Cancer Prevention and Control CIRB

Katherine Crew MD,MS

Dr. Katherine Crew is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at the New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Crew cares for patients with breast cancer and women at high-risk for breast cancer.

Dr. Crew received her MD from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and her M.S. from Columbia University School of Public Health. She completed her Internal Medicine residency and Medical Oncology fellowship at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Crew is currently involved in patient care, clinical research, and teaching on the Breast Oncology service.

Dr. Crew's research involves the development of early phase clinical trials for evaluating chemopreventive agents for breast cancer. These studies implement intermediate markers for breast cancer risk, such as mammographic density, tissue- and serum-based biomarkers. Dr. Crew also participates in multicenter breast cancer chemoprevention trials through the Phase I/II Chemoprevention Trials Consortium and the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) as a member of the Prevention and Breast Committees. The overall goal of this research is to build a comprehensive, interdisciplinary breast cancer prevention program, which will offer preventive strategies to breast cancer patients and healthy, high-risk women.

Debra Wujcik PhD, RN, FAAN, AOCN

Dr. Debra Wujcik is Director of Research at Carevive Systems, Inc. She was previously Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center's Director of Clinical Trials and the Cancer Clinical Trials Office at Nashville General Hospital at Meharry. 

Dr. Wujcik received her BSN and MSN at the University of Pittsburgh and her doctoral degree from the University of Utah. She is certified as an Advanced Oncology Certified Nurse by the Oncology Nursing Society and a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.

Dr. Wujcik has more than 35 years in Oncology Nursing and more than 25 years in clinical research management in both academic and community hospital settings. She is active in the Oncology Nursing Society and a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. Her research interests are identifying and developing strategies to overcome barriers to clinical trial participation and has participated in national initiatives addressing disparities in clinical trial participation. She has multiple publications in oncology nursing journals and is co-Editor of Oncology Nursing: Principles and Practice.

Laura Cleveland BS

Laura Cleveland started advocating for patients when she initiated patient centered meetings for people diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. What she thought would be a backyard cookout for 20 people turned out to be a conference for over 250 patients and their family members.

Laura began serving on the CALGB Leukemia and Leukemia Correlative Science Committees as a research advocate and now is Vice Chair of the Alliance Patient Advocate Committee.   She serves locally as the Research Subject Advocate for patients on Phase I gene therapy transfer trials at The Ohio State University's James Cancer Center.  Laura also volunteers for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's First Connection patient matching program. She is the patient advocate on The Ohio State University's Comprehensive Cancer Center's Leukemia SPORE's Internal Advisory Board.

Nationally, Laura has spoken at the AACR Annual Meeting and to many patient groups in the United States and Canada. She serves as the patient voice for The CLL Consortium's Data and Safety Monitoring Committee, and training lead at the Coalition of Cancer Cooperative Group's Patient Advisory Board.  This is Laura's fourth year to serve as faculty for AACR /ASCO's Clinical Trials Methods Course; training new oncologists to write their first clinical trial protocol.

Prior to her service as an advocate, Laura worked as an educator and educational administrator for almost twenty years.    Laura is a 14 year Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia survivor, who is grateful to watch her family of three children grow and thrive.  She lives with her husband and children in Powell, Ohio.

Colette Johnston

Colette Johnston resides in a rural uranium based mining community. Even though the mines and mills are, for the most part, no longer operational the long-term effects of exposure to radiation (primarily cancer)  still hugely impact the community. In 2000 Colette's brother was diagnosed with bladder cancer, which led to Ms. Johnston's involvement with various organizations including the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the NCI's Consumer Advocates in Research and Related Activities (CARRA).   In addition, Colette served on the University of Utah IRB for five years, and coordinated the Moab Skinny Tire Events in support of the Lance Armstrong Foundation. She served for six years as a member of the NCI's adult CIRB.  She also served on the EDRN Steering Committee and has just completed a four year term  with AARPP where she served both as a member of the Board of Directors and as Secretary of the Executive Committee. 

She continues to work as an advocate and caregiver both locally and regionally with various cancer care entities and patients. She has recently completed authoring a fictional novel that is based on the issues of those receiving the governments "Compassionate Compensation" for the uranium industry workers, and is moving forward with its future publication.

She is employed at the Moab UMTRA clean up of uranium mine tailings in the Radiation Control program as the Dosimetry Coordinator. Working to insure both the immediate and long term safety of the workers charged with relocating the 16 million tons of radioactive tailings. Ms. Johnston's background and education reside in environmental and biological/health physics radiation safety industry.

Desiree Walker

At the age of 38, Desirée was diagnosed with breast cancer, which recurred at age 47. For many who have had to fight breast cancer, Desirée serves as an advocate for patients by openly speaking about her diagnosis to audiences nationally. The core of her message is to encourage patients to truly know their body and feel empowered to steward self, mind, body and soul. Through SHARE’s Side by Side Program, Desirée trains medical students and doctors on how to deliver disappointing news and vehemently supports the importance of patient/doctor communication. She volunteers with the Witness Project® of Harlem (WPH), Survivors In Spirit (SiS), SHARE Dedicated experienced support for women facing breast and ovarian cancers and Young Survival Coalition (YSC) as a board member. She is also, a member of the Tisch Cancer Institute Advocacy Group, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Breast Cancer in Young Women (ACBCYW) and National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship’s CPAT Steering Committee (NCCS). She is featured in Survivors In Spirit’s DVD titled Living, Loving & Learning – The facts about African American women and breast cancer survivorship. Desirée has also served as a panelist on The Double XX Files hosted by The Norman Lear Center/Hollywood, Health & Society/Writers Guild of America East. Desiree is featured in Yahoo Beauty’s Bald & Beautiful story. Desirée was a moderator at YSC Summit’s For Women of Color panel.

She serves as a lobbyist, is a member of the National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC) and a graduate of Project LEAD. Desirée is a consumer reviewer for the Department of Defense's Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (DoD CDMRP) and a patient/stakeholder reviewer for Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).

SHARE, Sisters’ Journey, The Keep A Breast Foundation and YSC have honored Desirée for her outstanding work as a volunteer, community leader and educator. Desirée and her daughter, Shayna, appear in SHAPE magazine’s article, “Breast Cancer: A Family Affair”. Desirée is the recipient of NBCC’s Grassroots Advocacy Award, African Women Cancer Awareness Association’s Torch Bearer Award and the NAACP Parkchester Branch’s Woman of the Year Award. She has been a guest blogger for ASCO’s Cancer.Net and the Department of Defense’s Breast Cancer Research Program.

Desirée’s diagnosis has created many opportunities as a breast cancer victor to share her talents and aid diverse communities. It has provided her with a platform to be a voice for the voiceless through advocacy and pay forward by educating and empowering people nationally. Most importantly, she makes time to “smell the roses”, enjoys spending time with family and friends, baking gourmet bread pudding, traveling, attending concerts, cultural programs and sporting events.

Donald Barkauskas, Ph.D.

Don Barkauskas, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Clinical Population and Public Health Sciences (Biostatistics Division) at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California and a Senior Statistician at the Children’s Oncology Group (COG).  

Dr. Barkauskas received a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of California at Berkeley and spent three years pursuing a career in academia before switching fields and earning a Ph.D. in Biostatistics from the University of California at Davis.  He started as a Statistician at the Children’s Oncology Group while finishing his Ph.D. and after three years was promoted to Senior Statistician at COG and joined the faculty at USC.

Dr. Barkauskas is currently the COG Lead Statistician for the Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Committee and for the Phase 2 Developmental Therapeutics Committee and serves as the Senior Statistician for the COG-WWWW (“QuadW”) Childhood Sarcoma Biostatistics and Annotation Office supervising biology studies (non-treatment) in pediatric sarcomas.  In addition, he maintains active collaborations with several cancer researchers outside of his COG duties.

David Fishman MD

David A. Fishman, MD, is the Cancer Center Director and Director of Gynecologic Oncology and Vice Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology at New York Presbyterian Queens and is also Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Weill Cornell School of Medicine. Dr. Fishman is an internationally recognized gynecologic oncologist, especially noted for his innovative research on the regulation of ovarian metastasis and in developing new methods for the detection of individuals at risk for ovarian cancer and the detection of early stage ovarian carcinoma. He established The National Ovarian Cancer Dearly Detection Program in 1999 with a grant from the National Cancer Institute and philanthropic support.
Dr. Fishman received his medical degree from Texas Tech School of Medicine and completed his residency and fellowship in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Gynecologic Oncology at the Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Fishman has authored over 300 scientific papers, abstracts, book chapters and books on gynecologic malignancies. His research has received awards from the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, Society of Gynecologic Oncologists, Gynecologic Cancer Foundation, American Cancer Society, Society of Gynecologic Investigation, and the Berlex Foundation. He serves as an editor for three journals and ad hoc reviewer for 43 medical and scientific  journals and is a member  of  national and international cancer institute study sections from the National Cancer Institute and Centers for  Disease Control to the Royal College of  Obstetricians and Gynecologists. He has received over 43 awards such as the National Cancer Institute Early Detection Research Network Recognition Award as well as the Best Doctor in New York and Castle Connolly Best Cancer Doctor in America. He is a member of many medical and honor societies and patient advocacy groups including the American Gynecologic and Obstetrical Society, AOA, and the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists.

Melyssa Foust, MSN, RN, OCN

Melyssa Foust, MSN, RN, OCN is Upstate Carolina NCORP’s CCDR Lead and the CCDR and Cancer Control Manager for Gibbs Cancer Center and Research Institute.  She leads a team dedicated to enrolling patients onto NCI clinical trials in their own community.  Melyssa is passionate about working to eliminate health disparities in cancer outcomes by increasing clinical trial enrollment of underrepresented populations and working to overcome barriers to enrollment.  She has led efforts to increase diverse enrollment and to engage with her community.

Melyssa has contributed to research efforts both nationally and locally. She recently participated in the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Care Delivery Research Committee, “Addressing Health-Related Social Needs to Improve Cancer Care Delivery and Outcomes Among Newly Diagnosed Cancer Patients in Community Settings” on the Screening Process Breakout Group. Additionally, she served on the 2022 Landscape Assessment Committee that collected information about community site infrastructure and capacity to conduct research among NCORP clinics.

Jill Kolesar PharmD, MS BCPS, FCCP

Dr. Jill Kolesar received a Doctor of Pharmacy and completed a specialty practice residency in oncology/hematology and a 2-year fellowship in molecular oncology pharmacotherapy at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas. Dr. Kolesar is currently a Professor of Pharmacy at the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy and the Director of the Early Phase Clinical Trials Center at the Markey Cancer Center. Her research focuses on the clinical pharmacology of anticancer agents. She has authored more than 200 abstracts, research articles, and book chapters, and as a principal investigator, she has received more than $750,000 in research funding from the NCI, ACS and other sources. In addition, she holds 2 US patents for novel assay methodologies for gene expression and mutation analysis. She has received several research awards from local, national and international pharmacy organizations and a Merit Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology. She received the Innovations in Teaching Award from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy in 2001. Dr. Kolesar serves on the editorial board of the journal Cancer Chemotherapy and Pharmacology and the textbook Pharmacotherapy: Principles and Practice. She is the Co-Chair of the Lung Biology subcommittee of ECOG-ACRIN.

Connie Szczepanek RN, BSN

Ms. Connie Szczepanek is the Director of the Cancer Research Consortium of West Michigan (CRCWM), a National Cancer Institute (NCI) Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP). She has worked as a urology nurse, oncology nurse, and research nurse.

Ms. Szczepanek is active in the cancer prevention arena of cancer research, as well as an active participant in multiple community groups and projects to further facilitate cancer awareness, clinical trials education, promote screening, and link people to needed services.

Ms. Szczepanek has participated in a wide variety of clinical research activities nationally, regionally and locally. She has served as an invited speaker at NCI and cooperative group meetings on a range of clinical trials related topics including Quality Assurance Programs, Investigational Drug Management and Linking Research to the Community. She also recently participated on the workgroup that redesigned the NCI Informed Consent Template, now in use.

Ms. Szczepanek notes that one of the highlights of her career has been starting the CRCWM Patient Advisory Committee in 2008 which advises the CRCWM Leadership, Teams, and Executive Boards.

Sarah Taylor MD

The focus of Dr. Taylor’s clinical and translational research is in the development and implementation of early phase clinical trials.  Her specific area of interest is in women with gynecologic malignancies.  As a gynecologic oncologist, her primary role is to see and care for women with gynecologic malignancies, which gives Dr. Taylor expertise as well as knowledge of the daily challenges both patients and the physicians face when fighting these cancers.  Dr. Taylor’s research is focused within the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute/UPMC Hillman Cancer Center’s (HCC) Phase I Translational Research Team, which is a multi-specialty group focused on the development, promotion and execution of novel phase I oncologic clinical trials. 

Dr. Taylor’s work within the Magee-Womens Research Institute focuses on correlative biomarker development and identifying targetable pathways for drug development.  Her collaborations extend to her colleagues within the Women’s Cancer Research Group at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing. As an interdisciplinary team of researchers, they focus on overlapping research interests regarding patients’ quality of life, health services research, and patient-reported outcomes.  This ongoing work recognizes the importance of care the spans the life of a woman who lives with and survives cancer. 

Dr. Taylor’s current research focus is on development and implementation of phase I and phase II clinical trials in the treatment of gynaecologic malignancies.  The role of clinical trials in the development of novel approaches to cancer treatment extends beyond drug development.  As such, Dr. Taylor has extended her research collaborations with the Women’s Cancer Research Group at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing. 

Marita G Titler PhD, RN, FAAN

Dr. Titler's program of research centers on health services research with a focus in translation/implementation science, and outcomes effectiveness research with older adults. As a result of her expertise, she has received federal and foundation funding for her research, serves on NIH and AHRQ study sections, and has published numerous clinical and research articles on outcomes effectiveness, evidence based practice, and translation science. Additionally, Dr. Titler has provided educational and consultation services to numerous health systems and national and international communities including Tri-Services Nursing Research, NIH, Veterans Healthcare Administration, and Singapore Ministry of Health. In 2015 she was elected to the National Academy of Medicine.

As a means of sharing her expertise, Dr. Titler has developed, implemented, and evaluated an evidence-based practice course for staff nurses and an advanced practice institute for nursing professionals responsible for leading the application of evidence in care delivery. In promotion of evidence-based practice, these short courses have been taught locally and internationally at agencies such as the Alaskan Native Medical Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Hawaii State Center for Nursing. In addition, Dr. Titler has taught as a visiting professor in the DNP program at the University of Kentucky and the PhD Nurse Executive Program in the Niehoff School of Nursing at Loyola University. Currently, at the U-M School of Nursing, she mentors doctoral students in implementation science and serves as faculty in a variety of areas including evidence-based practice, outcomes effectiveness research, and translation science.

Loren Tschetter MD

Dr. Loren Tschetter currently serves as Chair of the Sanford IRB and has extensive audit experience with NCCTG, ECOG, NSABP and the Coalition of Cooperative Cancer Groups. Dr. Tschetter served on many national research-based committees, with the ultimate goal of providing patients access to state-of-the-art cancer care at the local level.

Dr. Tschetter received his MD from the University of Kansas Medical School, and completed his internship at St. Francis Hospital in Wichita, Kansas before beginning a fellowship in internal medicine and hematology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

Dr. Tschetter was a founding member of the North Central Cancer Treatment Group in 1977. As a founder of the Sioux Community Cancer Consortium in 1983, Dr. Tschetter is responsible for bringing two National Cancer Institute programs to Sanford Health: the Community Clinical Oncology Program, concentrating upon clinical trials and the National Cancer Institute's Community Cancer Centers Program, focusing on developing advanced cancer care programs in community cancer centers. He also helped establish an Institutional Review Board to ensure patient consent was given prior to participating in the trials, and that the trials were ethical and conducted according to national regulations.

In 2012, Dr. Tschetter received the National Cancer Institutes 2012 Harry Hynes Award, established to recognize and acknowledge outstanding commitment by community investigators to clinical research.

Marie Wood MD

Dr. Marie Wood is a professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Dr. Wood received her MD from the University of Colorado School of Medicine, completing an internship in internal medicine at Hennepin County Medical Center and residency at the University of Utah and then fellowship at the University of Colorado. She transitioned from a 25 year career at the University of Vermont in 2022 to the University of Colorado where she is the Medical Director for the Cancer Clinical Trials Office and the Hereditary Cancer Program

Dr. Wood is an active clinician and researcher. Her clinical focus is caring for individuals with breast cancer or at risk for cancer. Her research program focuses on breast cancer biomarkers and mammographic breast density (e.g., relation of density to breast cancer risk factors and other biomarkers; interventions and change in breast density). A separate area of expertise/investigation is in the area of cancer genetics focusing on the use of the cancer family history and models for cancer genetic testing. 

She serves at the Associate Director for Cancer Control and Population Health Service (CCPHS) at the University of Vermont Cancer Center and as the co-chair for Prevention within the Alliance for Clinical Trials. She has been the PI of several local and national clinical trials in the area of chemoprevention. 

Xi Kathy Zhou PhD

Xi Kathy Zhou, Ph.D., M.S., is on the faculty at Weill Cornell Medical College.  Dr. Zhou came from the Genomic Institute of Novartis Research Foundation in San Diego, where she served as a biostatistician and worked on projects related to microarray and high-throughput screening data analysis. She holds a Ph.D. from the Institute of Statistics and Decision Sciences at Duke University.

Dr. Zhou’s research interest is to develop and apply novel statistical methods to better design biological and clinical studies related to cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment and properly analyze data generated from such studies. Dr. Zhou collaborates extensively with laboratory researchers and clinicians at Weill Cornell Medical College and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center on cancer related laboratory and clinical studies. She helped design numerous studies and analyzed data generated from such studies. She has served as the Lead Biostatistician in cancer prevention clinical trials. Her collaborative efforts have been supported by NIH/NCI, FAMRI, Botwinick-Wolfensohn Foundation, Metastasis Research Center of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Katherine Wasson PhD, MPH

Dr. Katherine Wasson is an Associate Professor at the Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics in the Division of the Health Sciences, Loyola University Chicago where she is the Director of the Bioethics and Professionalism Honors Program.  She has a PhD in Bioethics from the Whitefield Institute, Oxford and the Open University in the United Kingdom, a Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a Bachelor of Arts from Gordon College.  From 2002-2006, she was a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Ethics of Prevention and Public Health track of the Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). For more than 15 years, Dr. Wasson has worked with and taught a range of health professionals and students as an educator, researcher and clinical ethicist.

She has served on multiple Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) and Ethics Committees, including at Loyola University Chicago, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and the NCI Special Studies IRB.  She was a member of the Department of Health and Human Services Working Group on the Public Health Impact of Direct-to-Consumer Marketing of Genetic Tests and Services from 2005-2006. In the UK, she served on two national ethics committees and contributed to health policy consultations on care of the dying in the National Health Service, palliative care for non-cancer patients, and futility.

Dr. Wasson's research interests and publications encompass moral decision-making, palliative care ethics, equipoise, resource allocation, public health ethics, direct-to-consumer genetic testing, moral distress, and medical education.  Her funded empirical research has included a study of primary care patients' views and decision-making considerations about direct-to-consumer genome testing and moral distress in burn intensive care nurses.  Her funded conceptual research includes an analysis of human needs and wants in health care, resource allocation and rationing, and death, dying, grief and bereavement.