Komen Scholar 2010-2012 and 2023-

Scientific Advisory Board 2012-2022

UT Southwestern/Harold C. Simmons Cancer Center

Dallas, TX

Carlos L. Arteaga, M.D., is Director of the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center and Associate Dean of Oncology Programs at the University of Texas Southwestern (UTSW) Medical Center. He holds the Lisa K. Simmons Distinguished Chair in Comprehensive Oncology at UTSW. Dr. Arteaga is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) and Association of American Physicians (AAP). He received the 2011 Brinker Award for Scientific Distinction from Komen and served on the Komen Scientific Advisory Board from 2012 to 2022. He is a 2015 Fellow of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Academy and served as the 2014-2015 President of AACR. Dr. Arteaga has pioneered the design of pre-surgical and neoadjuvant studies in breast cancer patients that include molecular analyses of untreated and treated tumors to discover mechanisms and biomarkers of treatment response and resistance. He has identified specific downstream and collateral oncogenic signaling pathways that, when activated, cause resistance to breast cancer therapeutics, including pathways activated by transphosphorylation of oncogenic receptor tyrosine kinases, ERBB2 (HER2) activating mutations, FGFR1 amplification, and PI3K pathway mutations. His preclinical/clinical work ushered in the first FDA-approved combination of an ER antagonist and a PI3K inhibitor for treating ER-positive, PIK3CA mutant breast cancers. He is one of the premier thought leaders in breast oncology today. Since 2009, he has co-chaired the Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), the largest translational/clinical breast cancer meeting in the world. Dr. Arteaga’s Komen-funded research is focused on using genetic strategies and molecular profiling of drug resistant ER-positive primary and metastatic tumors and organoids to discover novel vulnerabilities and molecular targets that could lead to treatments that reverse drug resistance.

Komen Scholar 2010-2018 and 2022-

Emory University

Atlanta, GA

Sunil S. Badve, M.D., FRCPath, is the Vice Chair of the Department of Pathology and Director of the Pathology Cancer Program at Emory University. He is a surgical pathologist and a translational researcher in breast cancer for over 20 years. Dr. Badve has been previously recognized as a Komen Scholar (2010-2018) and as Best Doctor and Top Doctor for the last several years. Dr. Badve has received the AACR Team Sciences Award (2020) as a member of the TCGA Team. Dr. Badve has served on several committees including the NCI Breast Oncology Local Disease, the ECOG Breast Committees, the AJCC (8th edition) and WHO for breast and thymic cancers. Dr. Badve currently serves on the NCI Breast Cancer Steering Committee, and has served on the Breast Cancer Correlative Sciences Committee and the ASCO-CAP committee to develop guidelines for hormone receptor testing. Dr. Badve is the Principal Investigator for the Clinical Trial Sequencing Program (CTSP), which uses “omics” to identify the factors associated with recurrence in ER+ and ER-tumors enrolled in the ECOG E-5103 clinical trial. This program is a continuation of the TCGA program and involves multi-omics analysis of FFPE tumors. Dr. Badve is also the study chair for several ECOG-ACRIN clinical trials including COMPASS-HER2pCR, COMET, and E-1201 clinical trials and for 2 HCRN triple-negative breast cancer clinical trials (BRE-146 and BRE-158). Pioneering work from his group has led to defining of cutoffs for ASCO-CAP hormone receptor guidelines, recognition of the role of stromal tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in breast cancer, gene signature for DCIS (DCIS Score) and the use of innovative spatial multiplex immunofluorescence-based CellDive technology for the diagnosis and classification of intraductal breast lesions. Dr. Badve’s Komen-funded research is focused on understanding tumor cell diversity and developing novel strategies to prevent recurrence following CDK4/6 therapy by studying the impact and identifying features that lead to resistance as well as developing preclinical models to understand and overcome this resistance.

Komen Scholar Since 2019

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Cambridge, MA

Regina Barzilay, Ph.D., is a School of Engineering Distinguished Professor for AI and Health in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and amember of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is also an AI faculty lead for Jameel Clinic, a MIT center for Machine Learning in Health. Dr. Barzilay is a computer scientist with extensive expertise in applied machine learning and natural language processing. She is focused on bringing the power of big data and machine learning methods into cancer care and prevention. Dr. Barzilay’s current research efforts involve developing deep learning models that utilize imaging, structured data, and other inputs to identify trends that affect early diagnosis, treatment, risk assessment, and disease prevention. She is poised to play a leading role in creating new models that advance the capacity of computers to harness the power of human language data. Dr. Barzilay’s Komen-funded research is focused on developing personalized risk models that fully utilize the richness of information available in mammograms by analyzing sequences of consecutive mammograms from individual patients to model changes over time in their tissue and incorporating additional patient information, such as BRCA status or family history, into the image-based models to make risk predictions more interpretable and transparent to physicians and patients.

Komen Scholar Since 2022

Boston University

Boston, MA

Tracy Battaglia, M.D., M.P.H., is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health where she serves as Director of the Women’s Health Unit, a DHHS designated Center of Excellence in Women’s Health. As a practicing internist and breast health specialist at Boston Medical Center, the largest safety net medical center in New England, her approach to addressing breast cancer disparities focuses largely on engaging the community as partners in action-oriented research. She has 20 years of experience designing, implementing, and evaluating interventions that use community-engaged research methods in pursuit of equitable outcomes. A pioneer in the development of oncology Patient Navigation programs that target under-resourced cancer patients, Dr. Battaglia has contributed to the scientific evidence solidifying the impact of navigation on reducing delays across the continuum of cancer care. As Director of the Community Engagement Program for the Boston University Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), she is responsible for creating a research environment that supports community engagement in all aspects of translational science. She is currently leading a cooperative study funded by the National Center to Advance Translational Science (NCATS) in partnership with the four Massachusetts CTSI hubs (Boston University, Harvard University, Tufts University and University of Massachusetts) to support a city-wide dissemination study to reduce breast cancer disparities through a patient navigation network. She is founding chair of the National Navigation Roundtable, a collaborative of over 50 member organizations whose collective goal is to ensure navigation services are available to all those cancer patients in need.

Komen Scholar Since 2016

The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Houston, TX

Abenaa M. Brewster, M.D., M.H.S., is a tenured Professor in the Department of Clinical Cancer Prevention at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center(MDACC). She also has an adjunct appointment in the Department of Epidemiology. Dr. Brewster is a breast medical oncologist and serves as the medical director of the MD Anderson Nellie B. Connally Breast Center. Her research involves studying the clinical, epidemiological and biological factors that determine breast cancer risk and survival. She is the principal investigator of a study that is following women at high risk of developing breast cancer over time to better understand how to improve the early detection of breast cancer and assess a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer. With her research team, Dr. Brewster is also investigating patient-centered outcomes after a double mastectomy. Dr. Brewster has received many awards including the Texas Business Women’s Award and the Kathryne Stream Award for Excellence in Women’s Health. However, the award that she is most proud of is being a Susan G. Komen Scholar. Dr. Brewster’s Komen-funded research is focused on developing a non-invasive blood test for symptom and screen-detected breast cancers prior to imaging abnormalities or the development of a breast lump by utilizing a plasma molecular profile to identify early rapid-growth breast cancers and to stratify women for risk of recurrence to decrease overtreatment and improve survival.

Komen Scholar Since 2023

Scientific Advisory Board 2010-2020

Harvard Medical School/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Boston, MA

Myles Brown, M.D., is the Emil Frei III Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Director of the Center for Functional Cancer Epigenetics at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI). Dr. Brown is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), Association of American Physicians (AAP) and American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI). He received the 2015 Brinker Award for Scientific Distinction in Basic Science from Komen and served on the Komen Scientific Advisory Board from 2010 to 2020. Building on his work defining the role of steroid hormones such as estrogen and their receptors in breast cancer, Dr. Brown’s research focuses on the impact of epigenetic alterations in cancer. His laboratory spans the full spectrum of research from very basic work identifying the proteins and genes misregulated in cancer to the identification of potential therapeutic targets and preclinical studies of new cancer drugs. Dr. Brown’s Komen-funded research is focused on understanding how changes in RNA methylation, the epitranscriptome, impact the normal breast and breast cancer development with the goal of discovering new therapeutic targets for breast cancer interception and prevention.

Komen Scholar Since 2022

Advocates in Science Since 2020

Birmingham, AL

Thelma Brown is an Advocates in Science (AIS) member from Birmingham, Alabama and currently serves as the Vice-Chair of the AIS Steering Committee. Thelma formerly worked as a Safety Analysis Engineer in the nuclear power industry and was initially diagnosed with ER+ breast cancer in 2008. Prompted by her family history of the disease, Thelma became involved with Susan G. Komen even before her diagnosis, concentrating her efforts into outreach and education as well as research advocacy. She has served as an advocate with the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium, American Society of Clinical Oncologists, Metastatic Breast Cancer Alliance, the NCI, and has collaborated with researchers from various institutions. In addition to being keenly interested in cutting edge research that will lead to more effective, less toxic treatments, she is passionate about research and clinical trials being inclusive, ensuring of all that will benefit from breakthroughs.

Komen Scholar Since 2021

Advocates in Science Since 2018

King of Prussia, PA

Tomika Bryant departed the pharmaceutical industry as a biochemist in 2000 to pursue life outside of the lab. Becoming a social media influencer and a trained scientist provided an enormous opportunity to speak on behalf of patients once she was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer in 2013. The experience as a scientist and communicator created a unique scenario where it was easier to accept and digest treatment. Refusing to allow cancer to create limitations, Tomika has become a strong advocate for women diagnosed with cancer. She is striving to increase cancer awareness among support groups, organizations, patients, caregivers and the general public. Tomika wants to reduce the stigma and fear of cancer in specific socioeconomic groups, with a long-term goal of encouraging community volunteers and patient groups all throughout the state and country. She remains focused on helping reduce cancer incidences, mortality and improve quality of life through better medication selections. This in turn enables patients to advocate for themselves. Self-advocacy being a precursor for some clinical trials is important along with maintaining a good quality of life. Tomika serves as a consumer reviewer for the Department of Defense’s Breast Cancer Research Program, Pennsylvania Research Grant Peer Review, Komen Advocacy Advisory Taskforce, Advocates in Science Communications Committee, Pennsylvania Public Policy & Advocacy Committee and is a Project Lead graduate. Continuing to work with clinical trial researchers to secure grant applications focused on the improvement of women’s lives with breast cancer, especially in grants related to health disparities and health equity is paramount. Tomika is the founder of Black Women’s Cancer Collaborative and is currently collaborating as an advocate on several breast cancer research projects.

Komen Scholar Since 2022

The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Houston, TX

Mariana Chavez MacGregor, M.D., M.Sc., FASCO, is a tenured Associate Professor in the Health Services Research Department and holds a joint appointment in the Breast Medical Oncology Department at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She is a breast medical oncologist committed to improving the outcomes of her patients while preserving their quality of life and providing evidence-based, research-driven compassionate care. Her research interests focus on outcomes and disparities research, evaluating patterns of care and understanding the long-term effects of therapy. Her work expands to areas related to cost, treatment-related complications and cancer care delivery particularly among minorities and underrepresented populations. She has extensive experience using large databases and population registries to answer clinically-relevant questions. Some of her work has helped to better characterize the impact of treatment delays and identifying populations at higher risk of experiencing treatment delays. In addition, her work is helping to identify patients at higher risk of developing treatment-related complications. Dr. Chavez MacGregor’s Komen-funded research is focused on understanding factors that influence treatment initiation and treatment completion that are associated with adverse outcomes by assessing the impact and risk factors that delay cancer care delivery and developing a navigation intervention for underserved patients.

Komen Scholar Since 2020

Oregon Health Science University

Portland, OR

Lisa M. Coussens, Ph.D., is the Professor and Chairwoman of the Department of Cell, Developmental & Cancer Biology, the Hildegard Lamfrom Endowed Chair in Basic Science, and the Deputy Director for Basic & Translational Research at the Knight Cancer Institute, Oregon Health & Science University. Dr. Coussens’ area of research focuses on inflammation and cancer and understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms of immune cell recruitment into neoplastic tissue and subsequent regulation of immune cells on evolving cancer cells. In addition, Dr. Coussens and her team investigate the tumor microenvironment and how immune responses vary based on the type of tissue/tumor, as well as how certain subsets of immune cells, notably macrophages, regulate tissue remodeling, angiogenesis, T cell suppression, and tumor progression. The long-term goal of her research is to translate basic science discoveries toward rational design of novel therapeutics to block and/or alter rate-limiting events critical for solid tumor growth, maintenance or recurrence in humans, and/or approaches that enhance the efficacy of standard-of-care cytotoxic or immune therapies. Dr. Coussens’ Komen-funded research is focused on elucidating the mechanisms of therapeutic activation of anti-tumor B memory cells that mediate long-term tumor control to guide the development of new targeted and more effective therapies for the treatment of breast cancer.

Komen Scholar Since 2020

Stanford University

Stanford, CA

Christina Curtis, Ph.D., M.Sc., M.S., is the RZ Cao Professor of Medicine, Genetics, and Biomedical Data Science at Stanford University School of Medicine and a Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator. Additionally, she is the Director of Artificial Intelligence and Cancer Genomics and of Breast Cancer Translational Research at the Stanford Cancer Institute. Trained in molecular and computational biology, Dr. Curtis uses systems biology and computational approaches to understand breast cancer progression. In particular, her research is focused on defining the molecular determinants of tumor progression and identifying robust biomarkers to guide patient stratification. Her work has helped to redefine the molecular map of breast cancer and has led to a renewed understanding of how tumors develop and metastasize. She is translating these breakthrough discoveries to patients to personalize breast cancer diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring through innovative clinical trials.

Komen Scholar Since 2022

University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA

Angela M. DeMichele, M.D., M.S.C.E., holds the Jill and Alan Miller Endowed Chair in Breast Cancer Excellence and is Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on development of experimental therapeutics, investigation of prognostic and predictive biomarkers and design of novel approaches to identify and treat minimal residual disease to prevent recurrence. Nationally, she is the Co-Chair of the ECOG/ACRIN Breast Committee and Chair of the Trial Operations Working Group of the I-SPY2 Trial Consortium. She has led/co-led several national, multicenter trials, including PALAVY, PALLAS, COMPASS-pCR and AMMBER trials. At the Abramson Cancer Center (ACC) of the University of Pennsylvania, she co-directs the 2-PREVENT Translational Center of Excellence, co-leads the ACC Breast Cancer Program and directs the ACC Breast Cancer Clinical Research Unit, where she has built a peer-review funded research program and developed translational resources, including a comprehensive biobank and database. PI of numerous translational epidemiologic studies and investigator-initiated clinical trials, including the Wellness After Breast Cancer longitudinal cohort study, which has shed light on the role of inflammation in breast cancer recurrence, she has played a pivotal role in the development of the first CDK4/6 inhibitor, Palbociclib, and led the I-SPY2 Trial in graduating several new agents in the neo-adjuvant setting that increase pathologic complete response. Additionally, she serves on the Executive Committee of the AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, the NCI Breast Cancer Steering Committee, clinical guidelines committees in both the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the European Society of Clinical Oncology and as an Associate Editor at Nature Breast Cancer. She trains the next generation of clinical researchers through extensive mentoring, both locally and nationally, as well as thesis advising Master’s Candidates in Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. DeMichele’s Komen-funded research is focused on validating new methods for detecting minimal residual disease to enable novel therapeutic approaches to prevent recurrence by utilizing novel techniques for detecting disseminated tumor cells and circulating tumor DNA.

Komen Scholar 2010-2020 and 2023-

University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine

Philadelphia, PA

Susan M. Domchek, M.D., is the Basser Professor in Oncology at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania. She serves as Executive Director of the Basser Center for BRCA at the Abramson Cancer Center and Director of the Mariann and Robert MacDonald Cancer Risk Evaluation Program. Dr. Domchek is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI), and the Association of American Physicians (AAP) as well as a Fellow of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (FASCO). A significant contributor to oncology literature, she has authored/co-authored more than 400 articles appearing in scholarly journals. Dr. Domchek also serves on a number of editorial review boards as well as on the Scientific Advisory Board for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and the PA Breast Cancer Coalition. Her work focuses on the genetic evaluation and medical management of individuals with inherited risk factors for cancer. Dr. Domchek is particularly interested in developing new cancer therapies, such as PARP inhibitors, for breast cancer due to genetic risk factors. Dr. Domchek’s Komen-funded research is focused on understanding the psychological, behavioral, and decision-making responses to genetic risk modifier and early detection assay testing for patients with BRCA1 and BRCA2 pathogenic variants.

Komen Scholar Since 2016

Columbia University Medical Center

New York, NY

Dawn L. Hershman, M.D., M.S., is Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology and Director of the Breast Cancer Program of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Hershman’s expertise includes breast cancer treatment, prevention, survivorship, late-effects of cancer therapy, health outcomes and health disparities research. A clinician scientist, Dr. Hershman’s research interests focus on understanding ways to improve breast cancer outcomes by identifying factors that are associated with suboptimal breast cancer therapy and conducting clinical trials aiming at predicting which patients may be more susceptible to experience either treatment or financial toxicities related to their breast cancer care. Dr. Hershman investigates over-use of procedures and drugs with uncertain benefit to the patient. Dr. Hershman’s Komen-funded research is focused on evaluating a food navigation intervention program to assist patients with metastatic breast cancer who struggle with food insecurity and assess its impact on medication adherence and utilization of healthcare resources to reduce mortality and outcome disparities.

Komen Scholar Since 2018

Emory University

Atlanta, GA

Reshma Jagsi, M.D., D.Phil., is the Lawrence W. Davis Professor and Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Emory University School of Medicine. A practicing breast radiation oncologist, Dr. Jagsi has focused her work on improving the quality of care delivered to patients with breast cancer. With a medical degree, a social science doctorate, and fellowship training in ethics, Dr. Jagsi has a unique educational background that allows her to work at eradicating breast cancer through both medical and social research. Studying radiation treatment, she aims at advancing the ways in which breast cancer is treated with radiation and the understanding of patient decision-making, cost, and access to appropriate care. Her social scientific research includes research into issues of bioethics arising from cancer care and research regarding gender issues, including studies of women’s representation in the medical profession. Dr. Jagsi’s Komen-funded research is focused on personalized approaches to radiation therapy, including investigating whether some patients with early-stage breast cancer can forgo radiotherapy to reduce radiation toxicity and burden, as well as evaluating the use of PARP inhibitors in optimizing radiation therapy for inflammatory breast cancer patients.

Komen Scholar 2010-2012 and 2019-

Scientific Advisory Board 2012-2017

Advocates in Science 2008-2018 and 2019-

Kansas City, MO

Cheryl L. Jernigan, CPA, F.A.C.H.E., is a 28-year breast cancer “thriver” and cancer research advocate. She strives to inform and empower patients to be effective partners, working with researchers and clinicians to enhance and focus research on what matters to patients. Cheryl was previously CEO of the Kansas City Area Hospital Association with over 18 years of experience in health policy, advocacy,community and national leadership on behalf of hospitals. Currently, she is the Lead Advocate for: Patient & Investigator Voices Organizing Together (PIVOT), an unique University of Kansas Cancer Center initiative; the Kansas Institute for Precision Medicine; and the Greater Plains Collaborative (a Clinical Data Research Network in the Patient- Centered Outcomes Research Initiative (PCORI) PCORnet grant. Nationally, Cheryl was a founding member and currently serves as the Chair on the steering committee of Susan G. Komen’s Advocates in Science program. She has served as a Komen Scholar from 2010 to 2018, and April 2019 started a new term. She has been actively involved in Komen’s BD4BC (Big Data for Breast Cancer) initiative, including the development of their advocate training program (BD4P), inaugural breast cancer Hackathon, and the ShareForCures breast cancer registry. She also served as a member of Komen’s Scientific Advisory Board from 2012-2018. An active research advocate, Ms. Jernigan is a member of Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center External Advisory Board; Patient-Centered Outcomes Research (Clinical Research Data) Network (PCORnet) Engagement Core Leadership Team, Engagement Committee, and Front Door Workstream Team; and the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative’s Steering Committee. She serves as an Advocate Member on the Cancer Prevention & Epidemiology Committee and as a member on the Patient Advocate Committee of SWOG for Cancer Research, which is part of the National Cancer Institute’s National Clinical Trials Network. Cheryl is a past member of NCI’s Central Institutional Review Board for Late Phase Adult Clinical Trials and Director’s Consumer Liaison Group (DCLG), and has served as an advocate reviewer for Komen’s Research Program, the V Foundation, the U.S. Congressionally-Directed Breast Cancer Research Program, and the LiveStrong Foundation.

Komen Scholar Since 2016

Princeton University

Princeton, NJ

Yibin Kang, Ph.D., is a Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis Professor of Molecular Biology at Princeton University and an Associate Director of Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. Dr. Kang has served as the President of the Metastasis Research Society (2016-2018) and Chair of the AACR Tumor Environment Working Group (2018), and is a founding member of the newly established Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research Princeton Branch. Dr. Kang’s research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of breast cancer metastasis. He discovered new genes that promote initiation, progression, metastasis and treatment resistance of breast cancer; delineated tumor-stromal interactions that were essential for metastatic growth and evasion of anti-tumor immune response; and identified novel regulators of mammary gland cell fate determination and cellular plasticity. Dr. Kang’s Komen-funded research is focused on elucidating the function of a key metabolic enzyme in metastasis and immune evasion that generates an immunosuppressive environment in breast cancer and evaluating the therapeutic benefit of targeting this enzyme with novel small molecule inhibitors.

Komen Scholar Since 2016

Mayo Clinic- Jacksonville

Jacksonville, FL

Keith L. Knutson, Ph.D., is a Professor of Immunology, the Andrew A. and Mary S. Sugg Professor of Cancer Research, and a consultant in the Department of Immunology at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL. Dr. Knutson serves as a member of the Mayo Clinic in Florida Research Operations Management Team and the Director of the Mayo Clinic in Florida Cytometry and Imaging Lab. He is also Co-Director of the Mayo Clinic Enterprise Cancer Center’s Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy Program. Dr. Knutson is internationally recognized in the field of cancer immunology. His research focuses on the immunology and immunotherapy of prevalent women’s cancer namely breast, ovarian, and lung cancers, both the basic immunobiology and clinical translation, including clinical trials. His contributions to science include clinical development and testing of tumor antigen-specific vaccines in patients with breast and ovarian cancers. He currently has 6 FDA-approved vaccine trials underway and is principal investigator of 3 Department of Defense grants and 1 NIH grant to test vaccines aimed at preventing recurrence of breast and ovarian cancer, including triple-negative breast cancer for which there are no targeted therapies. Dr. Knutson’s Komen-funded research is focused on developing breast cancer preventive vaccines by identifying a panel of overexpressed antigens that are widely shared amongst all major breast cancer subtypes and specifically expressed on breast cancer stem cells to allow for an immunization strategy for detecting and eradicating these cells before they become invasive and continuously surveying the breast in the absence of disease.

Komen Scholar Since 2022

Stanford University

Stanford, CA

Allison W. Kurian, M.D., M.Sc., is a Professor of Medicine and of Epidemiology and Population Health at Stanford University School of Medicine, co-leader of the Population Sciences Program at Stanford Cancer Institute, Director of the Stanford Women’s Clinical Cancer Genetics Program and Associate Chief of the Stanford Division of Oncology. Dr. Kurian’s research focuses on the identification of women with elevated breast and gynecologic cancer risk, and on the development and evaluation of novel techniques for early cancer detection and risk reduction. As an oncologist and epidemiologist, she aims to understand cancer burden and improve cancer treatment quality at the population level. Her research employs methods from the population sciences, in collaboration with the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program and other large, real-world data resources. Dr. Kurian leads epidemiologic studies of cancer risk factors, clinical trials of novel approaches to cancer risk reduction, and decision analyses of strategies to improve cancer outcomes. Dr. Kurian is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation. Dr. Kurian’s Komen-funded research is focused on developing liquid biopsy techniques to analyze cell-free DNA for detecting primary and recurrent breast cancers as well as prediction of breast cancer in women who were initially cancer-free.

Komen Scholar Since 2016

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Boston, MA

Jennifer A. Ligibel, M.D., FASCO, is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Senior Physician at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She is also the Director of the Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies and Healthy Living and the Director of the Center for Faculty Well-Being at Dana-Farber. Dr. Ligibel’s research interests focus on the impact of lifestyle factors, such as physical activity and body weight, on breast cancer risk and outcomes. She has conducted more than a dozen lifestyle intervention trials in cancer populations, evaluating the impact of exercise and weight loss interventions on endpoints such as biomarkers associated with cancer risk and outcomes, fitness, body composition, and quality of life in cancer patients and survivors. Dr. Ligibel’s work also has focused on exploring the biologic basis for the relationship between energy balance and cancer, through interventional projects in cancer and at-risk populations, evaluating the biologic changes that occur with weight loss and increased physical activity. Her prior work has established the impact of exercise on immune and inflammatory biomarkers in breast cancer, providing some of the first evidence that exercise could have a direct impact on breast cancer in humans. Dr. Ligibel’s Komen-funded research is focused on understanding the impact of a weight loss intervention on the risk of disease recurrence in women with early-stage breast cancer and obesity as part of a randomized phase III trial entitled the Breast Cancer WEight Loss (BWEL) study.

Komen Scholar Since 2022

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Boston, MA

Nancy U. Lin, M.D., is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Associate Chief of Breast Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), and Director of the Metastatic Breast Cancer Program at DFCI. She is co-PI of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center NCI Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE). Dr. Lin has led multiple clinical trials testing novel therapies for patients with metastatic breast cancer, with a particular focus on those with cancer that has spread to the brain (brain metastases). She has led national efforts to increase the inclusion of patients with brain metastases in clinical trials. Dr. Lin has been involved in the development of several drugs which have become standard of care for patients with HER2-positive breast cancer, including those with active brain metastases. Dr. Lin also leads the EMBRACE (Ending Metastatic Breast Cancer for Everyone) clinical and research programs at DFCI. The EMBRACE research study, which has enrolled nearly 3,000 individuals, enables multiple research aims, including genetic profiling of biospecimens from patients with metastatic breast cancer at diagnosis and at progression on each line of therapy in order to uncover mechanisms of treatment resistance, characterizing patterns of care and outcomes, and understanding patient-reported outcomes in the advanced disease setting. Dr. Lin’s Komen-funded research is focused on understanding resistance to antibody drug conjugates in patients with metastatic breast cancer by determining the differences in target expression and genomic features after treatment.

Komen Scholar Since 2022

Washington University in St. Louis, MO

St. Louis, MO

Cynthia X. Ma, M.D., Ph.D., is a Professor of Medicine, Attending Physician in Oncology, Clinical Director of the Breast Cancer Program in the Section of Medical Oncology, Division of Oncology at Washington University in St. Louis, and Co-leader of the Breast Cancer Focus Group at the Siteman Cancer Center. Dr. Ma’s research focus is in the area of breast cancer biomarkers and targeted therapeutics development. Dr. Ma has conducted a number of early phase trials of novel drugs that target cell cycle, DNA damage repair, and growth factor receptor signaling pathways in patients with resistant breast cancer. She is the study chair for the phase III neoadjuvant/adjuvant trial A011106 (ALTERNATE trial) to validate biomarkers of sensitivity to endocrine therapy for personalized treatment decisions, to develop better endocrine therapy drugs, and to understand drivers of endocrine therapy resistance in patients with early stage estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer. In addition, her laboratory has expertise evaluating novel treatment approaches and biomarkers in preclinical models, including patient-derived xenografts. Dr. Ma’s Komen-funded research is focused on genomic analysis of specimens obtained from the ALTERNATE trial in the context of patient outcomes by determining the differences in genomic features of ER+ and HER2- breast cancers to develop unique biomarkers that define endocrine therapy resistance mechanisms as personalized therapeutic targets.

Komen Scholar 2012-2021 and 2023-

University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA

David Mankoff, M.D., Ph.D., is the Matthew J. Wilson Professor and Vice Chair for Research in the Radiology Department of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He also serves as the Associate Director for Education and Training for Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center (ACC). He practices nuclear medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, with a special interest in oncologic applications of molecular imaging, especially breast cancer, and radiopharmaceutical therapy. Dr. Mankoff’s research focuses on molecular imaging of cancer, primarily on breast cancer, and emphasizes molecular imaging biomarkers for precision oncology, therapeutic monitoring and identifying biologic factors mediating therapeutic response and resistance. He also works on the translation of new methods into clinical trials and clinical practice and on methods for quantitative molecular imaging. In addition to his research, Dr. Mankoff is an active teacher and mentor for translational research, serving as a faculty and program mentor for Penn’s translational research and M.D./Ph.D. educational programs. Dr. Mankoff is a past member and President of the American Board of Nuclear Medicine and is on the editorial boards of Nuclear Medicine and Biology, Breast Cancer Research, Radiology: Imaging Cancer, and Clinical Cancer Research. He serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Deputy Editor for Breast Cancer Research. Dr. Mankoff’s Komen-funded research is focused on utilizing advances in molecular imaging to identify and target aberrant metabolism in triple negative breast cancer and measure the extent of low-grade ER-expressing breast cancer, especially invasive lobular cancer, to guide surgery and therapeutic options.

Komen Scholar Since 2018

Duke University

Durham, NC

Donald P. McDonnell, Ph.D., is the Glaxo-Wellcome Professor of Molecular Cancer Biology at Duke University School of Medicine. In addition, he serves as Associate Director of Translational Research within the Duke Cancer Institute. With a career spanning industry and academia, Dr. McDonnell’s research has focused on defining the mechanisms by which estrogens, working through their cognate receptors, impact the pathobiology of breast cancer and the exploitation of this information to develop new endocrine therapies. His work has resulted in the discovery of the first oral selective estrogen receptor downregulator (Etacstil) and led to the repurposing and FDA approval of RAD1901 (Elacestrant) for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer. Recently, his group has defined the biochemical links between hypercholesterolemia/dyslipidemia and breast cancer pathobiology and has demonstrated how dyslipidemia increases the metastatic capacity of breast cancer cells. Dr. McDonnell’s Komen-funded research is focused on identifying and exploiting targets for drug discovery of a newly identified signaling pathway that promotes metastasis through several mechanisms in all breast cancer subtypes.

Komen Scholar Since 2022

Advocates in Science Since 2019

Helena, MT

Michelle McGree is a 12-year, two-time breast cancer survivor and advocate, diagnosed at age 28. She lives in Helena, Montana and is a fish habitat biologist with a M.S. degree in Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology. She is passionate about research advocacy and helping to make scientific studies impactful to breast cancer patients. She also enjoys helping others through breast cancer diagnoses, treatments, and the new normal. Michelle has been a consumer reviewer and mentor for the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program since 2014. She is also an alumnus of the Living Beyond Breast Cancer Young Advocate Program and has been a member of Komen’s Advocates in Science Program since 2019. She enjoys participating in scientific breast cancer meetings and has shared her experiences and perspective through blogs and podcasting. Michelle is also passionate about the role of fitness in the risk of breast cancer and recurrence and has fundraised for cancer research and support of young breast cancer survivors by biking many miles in the Fred Hutch Obliteride and the Young Survival Coalition Tour de Pink. Michelle started working with Susan G. Komen as a Race for the Cure volunteer, organizer, and honorary survivor. She participates in various efforts as an Advocates in Science.

Komen Scholar 2010-2021 and 2023-

Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center

Indianapolis, IN

Kathy D. Miller, M.D., is the Ballvé-Lantero Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology and Oncology at Indiana University (IU) School of Medicine. She also serves as the Associate Director for Clinical Research at the IU Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Miller focuses on testing new therapies for breast cancer patients through clinical trials. One area of particular interest for Dr. Miller started with a simple question – why are Black women more likely to die from breast cancer even when they have the same access to early diagnosis and treatment? Working with basic and population scientists, they found that ancestry-dependent variability in inflammatory pathways impacts the fundamental biology of breast cancer in Black women, leading both to an increased incidence of aggressive disease and contributing to therapeutic resistance. Dr. Miller’s Komen-funded research is focused on understanding a treatment approach specifically targeted to the unique biology underlying breast cancer in Black women by utilizing tissue and blood samples from patients to determine the benefits of this new treatment.

Komen Scholar Since 2017

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Boston, MA

Elizabeth A. Mittendorf, M.D., Ph.D., MHCM, is the Rob and Karen Hale Distinguished Chair in Surgical Oncology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Surgery, and Director of the Breast Immuno-Oncology program at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI). Dr. Mittendorf completed medical school at Case Western Reserve University, where she did surgical residency. Afterward, she served on active duty in the U.S. military, followed by a surgical oncology fellowship at MD Anderson, where she was faculty until she joined DFCI in January 2018. Dr. Mittendorf’s work focuses on understanding immunologic aspects of the microenvironment in breast cancer to inform therapeutic strategies. Specifically, she is evaluating the impact of standard therapies on the phenotype and function of immune cells that are present in tumors as well as in a patient’s circulating blood. Dr. Mittendorf has led many clinical trials, from phase I to phase III, with a specific interest in breast cancer immunotherapy. Dr. Mittendorf’s Komen-funded research is focused on performing in depth studies on biospecimens obtained from patients with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer in order to determine the mechanisms by which these tumors escape detection by the immune system and how that can be altered by treatment.

Komen Scholar Since 2017

University of California Davis

Sacramento, CA

Elizabeth Morris M.D., FACR, is Professor and Chair of Radiology at the University of California, Davis (UCD) School of Medicine. Dr. Morris graduated summa cum laude from UCD in Biochemistry and received her medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She completed her residency at Weill Cornell Medical College (WCMC) and a body/breast imaging fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) where she remained on faculty until December 2020 where she was the Chief of the Breast Imaging Service and Larry Norton Endowed Chair. Dr. Morris is a fellow of the American College of Radiology (ACR), Society of Breast Imaging (SBI) and International Society of MR in Medicine (ISMRM) and is past president of the SBI. Her research focus is on how best to use newer techniques such as MRI for early breast cancer detection and to improve the workup of breast lesions. In collaboration with her colleagues, she has written over 230 papers, 40 chapters, and 5 books about breast disease with an emphasis on the use of MRI. She has lectured widely both nationally and internationally at over 320 conferences. She has mentored over 50 international research fellows. She has grants from NCI, RSNA, Komen Foundation, and Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Her recent research efforts have involved looking at imaging biomarkers to assess risk and treatment response.

Komen Scholar 2010-2020 and 2023-

Indiana University School of Medicine

Indianapolis, IN

Harikrishna Nakshatri, BVSc, Ph.D., is the Marian J. Morrison Professor of Breast Cancer Research and Professor of Surgery, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Indiana University School of Medicine. He co-leads the Breast Cancer Working Group and is the Associate Director for Education at the Indiana University Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center. In 2021, he was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Nakshatri studies the molecular drivers of tumor initiation and therapy resistance in breast cancer. His laboratory was the first to identify the role of the protein complex, NF-kappaB, which controls genes that respond to environmental stress and infection in triple negative breast cancer. He also identified biomarkers that may predict response to anti-estrogen therapy. With utilization of normal breast tissues donated to the Komen Tissue Bank, his group has discovered genetic ancestry-dependent heterogeneity in the normal breast, which has important implications in how tumors are characterized for genomic abnormalities. His group has created “normal” breast epithelial cell lines of diverse donors and has made these cell lines available to the research community. Dr. Nakshatri and his group generated a single cell atlas of the healthy breast of women of different genetic ancestry and identified putative cell-of-origin of breast cancer by using these tissues. He is now extending these studies to breast tissues of healthy men with a goal to compare the single cell atlas of breast tissues of men and women to determine drivers of breast cancer in men. He has authored more than 175 publications, which have received more than 19,500 citations. Dr. Nakshatri’s Komen-funded research is focused on understanding and targeting molecular events associated with breast cancer initiation resulting from changes in homologous recombination that impact DNA repair.

Komen Scholar Since 2016

University of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, PA

Steffi Oesterreich, Ph.D., is Professor of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, Co- Leader of the Cancer Biology Program at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center (HCC), and Co-Director of the Women’s Cancer Research Center at Magee Women’s Research Institute and HCC. Since her early graduate studies in Germany, Dr. Oesterreich has been passionate about breast cancer research. She enjoys working in multi‐disciplinary teams, handin-hand with medical oncologists, surgeons, bioinformaticians, and pathologists, motivated by important clinical problems with critical input from breast cancer advocates. Dr. Oesterreich’s Komen-funded research is focused on understanding the spread of ER+ breast cancer by analyzing liquid biopsies and metastases from a tissue donation program in order to predict drug resistance and progression with a special focus on invasive lobular carcinoma and tumors with estrogen receptor mutations as well as working with a group of patient advocates to implement rapid autopsy programs at other institutions for tissue donations.

Komen Scholar 2010-2016 and 2017-

University of Chicago Medicine

Chicago, IL

Olufunmilayo Olopade, M.D., FACP, is the Walter L. Palmer Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine and Human Genetics at the University of Chicago Medicine. A distinguished scholar and mentor, Dr. Olopade has received numerous honors and awards including honorary degrees from five universities, the Franklin Roosevelt Freedom from Want Medal, and the 2005 MacArthur Fellowship for “translating findings on the molecular genetics of breast cancer in African and African American women into innovative clinical practices in the United States and abroad.” Dr. Olopade studies the root causes and genomic basis of breast cancer in diverse populations. She has published extensively on genetic and nongenetic risk factors for breast cancer and is internationally renowned for her work in inherited breast and ovarian cancer syndrome and clinical expertise in early detection and prevention of breast cancer in high-risk women. Dr. Olopade has dedicated her entire career to characterizing genes frequently altered in cancer and has defined molecular pathways leading to aggressive forms of breast cancer. Her innovative research is also defining how to broaden access to risk assessment tools using digital platforms and blood based and imaging biomarkers that integrate artificial intelligence with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Dr. Olopade’s Komen-funded research is focused on advancing breast health equity for all populations and working to close the mortality gap for young patients, particularly women in the African Diaspora, by expanding access to innovative biomarker informed and personalized management of breast cancer through basic science research and clinical trials across the globe.

Komen Scholar Since 2020

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Nashville, TN

Tuya Pal, M.D., is a Professor of Medicine and an Ingram Professor of Cancer Research at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where she is also the Associate Director for Cancer Health Disparities at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. She is also the Vice Chair of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Genetics/Familial Breast, Ovarian and Pancreatic Cancer Guidelines Panel and the Editor-in-Chief for the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Genetics PDQ Editorial Board. Dr. Pal’s research is focused on identification of genetic risk factors which raise cancer risk, and strategies to reduce this risk, including efforts among underserved populations. Her research spans basic and clinical science, including health services delivery and implementation science. She has conducted studies to better understand genetic and non‐genetic factors associated with the etiology and outcomes of breast cancer among young Black women, including the molecular characterization of triple negative breast cancers. Through this work, she identified cancer education and engagement needs among Black women, which led to efforts focused on raising awareness about inherited breast cancer in this population. She created the Inherited Cancer Registry (ICARE) Initiative over a decade ago, which is amongst the largest research registries focused on inherited cancers in the country. Through these efforts, she has partnered with providers across the United States and beyond to grow the registry and conduct translational studies, while providing opportunities for education and engagement for patients and providers. She has led observational studies to understand the delivery of hereditary breast cancer services across diverse populations and healthcare settings, to inform development of interventional studies currently underway. These include alternative delivery models to scale up care for individuals at‐risk for inherited cancer; and test interventions to improve follow‐up care for those with inherited cancer across diverse populations, and healthcare settings. Her clinical activities focus on hereditary cancer risk evaluation. Dr. Pal’s Komen-funded research is focused on understanding how genetic testing for inherited mutations in breast cancer genes can potentially reduce disparities in breast cancer outcomes across a diverse population, including Black women with breast cancer.

Komen Scholar Since 2018

Boston University

Boston, MA

Julie R. Palmer, Sc.D., M.P.H., is the Karin Grunebaum Professor in Cancer Research at Boston University School of Medicine and Director of the Slone Epidemiology Center. Dr. Palmer is also Co-Director of the BU-BMC Cancer Center. Her research interests focus on racial disparities in incidence of hormone receptor-negative breast cancer and in breast cancer mortality. Dr. Palmer is a founding leader and current principal investigator of the Black Women’s Health Study (BWHS), a prospective cohort study of 59,000 U.S. Black women who have been followed since 1995. Her breast research within the BWHS includes development and validation of a risk prediction model for breast cancer in Black women based on factors that can be assessed by a primary care provider. In subsequent work, she has shown that adding a polygenic risk score, developed in data from women of African ancestry, increases the discriminatory accuracy of the model. Other genetics research includes the first large-scale study of germline mutations in breast cancer genes among women of African ancestry. Dr. Palmer was awarded the Komen-funded AACR Distinguished Lecture on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in 2017. Dr. Palmer’s Komen-funded research is focused on understanding the impact of chronic psychosocial distress on breast cancer outcomes and how these factors alter systemic inflammation and contribute to health disparities experienced by Black women.

Komen Scholar Since 2017

Vanderbilt University/Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center

Nashville, TN

Ben Ho Park, M.D., Ph.D., is the Benjamin F. Byrd Jr. Chair in Oncology and Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He is also Director of the Vanderbilt‐Ingram Cancer Center. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees in 1995 at The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and pursued further training in Internal Medicine and Hematology/Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania. He went to Johns Hopkins University for a postdoctoral fellowship in cancer genetics, before joining its faculty in 2002. He was recruited to Vanderbilt in 2018. Dr. Park’s research interests include the use of genetic models to identify, validate, and develop targeted therapies for breast cancer. He specifically studies the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, and his work identified the high frequency of mutations in the PIK3CA gene in human breast cancers, opening the door for PI3K‐targeted therapies in breast cancer. Dr. Park’s Komen-funded research is focused on identifying therapeutic vulnerabilities in specific gene variants that cause missplicing of RNA to promote breast cancer.

Komen Scholar Since 2016

University of North Carolina

Chapel Hill, NC

Charles M. Perou, Ph.D., is the May Goldman Shaw Distinguished Professor of Molecular Oncology, Co-Director of the UNC Computational Medicine Program, Director of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center (LCCC) Bioinformatics Group, Program Co-Director of the LCCC Breast Cancer Research Program, and Professor in the Department of Genetics, at the University of North Carolina at ChapelHill. Dr. Perou’s research has focused on genomics to identify breast cancer subtypes that are of prognostic and predictive value. Dr. Perou aims at translating his findings to the clinic, by using genomics to inform therapeutic decision making. With Komen funding and in sponsorship with the Danaher Corporation, his research started showing how the immune system contributes to patient outcomes and how immunotherapies have potential in treating aggressive breast cancers, like triple-negative and basal-like breast cancers. Dr. Perou was the first to deliver the Komen-funded AACR Distinguished Lecture on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in 2010. He received the Brinker Award for Scientific Distinction in Basic Science in 2016. Dr. Perou’s Komen-funded research is focused on using genomic data to molecularly characterize the HER2-enriched breast cancer subtype and identify additional genetic drivers of this subtype (beyond HER2) that could be targeted with new therapeuticapproaches and ultimately improve patient outcomes.

Komen Scholar Since 2016

Yale University

New Haven, CT

Lajos Pusztai, M.D., D. Phil., is Professor of Medicine at Yale University, Co-Leader of the Genomics Genetics and Epigenetics Program, and Scientific Co-Director of the Center for Breast Cancer at Yale Cancer Center. He is also Chair of the Breast Cancer Research Committee of the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG). Dr. Pusztai has made important contributions to establish that estrogen receptor-positive and -negative breast cancers have fundamentally different molecular, clinical, and epidemiological characteristics and pioneered the use of gene expression profiling as a diagnostic technology. Dr. Pusztai’s research also clarified the clinical value of preoperative (neoadjuvant) chemotherapy in different breast cancer subtypes and demonstrated the prognostic and chemotherapy response predictive values of immune cells in cancer tissues. Dr. Pusztai’s Komen-funded research is focused on validating a new statistical tool to describe the efficacy of treatment with new immunotherapies for TNBC as well as a new biomarker to predict selective treatment of TNBC while exploring a new class of inhibitors for potential anti-cancer therapy for all types of breast cancer.

Komen Scholar Since 2018

Scientific Advisory Board 2010-2017

UT Health San Antonio

San Antonio, TX

Amelie G. Ramirez, Dr.P.H., M.P.H., an internationally recognized cancer and chronic disease health disparities researcher, is Chair and Professor of Population Health Sciences at UT Health San Antonio, where she is also the founding Director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research and Associate Director of Community Outreach and Engagement at the Mays Cancer Center, UT Health San Antonio’s NCI-designated Cancer Center. For over 30 years, Dr. Ramirez has led behavioral and communications research that has reduced cancer and chronic disease, increased screening rates and clinical trial accrual, reduced tobacco use, and improved healthy lifestyles and health equity among U.S. Latinos. Dr. Ramirez founded the Salud America! national network to communicate culturally relevant health news, stories, and action opportunities to create equitable places to live, learn, work, and play for U.S. Latino families (salud-america.org; @SaludAmerica on social media). She also leads Avanzando Equidad de Salud, a South Texas center for research, training, patient assessment, and advocacy to address social determinants of health and reduce cancer in South Texas, and Avanzando Caminos, a multi-site study to unpack the Latino cancer journey. She uses texts, apps, and other tech to reach Latinos in real-time to change health behaviors. Recognitions include the 2023 AACI Cancer Health Equity Award, 2022 “Cycle Breaker” from Oprah Winfrey, 2011 White House “Champion of Change,” and the 2007 election to the National Academy of Medicine. Dr. Ramirez’s Komen-funded research is focused on developing holistic interventions that address cancer-related health disparities to maximize health-related quality of life outcomes for Latina survivors.

Komen Scholar 2010-2020 and 2023-

Baylor College of Medicine

Houston, TX

Jeffrey M. Rosen, Ph.D., is the Charles C. Bell Professor and Vice-Chair of Molecular & Cellular Biology and a Distinguished Service Professor at Baylor College of Medicine. He was the recipient of the AACR Distinguished Lectureship in Breast Cancer Research in 2017 and the SABCS William A. McGuire Memorial Lecture Award in 2022. Dr. Rosen’s research focuses on the biology of normal mammary gland development and determining how these processes go awry in breast cancer. Dr. Rosen was one of the first scientists to consider the existence of tumor-initiating cells (also called cancer stem cells) in solid tumors. He and his team went on to identify such cells, and even more importantly, the reasons why these cells might be resistant to conventional radiation and chemotherapy. More recently his laboratory has developed a series of extensively characterized syngeneic models of triple negative breast cancer that are being used in preclinical studies to determine both tumor intrinsic and extrinsic effects of targeted therapies on the tumor microenvironment. These studies are focused on combinatorial treatment strategies with standard of care chemotherapy and immunotherapy of both primary tumors and established metastases with the long-term goal of translating these studies into the clinic. Dr. Rosen’s Komen-funded research is focused on improving the prognosis and survival of patients diagnosed with metastatic triple negative breast cancer by targeting immunosuppressive macrophages in metastatic tumor microenvironments to enhance chemotherapy efficacy.

Komen Scholar 2010-2021 and 2023-

Indiana University School of Medicine

Indianapolis, IN

Bryan P. Schneider, M.D., is the Director of the Indiana University Health Precision Genomics Program. He is the Vera Bradley Professor of Oncology at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center. Dr. Schneider cares for breast cancer patients as a medical oncologist and has a special interest in novel therapeutic agents (new treatments) and markers to predict who will best respond or experience side effects. He led a Komen-funded Promise Grant that tested ways to better guide appropriate patient selection for new therapies. He worked with research advocates through Komen’s partner, the Research Advocacy Network, to educate the community about clinical trials and improve enrollment. Under that funding, Dr. Schneider found that Black patients were more likely to suffer with peripheral neuropathy from paclitaxel, hypertension following bevacizumab, and congestive heart failure from doxorubicin. He also found several biomarkers linked to higher risks of developing these side effects. He has also designed and led innovative trials implementing tumor and blood mapping/sequencing to determine prognosis and guide therapy for triple negative breast cancer. Dr. Schneider’s Komen-funded research is focused on identifying germline genetic markers that will predict which patients experience higher levels of toxicity because of chemotherapy and to understand what causes higher levels of neuropathy in Black patients with breast cancer using patient derived ex vivo neuronal models.

Komen Scholar Since 2017

Advocates in Science Since 2016

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Bárbara Segarra-Vázquez, MT, D.H.Sc., has been a faculty member at the University of Puerto Rico for 35 years, and is one of the Principal Investigators of the Hispanic Clinical and Translational Research Education and Career Development (HCTRECD) program (R25MD007607) funded by NIH. Dr. Segarra-Vázquez was diagnosed with breast cancer Stage IIB on December 2003 and was in remission for 13 years. In January 2017, she had a recurrence of metastatic breast cancer to the skin. A volunteer for Komen Puerto Rico since 2006, she was Board President for four years, during which they received the “Promise Award 2013” for their commitment to innovation and forward thinking in reducing overall breast cancer mortality. She served as a consumer reviewer for the Breast Cancer Research Program of the Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs and traveled to Komen Global Initiative to meet with different groups that provided services to breast cancer patients and participate in breast cancer public activities. She is one of the Co-Chairs for SWOG Patient Advocates Committee and serves on the Cancer Care Delivery Committee. She is also a member of the External Advisory Panel of the Participant Engagement-Cancer Genome Sequencing (PE-CGS) Network. She previously served as the Chair of Komen’s Advocates in Science Steering Committee for two years and currently serves as the Vice Chair of the AIS Education and Training Committee. She is the founder and co-investigator of HIDEAS (Hispanics Increasing Diversity to Enhance Advocacy in Science) cancer awareness. Dr. Segarra-Vázquez is a Medical Technologist, and she received her Doctoral degree in Health Sciences from Nova Southeastern University.

Komen Scholar Since 2018

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

New York, NY

Sohrab P. Shah, Ph.D., is the Chief of Computational Oncology in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Shah’s research is centered on breast and ovarian cancer genomics, and he is developing technology and computational methods to analyze and interpret cancer genomes so we better understand their origin and evolution. His pioneering studies have shed light on the nature of cancer evolution and on how the mutation landscape of a patient’s tumor changes over time. His more recent work has revealed the extent of genomic variation from individual cell to individual cell – underscoring the need to control cancer evolution in breast cancer. Dr. Shah’s Komen-funded research is focused on identifying distinct genomic patterns in relapsed and metastatic breast cancers by uncovering mutations that can serve as biomarkers of altered immune responses and acquired therapeutic resistance.

Komen Scholar Since 2020

Weill Cornell Medicine

New York City, NY

Rulla M. Tamimi, Sc.D., is a Professor of Population Health Sciences at Weill Cornell Medicine. Dr. Tamimi is also Division Chief of Epidemiology and Associate Director for Population Science at the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center. Dr. Tamimi’s research focus is on intermediate markers of breast cancer risk using epidemiologic resources and data sets like the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) and Nurses’ Health Study II (NHSII). Her research is focused on understanding how lifestyle, genetic, and molecular factors impact mammographic features and histopathologic characteristics of breast tissue. Dr. Tamimi has also examined benign breast disease and the heterogeneity of breast cancer. Her studies have looked at early proliferative changes in the breast, and how morphologic and molecular changes are related to subsequent risk of breast cancer. Better molecular classification of breast tumors may provide important clues about the biology and underlying mechanisms of breast carcinogenesis lifestyle factors, and how genetic and plasma markers influence the molecular characteristics of the breast tumor. Dr. Tamimi hopes to incorporate the full spectrum of resources including genetic variation, early life exposures, circulating markers, tissue markers, and intermediate endpoints to fully develop and address hypotheses about breast cancer risk. Dr. Tamimi’s Komen-funded research is focused on understanding the impact of different weight management strategies on intermediate markers of breast cancer risk as potential interventions to improve breast cancer outcomes.

Komen Scholar Since 2022

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Boston, MA

Sara Tolaney, M.D., M.P.H. is the Chief of the Division of Breast Oncology at Dana Farber Cancer Institute and is internationally recognized for her research in breast cancer. She also serves as Associate Director of the Susan F. Smith Center for Women’s Cancers and is a Senior Physician at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Her research focuses on the development of novel therapies in the treatment of breast cancer and developing more effective and less toxic treatment approaches. Her work has demonstrated that a relatively low risk regimen, paclitaxel and trastuzumab, is beneficial in women with early-stage node-negative HER2-positive cancers, and this work has been incorporated into national and international guidelines. She has developed several follow-up studies looking at novel approaches to early stage HER2-positive disease, including use of T-DM1 in this setting, and has also played a significant role in development of CDK 4/6 inhibitors, antibody drug conjugates, and immunotherapy in breast cancer. She currently chairs several registration studies in these areas and also leads many investigator-initiated trials. Dr. Tolaney’s Komen-funded research is focused on developing combination therapies for metastatic breast cancer subtypes that normally do not benefit from immunotherapy by determining the impact of including a novel antibody drug conjugate to enhance the immune response.

Komen Scholar Since 2020

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, NC

Melissa Troester, Ph.D., is a Professor of Epidemiology and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, co-leader of the Cancer Epidemiology program in Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Director of the UNC Center for Environmental Health and Susceptibility. The Troester laboratory focuses on integrative molecular epidemiology, bringing together molecular and social epidemiology of breast cancer and cancer disparities. As Principal Investigator of the Carolina Breast Cancer Study, a health equity-focused research study of breast cancer emphasizing Black and younger women in North Carolina, Dr. Troester has worked to integrate molecular data with detailed information on social determinants of health and access to care. A hallmark of recent projects is data integration, specifically integration of pathology, molecular, and epidemiologic methods to develop a more complete picture of health equity and identify interventions. Complementary to her work on health equity for breast cancer survivors, Dr. Troester is interested in prevention and early detection. She is leading molecular analysis for ECOG-ACRIN’s Tomosynthesis Imaging Screening Trial (TMIST), a clinical trial of 2D vs. 3D mammographic screening. She has led data integration projects in various consortia, including the African American Breast Cancer Epidemiology and Risk (AMBER) consortium of breast cancer disparities, Breast Cancer Association Consortium, and the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project. Current work is extending health equity research on treatment delay, health care access, and molecular epidemiology of breast cancer to consider social and geographic variables. Dr. Troester’s Komen-funded research is focused on utilizing tumor samples from the CBCS to evaluate how the genetic and immune composition of tumors changes in different regions of each sample to determine how these spatial variations contribute to racial disparities in breast cancer outcomes between Black and white women.

Komen Scholar Since 2018

Advocates in Science Since 2013

Landenberg, PA

Meryl Weinreb, M.A. is a retired pharmaceutical marketing executive with extensive experience in oncology – both from an industry and personal perspective. As a 3-time breast cancer survivor, she was uniquely equipped to successfully lead consumer marketing strategy and execution for AstraZeneca’s US oncology portfolio. She was responsible for a number of awarding-winning patient education and support programs for breast, prostate and lung cancer therapies. She led innovative adherence programs and worked with company researchers to create patient-friendly PI’s and clinical protocols. Ms. Weinreb served on the Executive Board of the Philadelphia affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Foundation for 7 years. She then continued to serve as the affiliate’s Education and Public Policy Chair. She is currently a Komen Advocacy Ambassador, working to increase government funding for breast cancer research and enacting legislation that will remove barriers to care. In 2013, she was invited to join Komen’s Advocates in Science Program, and in 2018 became a member of its steering committee and a Komen Scholar. She is the current Chair of the AIS Steering Committee and Chair of the Advocate Peer Review Committee. She has served as a consumer reviewer for the Department of Defense’s Breast Cancer Research Program, Komen’s Postdoctoral Fellowship and Career Catalyst awards, and The Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas. She assists researchers – locally, across the country and sometimes abroad – with their grant applications and currently is collaborating as an advocate on several breast cancer research projects.

Komen Scholar Since 2016

Huntsman Cancer Institute

Salt Lake City, UT

Alana L. Welm, Ph.D., is the Ralph E. and Willia T. Main Presidential Endowed Chair in Cancer Research, Professor in the Department of Oncological Sciences, Senior Director for Basic Science and Investigator at the Huntsman Comprehensive Cancer Institute, University of Utah in Salt Lake City, UT. Dr. Welm’s research focuses on two major emphases centered on breast cancer metastases: better understanding the biology of metastasis in order to develop new therapies, and creating innovative models of human breast cancer that more accurately reflect behavior of tumors and response to therapy. Having discovered that the macrophage stimulating protein (MSP) – a protein that alters activity of cells from the immune system – is an important facilitator of breast cancer metastasis in humans, Dr. Welm studies the mechanisms that lead MSP and its receptor Ron kinase to promote metastasis, and the mechanisms by which MSP induces destruction of bones in metastatic breast cancer. Dr. Welm’s Komen-funded research is focused on exploring new approaches to stimulate the immune system by determining the role of a key mediator of breast cancer metastasis on the activity of immune cells and their ability to target tumor cells for destruction.

Komen Scholar 2010-2021 and 2023-

Johns Hopkins University Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center

Baltimore, MD

Antonio Wolff, M.D., FACP, FASCO, is a Professor of Oncology at Johns Hopkins University and is Director of Breast Cancer Trials in the Women’s Malignancies Program at the Johns Hopkins University Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Wolff is Panel Co-Chair and a lead author of the American Society of Clinical Oncology/College of American Pathology (ASCO/CAP) clinical practice guidelines on HER2 and hormone receptor testing in breast cancer. He is the Chief Operating Officer of the Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium (TBCRC), Chair of the ECOG-ACRIN Breast Cancer Committee, and is a member of the Breast Cancer Steering Committee of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Dr. Wolff is a practicing breast cancer medical oncologist and translational investigator with expertise in therapeutic clinical trials, biomarker development and implementation, survivorship, clinical practice guidelines, and quality initiatives. He has experience in collaborative, multidisciplinary national and international breast cancer clinical trials and on the integration of research findings into clinical practice. Dr. Wolff’s Komen-funded research is focused on developing predictive biomarkers of response to guide treatment decisions regarding the optimal timing of neoadjuvant use of checkpoint inhibitors in patients newly diagnosed with invasive triple negative breast cancer in order to minimize unnecessary therapeutic toxicities.