survivors”. She serves on national boards including those of the Intercultural Cancer Council and Mayo Clinic’s "Spirit of E.A.G.L.E.S." She has more than 90 peer-reviewed publications.

Dr. Sora Park Tanjasiri is Associate Professor in the Department of Health Science at California State University, Fullerton. Her work focuses on the community health needs of diverse populations, particularly Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Dr. Tanjasiri's scholarship involves participatory action research principles and techniques, and health issues of interest include tobacco prevention, cancer early detection and cancer control. She is the Principal Investigator of numerous grant awards, including WINCART: Weaving an Islander Network for Cancer Awareness, Research and Training, which is a five-year, NCI-funded U01 collaborative with eight community-based organizations and 5 universities. Dr. Tanjasiri received her masters and doctoral degrees in Community Health Sciences from the UCLA School of Public Health.

Dr. Elena Rios serves as President and CEO of the National Hispanic Medical Association, (NHMA), representing Hispanic physicians in the United States. The mission of the organization is to improve the health of Hispanics. Dr. Rios also serves as President of NHMA’s National Hispanic Health Foundation affiliated with the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University, to direct educational and research activities. Dr. Rios earned her BA in Human Biology/Public Administration at Stanford University in 1977, MSPH at the University of California School of Public Health in 1980, her MD at the UCLA School of Medicine in 1987, and completed her Internal Medicine residency at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose and the White Memorial Medical Center in East Los Angeles in 1990, and her NRSA Primary Care Research Fellowship at UCLA in 1992.

Dr. Lovell Jones is the Founding Co-Chair of the Intercultural Cancer Council, the nation’s largest multicultural health policy group focused on minorities, the medically underserved and cancer. He has edited “Minorities & Cancer,” one of the few comprehensive textbooks on this subject. He is a founding chair of “Minorities and Medically Underserved and Cancer,” the nation’s largest multicultural conference which provides a forum for exchanging the latest scientific and treatment information. Dr. Jones also has spearheaded regional hearing on cancer and the poor for the American Cancer Society. From 1989 to 1995, Dr. Jones was Co-Principal Investigator of the National Black Leadership Initiative on Cancer, the first major minority outreach project sponsored by the National Cancer Institute. He has served on the board of directors of the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, the National Advisory Environmental Health Sciences Council of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Prostate Health Council of the American Foundation for Urologic Diseases. In 1991, Dr. Jones chaired the Training Session of the Strategic Fact-Finding Meetings on Minority Health and Training in Biomedical Sciences for the Office of the Associate Director for Research on Minority Health (now the Center for Minority Health & Health Disparities) at the NIH. A co-author of the congressional resolution that designated the third week in April as “National Minority Cancer Awareness Week,” Dr. Jones was honored in May 2000 on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives for his work addressing health disparities among the underserved.