CANCER - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Geographic Variations in Cancer Risk / Genetic Susceptibility Differences Between Varying Racial / Ethnic Populations
Amy Kennedy, PhD, MPH, is the Health Disparities Research Coordinator in the Office of the Director in the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS) at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). In this role, she coordinates and leads trans-divisional initiatives to promote research priorities, with a primary focus on cancer health disparities and equity opportunities. Dr. Kennedy's work focuses on improving the understanding of cancer health disparities in an effort to achieve health equity for all, with particular interest in cancer control issues experienced by Native American populations, geographic cancer disparities, genetic susceptibility differences between populations, and disparities in pediatric cancer risk and outcomes.
Amy first joined the NCI in 2014 as a Cancer Research Training Award Fellow in the Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program, and then became a Presidential Management Fellow (PMF) in the fall of 2015. Prior to rejoining the Division in 2020, Dr. Kennedy worked in the Center for Research Strategy (CRS) in the NCI Office of the Director as a Health Scientist Administrator. Her responsibilities in CRS included trans-NCI strategic planning efforts of high-priority fields in cancer research, focusing on cancer disparities, and analyses to inform policy and decision making and program management.
Dr. Kennedy earned her PhD in Public Health (Epidemiology) and MPH (Environmental Health Sciences) from Florida International University, and her BS in Biology from the University of Miami. Her dissertation work in genetic epidemiology investigated correlations among genetic mutations, birth characteristics, and the risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia in diverse populations.
Job Titles:
- DCCPS Director
- Supervisory Progam Specialist
Arlene Coit has 35 years of federal service, most of those years at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She is currently a supervisory program specialist for the Program Specialist Team in the Office of the Director (OD), Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS), NCI.
Ms. Coit is the DCCPS director scheduler, member of the DCCPS Program Coordinator's Committee, co-chair of the DCCPS Fellows Governance Committee, member of the Fellows Program Committee, the DCCPS records management coordinator, and the NCI DCCPS Continuity of Operations (COOP) representative.
Ms. Coit graduated from Prince George's Community College with a degree in Computer Information Systems.
Job Titles:
- Health and Lifestyle Behaviors / Health - Related Quality of Life
Brenda K. Edwards, PhD, has been with the Surveillance Research Program (SRP) and its predecessor organizations at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) since 1989, serving as SRP's Associate Director from 1990 to 2011. She has been involved in cancer prevention and control since its formative days early in the 1980s. Dr. Edwards' research has focused on the full spectrum of cancer surveillance research, including risk factors, patterns of care, behavioral studies and survivorship, statistical methodology, and analytic studies.
Under her leadership, NCI's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program has become an important resource for monitoring the nation's cancer burden and for measuring progress in cancer control. Dr. Edwards has played a major role in preparing and disseminating the "Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer."
Dr. Edwards has received numerous awards, including the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries Calum S. Muir Memorial Award, in recognition for her work in cancer surveillance and registration. She has co-authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications.
Job Titles:
- Acculturation and Health Behaviors / Built Environment and Physical Activity / Understanding Race / Ethnic Responses to Survey Questions / Measurement of Physical Activity
Job Titles:
- Developing Health Objectives / Measuring Health Disparities / Monitoring Health Outcomes
Job Titles:
- Communication Inequality / Knowledge Gaps / Social Epidemiology / Social Determinants of Health / Social Policy
Job Titles:
- Tobacco Control and Prevention for Women and Girls
Job Titles:
- Program Director
- Care Coordination Among Care Teams and Health Systems / Management of Multiple Chronic Conditions / Integration of Social Care into Health Care Delivery / Hispanic Latino Health
Michelle Doose, PhD, MPH, serves as a program director in the NCI Office of Cancer Survivorship and holds a secondary appointment in the Health Communication and Informatics Research Branch (HCIRB) of the Behavioral Research Program. As a program director, Dr. Doose is responsible for advancing cancer survivorship research and supporting programs and initiatives to promote health equity and improve the health of populations that experience cancer disparities. She is particularly interested in research that informs health policy, clinical care, and community health to improve the health and well-being of cancer survivors.
Prior to joining NCI in 2023, Dr. Doose was a program official at the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), where she developed and managed a research portfolio of grants focused on the patient-clinician relationship, health care models for multiple chronic conditions, health care for older adults, and addressing misinformation among populations that experience health disparities. Dr. Doose first joined NIH in 2019 as an NCI cancer prevention fellow in the Health Systems and Interventions Research Branch of the Healthcare Delivery Research Program to study care coordination among cancer survivors with multiple chronic conditions.
Dr. Doose has conducted cancer survivorship research funded by NCI and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to study multilevel drivers of cancer care disparities at the policy, community, healthcare system, and care team levels. In addition, Dr. Doose has worked on survivorship interventions for African American/Black breast cancer survivors and Latino/Hispanic adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors. She also has worked as a bilingual and bicultural health educator helping AYA cancer survivors navigate survivorship.
Dr. Doose earned her Doctor of Philosophy in Epidemiology from Rutgers School of Public Health. She is a graduate of RWJF's Health Policy Research Scholar Program, a national leadership development program in health equity and health policy. She holds a Master of Public Health in Community Health Sciences with a specialization in health education and health promotion from UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and bachelor's degrees in Spanish and International Studies with an emphasis in Latin America studies from Pepperdine University.
Education
PhD - Epidemiology, Rutgers School of Public Health
MPH - Community Health Sciences, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health
BA - International Studies, Pepperdine University
BA - Spanish, Pepperdine University
Job Titles:
- Molecular Analysis / Phenotyping / Exposomic and Metabolomic Differences / Effect of Exposures on Epigenome / Infection and Inflammation
Job Titles:
- Senior Advisor for Health Disparities
- Social Determinants of Health
Shobha Srinivasan, PhD, is a sociologist and the Senior Advisor for Health Disparities in the Office of the Director, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS), National Cancer Institute (NCI). She currently coordinates activities across DCCPS, NCI, the National Institutes of Health, and with other federal and non-governmental agencies to develop programs and initiatives to address health disparities and promote health equity. Through these NCI-funded programs she promotes the building of partnerships between communities and universities to address various health challenges in underserved and immigrant communities. Previously, she has taught and conducted research at various universities, and also has worked as a research director in a community-based health advocacy organization. Her research focuses primarily on social determinants of health, place, and inequities, including challenges in the utilization and access to health services. In all these projects, the goal is largely to inform health policy at the local, state, and national levels regarding health and health care for underserved and underrepresented populations.
Job Titles:
- Program Specialist
- Program Specialist With the DCCPS Office
Tonya Miller is a program specialist with the DCCPS Office of the Director. She has 30 years of administrative experience, including 21 years at NIH.
Ms. Miller started her federal government service at NCI in the Office for Human Research Protections, previously known as the Office of Protection from Research Risks, where she served from 1991-1994. She worked for Giant Food Warehouse as shipping/receiving clerk for 11 years before returning to NIH in 2004. Ms. Miller worked for the National Aging Institute before joining NCI and the Division of Extramural Activities Scientific Review Branch (now known as the Scientific Review and Evaluation Award [SREA] Program) in 2014 and DCCPS in 2015.
Job Titles:
- Implementation Science / De - Implementation / Scale - Up / Cancer Care Delivery
Job Titles:
- Socioeconomic Disparities in Tobacco Use and Cessation / Prevention and Treatment of Tobacco Use in Behavioral Health Populations