Mentors
Kimlin Tam Ashing, PhDCity of Hope National Medical Ctr.
Duarte, CA / Elizabeth Blackman, MPH
Fox Chase Cancer Center
Philadelphia, PA
Gerardo Colon-Otero, MD
Mayo Clinic
Jacksonville, FL / Laura Fejerman, PhD
UCSF School of Medicine
San Francisco, CA
John D. Groopman, PhD
John Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD / Robert A. Hiatt, MD, PhD
UCSF Helen Diller Family Comp. Cancer Ctr.
San Francisco, CA
Christopher Li, MD, PhD
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Seattle, WA / Christopher Sistrunk, PhD
City of Hope National Medical Ctr.
Duarte, CA
Salma Shariff-Marco, PhD
Cancer Prevention Institute of California
Fremont, CA / Marianna Stern, PhD
USC Health Sciences
Los Angeles, CA
Sora Tanjasiri, DrPH, MPH
California State University, Fullerton
Fullerton, CA / Beti Thompson, PhD
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Seattle, WA
Mentors Biographies
Kimlin Tam Ashing, PhD
Professor and Director, Community Alliance for Research and Education (CCARE)
Dr. Kimlin Ashing is a researcher focused on improving and expanding care for underserved populations. She is currently conducting several studies relevant to access to care, and recently completed a pilot study on cervical cancer related stigma that also implemented a multi-channel media intervention to increase Pap testing in Trinidad and Southern California. She is focused on cervical cancer research program towards the development of effective, culturally and socioecologically responsive interventions to address stigma and other barriers to cervical cancer prevention and control.
Ashing has almost 20-years of experience in health disparities, behavioral health, minority engagement in research and cancer related population outcomes research. She has published seminal work on the inclusion of cultural, social and ecological domains in investigating patient centered outcomes with a focus on health disparities and increasing recruitment/retention of minority populations in research.
Ashing is a licensed clinical psychologist and draws from behavioral, psychological and social theories and practice for her overall work. She has served as ad hoc member of various NIH health grant reviews focused on disparities research, and her current and completed studies have been funded by the American Cancer Society, California Cancer Research Program, Komen Foundation and the Department of Defense, and she is co-investigator or consultant on three NIH funded studies.
Elizabeth Blackman, MPH
Project Manager, Ragin Lab
Ms. Elizabeth Blackman, currently, studies the molecular epidemiology of cancer at the Ragin Lab, specifically focusing on the racial disparities that exist among patients with Head and Neck cancer. Blackman attained a bachelor’sdegree in human performance, with a concentration in sports medicine from Howard University; afterwards she graduated from the Health Science Center at Brooklyn (SUNY Downstate) with a master’s degree in public health with an epidemiology focus. While at Downstate, Blackman began working with Dr. Camille Ragin as they both shared similar research interests; Dr. Ragin focused on molecular epidemiology and Blackman was interested in social epidemiology. Blackman’s research niche examines the social determinants of cancer, with a focus on the built environment, health behaviors, and the heterogeneity that exists within the black population. She is also passionate about community outreach and recently taught a portion of a course at Chestnut Hill College on the ethical use of human subjects in research. Blackman is currently completing her doctoral studies, where she is developing a method to aid in determining colorectal cancer risk building off the idea of precision public health, subsequently improving incidence and outcomes of the disease.
Gerardo Colon-Otero, MD
Associate Dean
Dr. Colon-Otero is board certified in hematology, medical oncology and internal medicine. He is the Associate Dean, Mayo Medical School, Florida campus, Professor Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Director of Health Disparities Research at the Mayo Clinic in Florida. He has served as Founding Director of the Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program and Associate Program Director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program at the Mayo Clinic in Florida.
Colon-Otero currently practices hematology and medical oncology at the Mayo Clinic in Florida where he served as Chair of the Division of Hematology/Oncology for 15 years. He is the Past President of the Florida Society of Clinical Oncology. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Community Hospice Northeast in Jacksonville, Florida, and the American Board of Internal Medicine – Hematology.
Colon-Otero has been directing the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center Health Disparities efforts in Jacksonville, Florida for the last 9 years. These efforts have culminated in the development of relationships with minority serving institutions in Northeast Florida and completion of community-based participatory research projects in the African American and Hispanic communities. He directed research collaborations with colleagues from the University of Florida on palliative cancer care disparities including randomized clinical trials. He also directs an effort to increase access to breast cancer screening and treatment for low income women in collaboration with the CDC and Volunteers in Medicine Clinic. He completed disparities community based research work funded by the American Cancer Society involving the Hispanic community in Northeast Florida.
Laura Fejerman, PhD
Assistant Professor in Residence, Dept. Of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine; Institute of Human Genetics
Dr. Fejerman’s research focuses on the discovery of genetic and non-genetic factors that contribute to breast cancer risk and prognosis in Latinas. Her past work established a relationship between genetic ancestry and breast cancer risk, where higher European ancestry in U.S. and Mexican Latinas was associated with an increased risk. Her subsequent research has built upon this observation, exploring genetic variants, through admixture mapping and genome-wide association approaches, as well as the possible environmental and lifestyle related factors, and ancestry-gene interactions. Recent work explores disparities in breast cancer prognosis in Latinas and its potential causes, including access to information, screening and care.
Fejerman is currently a member of the AACR Minorities in Cancer Research (MICR) Council and Co-Chair of the San Francisco Cancer Initiative Breast Cancer Task Force. She earned her PhD in Biological Anthropology and MSc in Human Biology at the University of Oxford, England. She completed her undergraduate degree in Social Anthropology at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
John D. Groopman, PhD
Anna M. Baetjer Professor and Associate Director for Population Sciences
Dr. Groopman received his doctorate degree in Toxicology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was also a post-doctoral fellow at MIT and then received further training as a staff fellow at the National Cancer Institute in the Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis. Groopman has devoted his research efforts to developing biomarkers for use in human studies of environmental toxicant exposures and applying these biomarkers to public health interventions. Groopman is currently the Anna M. Baetjer Professor and Chairman of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is also a Professor of Oncology and Associate Director for Population Sciences for the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center.
The research in his program involves the development and application of molecular biomarkers of exposure, dose, and effect from environmental carcinogens. The environmental carcinogens studied include agents that are naturally occurring in the diet as well as those produced as a result of mobile and stationary sources of air pollution. A prior major emphasis of the research had been in the elucidation of the role of aflatoxins, a common contaminate of the food supply, in the induction of liver cancer in high-risk populations living in Asia and Africa. This work has led to the identification of a very strong chemical-viral interaction between aflatoxin and the human hepatitis B virus in the induction of liver cancer. These biomarkers have also been used in many collaborative molecular epidemiology studies of liver cancer risk and recently employed to assess the efficacy of a number of chemopreventive agents in trials in high-risk aflatoxin-hepatitis B virus exposed populations. This research has been extended to develop genetic biomarkers of p53 mutations in human samples as early detection of disease biomarkers using a novel mass spectroscopy based method for genotyping developed in the laboratory. It was part of this set of investigations that the discovery of the high levels of air pollutants that are central to our ongoing work were found. Thus, the research in his laboratory focuses on the translation of mechanistic research to public health based prevention strategies
Robert A. Haitt, MD, PhD
Professor and Chair, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, UCSF; Associate Director of Population Sciences
Robert A. Hiatt, M.D., Ph.D., is Professor and Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at UCSF and the Associate Director for Population Science of the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. His research interests include cancer epidemiology, especially breast cancer, cancer prevention and screening, health services and outcomes research, the social determinants of cancer, and environmental exposures in early development related to cancer. He is also an Adjunct Professor, Division of Epidemiology, University of California Berkeley and Adjunct Investigator at the Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program in Oakland. He was the first Deputy Director of the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences at the National Cancer Institute and a past president of the American College of Epidemiology and the American Society for Preventive Oncology. Dr. Hiatt was responsible for the development of the UCSF doctoral program in Epidemiology & Translational Science. He serves as a member of the National Academy of Sciences Board of Environmental Studies and Toxicology. He received his medical degree from the University of Michigan and his doctorate in epidemiology from the University of California, Berkeley.
Christopher Li, MD, PhD
Co-Program Head, Translational Research Program; Research Professor, Dept. of Epidemiology, Univ. of Washington
My research interests lie principally in the field of breast cancer and understanding factors related to its etiology and outcomes using a multidisciplinary approach. I am actively investigating the relationships between various hormonal exposures and risks of different types of breast cancer based on their morphology and expression of different tumor markers. I am also interested in breast cancer outcomes and am currently leading studies that investigate risk factors for second primary breast cancer among breast cancer survivors. Another part of my work focuses on identifying markers that could be used for the early detection of different cancers using various proteomic platforms. Finally, I have an interest in examining disparities in cancer stage, treatment, and survival by race/ethnicity.
Brian Rivers, PhD
Director, Cancer Program and Associate Professor, Department of Community Health and Preventative Medicine,Morehouse School of Medicine
Dr. Brian Rivers’ program of research is focused on addressing disparities in prostate cancer control, with a focus on prostate cancer survivorship health outcomes and behavior research. Rivers has a broad background in health behavior, with specific training and expertise in key research methodologies for clinical and non-clinical settings, such as the Patient Navigation Model and Community Based Participatory Research methods. As principal or co-investigator of previous American Cancer Society (ACS) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded grants, Rivers has developed fundamental skills in research study design, longitudinal data analysis, mixed methodology in population studies and community based randomized control trials. More recently, Rivers was funded in the first funding cycle of the recently developed Patient-Centered
Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to conduct a large randomized controlled trial entitled, ‘Navigator Guided e-Psycho-educational Intervention for Prostate Cancer Patients and their Caregivers.’
In 2010, Rivers was appointed, by then-Governor Charlie Christ, to the Executive Council for the State of Florida Cancer Control and Research Advisory Council, purposed to assist with advising the Governor, state surgeon general, the state Legislature, and state agencies on cancer control issues; preparing position statements on cancer-related legislation and aiding in the development of grants and projects to reduce the cancer burden in Florida. In 2011, Rivers was appointed as a Charter Member to the State of Florida Prostate Cancer Advisory Council, responsible for developing the state’s agenda for Prostate Cancer policy, research, outreach, and practice, and advising the state surgeon general and Legislature. In 2013, Rivers was recommended to the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services as a potential member to the National Advisory Council on Minority Health and Health Disparities by the Director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, Dr. John Ruffin.
Christopher Sistrunk, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Population Sciences
Prior to joining City of Hope, Dr. Sistrunk was a post-doctoral fellow in medical oncology at Duke University, where he developed specific biomarkers for the initiation of Triple-Negative Breast Cancers in African American women. He is currently studying the epigenetic effects linked to the chronic exposure of high levels of heavy metals in drinking water.
Sistrunk is the recipient of several honors, awards and invitations to present his research. He has served as the keynote speaker and session chairperson at several local and national meetings.
In addition to his research experience, Sistrunk established himself as a nationally recognized educator, mentor and professional academic advisor for careers in Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM). He currently serves as the director of the Medical and Translational Research Apprenticeship, which is a post-baccalaureate program designed to give clinical research experiences to underrepresented students. He also serves as the director of City of Hope’s STEM Education and Training program, where he builds partnerships with local and national school districts that provide hands on science research experiences to underrepresent students (K-12). Sistrunk has a history of developing community-based research projects that provide education, mentoring and career opportunities to the communities he serves.
Salma Shariff-Marco, PhD
Research Scientist II
Dr. Salma Shariff-Marco is also a Co-Investigator of the Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry and Member of the Stanford Cancer Institute. Her doctoral training is in social and behavioral sciences from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Shariff-Marco completed her post-doctoral training in the Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program at NCI in the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences.
Shariff-Marco’s research is focused on studying the role of social determinants on cancer outcomes and disparities. She is interested in the role of place and has been examining associations between the social and built environment factors and cancer risk and outcomes and improving methods for better characterizing neighborhood for population health studies. Shariff-Marco also studies the role of other social determinants, including race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, immigration factors and discrimination, and how they relate to cancer outcomes across the cancer control spectrum.
Mariana Stern, PhD
Professor of Research Preventive Medicine and Urology
Dr. Mariana Stern's research is focused on the interplay between genes and environmental exposures and their role in cancer risk and prognosis. Using population-based strategies she tries to identify which combinations of genes and exposures put individuals at the highest risk for cancer. Her current studies are focused primarily on the analyses of dietary factors, such as meat, as potential sources of carcinogenic exposures relevant for cancer risk, taking into account variants in genes that play key roles in the mechanism of action of these carcinogens. Recently, she was the co-author of a World Health Organization monograph focused on the carcinogenic risk of consumption of red meat and processed meats, which lead to the classification of processed meats as a Group 1 carcinogen.
In collaboration with colleagues in the USC Institute of Urology, Stern is also involved in clinical epidemiological studies focusing on the identification of novel biomarkers of prognosis for localized prostate cancer, and the use of novel strategies for prostate cancer diagnosis.
Stern is the director for the molecular epidemiology MS/PhD Program.
Sora Park Tanjasiri, DrPH, MPH
Professor in the Department of Health Science, and Director of the Health Promotion Research Institute
Dr. Sora Park Tanjasiri’s teaching and research focuses on community health promotion among diverse populations, particularly Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Her scholarship applies community-based participatory research principles to understanding and addressing cancer health disparities, include tobacco prevention, cancer early detection and survivorship. She has served as PI or Co-PI on over two dozen extramurally funded cancer-related studies, including shared Principal Investigator of the NCI-funded U54 Community Network Program Center WINCART: Weaving an Islander Network for Cancer Awareness, Research and Training and the R01 Support Our Women study to promote Pap testing among Pacific Islander women. Tanjasiri’s research has been published in such peer-reviewed journals as American Journal of Public Health, Journal of the American Medical Association, Health Education & Behavior, and Health Promotion Practice. In addition to her professional work, she has served as an advisor to numerous non-profit organizations and coalitions, including member and chair of the Board of Directors of the Orange County Asian Pacific Islander Community Alliance, Chair of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s Asian American/Pacific Islander National Advisory Committee, board member of the St. Joseph Health System Foundation, board member of the Orange County Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, member of the California Breast Cancer Research Program Council, and member of the Asian American and Pacific Islander Team for the American Cancer Society California Division.Tanjasiri received her bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and her master’s degree in behavioral science and doctoral degree in community health sciences from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Public Health.