Director Biography

Dr. Sanya Springfield was appointed director of the Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities (CRCHD) at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in January 2007. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing CRCHD's mission to coordinate and strengthen the NCI's cancer research portfolio in basic, clinical, translational and population-based research to address cancer health disparities; lead NCI's efforts in the training of students and investigators from diverse populations that will be part of the next generation of competitive researchers in cancer and cancer health disparities research; and create state-of-the-art regional networks/centers dedicated to cancer health disparities research and care through geographic program management.

Previously, she was chief of the current NCI Diversity Training Branch (DTB), where she developed and oversaw two highly successful diversity training and partnership research programs, the Continuing Umbrella of Research Experiences (CURE) and Minority Institution/Cancer Center Partnership (MI/CCP). CURE seeks to increase the number of competitive minority researchers involved in cancer research, while MI/CCP is aiming to build the competitive research infrastructure and capacity of minority-serving institutions in partnership with NCI Cancer Centers. Both programs direct long-term funding for parties interested in cancer research-related careers and programs addressing cancer health disparities.

Dr. Springfield received her Ph.D. in physiology and biophysics from Howard University in Washington, D.C. She was awarded a National Research Service Award (F32) for postdoctoral studies in the Department of Pharmacology at the Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine in Piscataway, N.J. After completing her postdoctoral fellowship, Springfield was a faculty member at City College of the City University of New York (CCNY), where she ran a teaching and research program aimed at increasing awareness of biomedical research to minority undergraduate students. She also served as an advisor to a number of committees aimed at finding effective ways to recruit and retain underrepresented minorities in biomedical research. Dr. Springfield was also a program director in the National Science Foundation's Division of Integrative Biology and Neurosciences.