CPCRN - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Project Director for the CPCRN Coordinating Center Located at the University of North Carolina
- Project Director, CPCRN Coordinating Center / University of North Carolina
Becky Lee is the project director for the CPCRN Coordinating Center located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is certified as a Project Management Professional (PMP) through the Project Management Institute (PMI), the leading professional association for project management. Becky has an appointment through the UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. Ms. Lee has expertise in project management of complex, multicenter collaborative research projects. She is responsible for the day-to-day coordination, implementation, and management of activities related to the CPCRN Coordinating Center. Becky holds a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering from Clemson University and a master of science degree in chemical engineering from Georgia Tech. She holds Graduate Certificates in both Public Health Leadership and Core Public Health Concepts from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. Becky has worked in the Coordinating Center since 2015.
Dr. Wheeler is Professor with tenure in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a health services researcher and decision scientist focused on quantifying the social, behavioral, clinical, and organizational factors that affect healthcare access, quality, value and equity. Her research portfolio, amounting to more than $20million in external funding and over 125 publications, is primarily focused on cancer care delivery, with particular emphasis on improving value, understanding the financial and psychosocial impacts of cancer, and reducing cancer health disparities. Methodologically, she is a resource for simulation modeling and systems science, ‘big data' linkages and analytics, behavioral intervention studies, mixed methods, and comparative and cost effectiveness research. Dr. Wheeler is especially knowledgeable and well-versed in using economic, epidemiological, and systems modeling to support better healthcare decisions, and she is adept in analyzing complex datasets, including cancer registry data linked to all payer insurance claims data, epidemiological cohort data, healthcare workforce data, and more. Dr. Wheeler directs the CDC-funded and NCI-funded Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network (CPCRN) as PI of the Coordinating Center; co-directs the NCI-funded T32 Cancer Care Quality Training Program (CCQTP); and co-directs the NCI-funded Geographic Management of Cancer Heath Disparities Program (GMaP) Region 1 South. She was appointed to lead the Community Outreach and Engagement office at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center in 2019. In 2017, she was awarded the Early Career Award from the Association of Schools and Programs in Public Health (ASPPH) and the UNC Hettleman Prize for Scholarly and Artistic Achievement.