Profiles

Meet Current HCIP Interns
Alumni Profiles
Testimonials

Meet Current HCIP Interns

Lauren Brayer
Lauren Brayer is a Health Communications Intern in the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP) within the Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis for the National Cancer Institute. The mission of CTEP is to improve the lives of cancer patients by finding better ways to treat, control and cure cancer, through a national network of clinical trials evaluating promising experimental anti-cancer agents. Ms. Brayer is involved in developing various communication media that inform the public about this mission, and allow various sectors to participate in accomplishing this mission. Some of her tasks include the revision of CTEP's web site, redesigning a policies and procedures manual, revising and redesigning various brochures and CD-ROMS, and helping with the promotion of an industry related-conference, among various other tasks. Ms. Brayer has previous work experience in marketing, public relations, and graphic design. She was also an intern at the HERO (Health Enhancement Research Organization) Conference in 2007. She is a graduate of Florida State University with a B.S. in Communication. Ms. Brayer will receive her Master of Science in Health Promotion Management from American University in Washington, D.C. in May 2009.

Shaniece Charlemagne
Shaniece Charlemagne is a Health Communications Intern in NCI’s Health Communication and Informatics Research Branch. Ms. Charlemagne’s responsibilities include participating in projects related to SBIR, CECCRs, HINTS, and other branch-related initiatives. She also assists in the coordination of BRP-wide and branch-related communication activities. Ms. Charlemagne received her Master of Public Health in Health Services Policy and Management from the University of South Carolina, Arnold School of Public Health. She is currently working on her Master of Health Administration from Webster University in Columbia, SC. Ms. Charlemagne received her B.S. in Biology with a minor in Chemistry from Benedict College in Columbia, SC. She served as a Research Assistant for the University of South Carolina Institute for Partnerships to Eliminate Health Disparities. In addition, she served as a W.K. Kellogg fellow at the University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health and as a graduate assistant at the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Chanda Gilmore
Chanda Gilmore is a Health Communications Intern with the Office of Biorepositories and Biospecimens Research (OBBR) within NCI’s Office of the Director. The mission of the OBBR is to ensure that human biospecimens available for cancer research are of the highest quality. To help fulfill that mission, Ms. Gilmore uses her public relations and strategic planning background to assist the OBBR in implementing a strategic communications plan to inform internal and external publics about the importance of having set-standard guidelines for the collection, processing, storage and analysis of biospecimens. Additional duties include designing scientific posters, writing articles for various national and local publications and developing promotional materials for conferences and meetings. Ms. Gilmore has a long history in health care communications having previously served as communications manager at two noted pharmacy associations and interning at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals. Ms. Gilmore holds a B.A. in public relations from Hood College and a M.S. in public relations from Syracuse University S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Michelle Hathaway
Michelle Hathaway is a Health Communications Intern in the Office of Advocacy Relations (OAR); she joined the OAR team in January 2008. There, Ms. Hathaway is involved in a variety of activities, which include: compiling materials for the Nealon Digest, a biweekly e-news of federal cancer information; coordinating the Understanding NCI: Toll-Free Teleconference Series, a mechanism for the advocacy community to stay connected with NCI research and programs; helping to coordinate and organize meetings with professional society groups; evaluating various OAR activities; and managing interoffice webinars. She is also leading the Preliminary Analysis phase of the Advocates in Research Working Group report, which is a group formed to give recommendations on how to best involve advocates in NCI research activities. Before coming to NCI, Ms. Hathaway earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Spanish from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2004 and completed her Master of Public Health degree at Indiana University in Bloomington in May 2007. While pursuing her MPH, Michelle’s research interests focused on racial and ethnic health disparities, promoting healthy lifestyles, and the prevention of chronic illnesses.

Lawrence Hwang
Lawrence Hwang is a Health Communications Intern in the Surveillance Research Program (SRP) within the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS). During his internship with SRP, Mr. Hwang is involved in various health promotion activities, particularly in cancer surveillance communication, preventive medicine, and health education. He assists with the initiation, development, and production of a variety of media, including program newsletters, lay publications, government websites, reports, and monographs. Mr. Hwang also participates in an outreach effort targeting Asians and Pacific Islanders at risk for specific types of cancers. Mr. Hwang received his bachelors in psychology and sociology from the State University of New York at Geneseo in 2006, and recently graduated from the State University at Albany’s School of Public Health with a master’s in Public Health. Mr. Hwang’s previous experiences include working as a preventive medicine intern at the New York State Office for the Aging in Albany, NY, and interning at the New York State Department of Health’s AIDS Institute in Albany, NY, where he was involved in various activities focusing on surveillance, preventive medicine, and heath education.

Christine O. Kang
Christine O. Kang is a Health Communication Intern in the Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities (CRCHD). There, Ms. Kang works to create and disseminate electronic communication materials to inform the national community about disparity issues. She has been testing the CRCHD's Diversity Training Branch website design and usability. In efforts to decrease health disparities, she is working to improve the content and web interface for diverse racial and ethnic populations. Ms. Kang graduated from the University of California of Los Angeles (UCLA) with a Bachelor of Science in 2005 and is currently at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health working on a Master of Health Science. As a UCLA Orthopedic Surgery Staff Research Associate, Ms. Kang was published in the BONE Journal in December 2007 for the "Influence of Short-Term Adenoviral Vector and Prolonged Lentiviral Vector Mediated Bone Morphogeneticprotein-2 Expression on the Quality of Bone Repair in a Rat Femoral Defect Model.”

Katrina Mackrain
Katrina Mackrain is a Health Communications Intern with the Division of Cancer Control and Population Studies Surveillance Research Program. In this capacity, Ms. Mackrain writes a division newsletter, is completing a new employee orientation handbook, developing focus group activities, and restructuring departmental websites. She spent the prior year in the Nutritional Epidemiology Branch under the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics with the CRTA Fellowship program. There she conducted statistical analysis of clinical data and data management of quality control samples. Ms. Mackrain completed the MPH Community Education Program at New Mexico State University in May 2008. She obtained a B.S. in Microbiology from New Mexico State University and a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Michigan. Prior to graduate school, Ms. Mackrain worked in HIV research at the University of Washington. Her interests include a combination of Epidemiology and Health Education.

Adriane Magro
Adriane Magro is a Health Communications Intern with the Office of Communication and Education’s (OCE’s) Communications Technology Branch (CTB). She is currently working on many exciting projects which use new forms of technology to educate the public about cancer and cancer prevention. Some of the projects include CancerSPACE which is an interactive game simulation, and a YouTube research project. As an undergraduate Ms. Magro attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst where she received a Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology, and completed a Culture Health and Science certificate program. She then continued on at the University of Massachusetts Amherst where she received her Master’s degree in Public Health with a concentration in Health Policy and management.

Sigrid Nasser
Sigrid Nasser is a Health Communications Intern with the National Cancer Institute’s Office of Science Planning and Assessment (OSPA) Planning Assessment and Science Planning Branches. In this capacity Ms. Nasser writes feature stories for NCI’s annual Bypass Budget proposal, creates Snapshots of this year’s scientific advances in the field of cancer, and is involved in developing a Science Planning Service Center for all of NCI. She is also involved in coordinating and consulting on the design and execution of NCI program evaluations and portfolio analyses, and assisting the program staff to respond to questions posed by OSPA’s stakeholders. In 2006 Ms. Nasser graduated from Boston University with a B.S. in English Literature and pre-medicine. Ms. Nasser received her masters in Science in Physiology & Biophysics and Complementary & Alternative Medicine from Georgetown University in 2008. Ms. Nasser’s was a laboratory technician at Boston Medical Center, where she performed research in the still unknown mechanism of diabetic retinopathy under Dr. Sayon Roy. In 2008 Ms. Nasser completed a field practicum at the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization’s (PAHO/WHO) Gender, Ethnicity & Health Unit, where she worked on a National Health Policy Analysis project for each of PAHO’s 35 Member States.

Lisa Prokop
Lisa Prokop is a Health Communications Intern working in the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG), Office of Communications and Special Initiatives. Ms. Prokop is a student at the Johns Hopkins School of Public where she is pursuing a Master of Health Science degree in Health Education with a concentration in Health Communication. There, she responds to inquiries from Congress and the press, prepares DCEG scientists for interaction with the media, and translates scientific findings into practical and accessible public health messages. Previously, Ms. Prokop was a research assistant at Children’s Hospital Boston where she contributed to a range of social epidemiological studies of adolescent and young adult health through scientific writing for grants and publications, management of participant recruitment, and assistance with data collection and analysis.

Heather Rawls
Heather Rawls is the Health Communications Intern for the President's Cancer Panel, where she is assisting with the production and distribution of the 2007-2008 annual PCP report, Strategies for Maximizing the Nation's Investment in Cancer. Ms. Rawls also is involved in preliminary research and concept development for the 2008-2009 Panel meeting series. Throughout her internship, she attends various public health conferences, gathering information relevant to the PCP reports and meeting series. In addition, she is responsible for monitoring related legislative activity and scientific developments in the cancer field. Ms. Rawls received her Bachelor of Science degree in Health Education and Behavior in May 2006, and her Master of Public Health - Management and Policy, in May 2008 from the University of Florida.

Vera Rosenthal
Vera Rosenthal is a Health Communications Intern in the Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine (OCCAM), part of the Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis. She works with the Communications and Outreach Program, whose goal is to disseminate high-quality information about cancer and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to the health care community, researchers, and the general public. Her role includes monitoring and compiling daily cancer CAM news articles for the office through a weekly newsletter CAM in the News. Ms. Rosenthal also researches, writes, and edits for OCCAM publications such as the annual report and the biannual newsletters. OCCAM is in the process of updating its Web site, for which she will assist with organizing and writing content. Ms. Rosenthal recently received her Master of Public Health degree from the George Washington School of Public Health and Health Services.

Karen Terry
Karen Terry is a Health Communications Intern with the Office of the Director within the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS), Research Dissemination and Diffusion. The DCCPS Research Dissemination and Diffusion team helps NCI translate science into practice by promoting evidence-based cancer control research and interventions. One of her main duties involves monitoring and evaluating the Cancer Control P.L.A.N.E.T. (Plan, Link, Act, Network with Evidence-based Tools) web portal. Ms. Terry also assists in the efforts to start a Cancer Forum as part of the American Public Health Association. She participates in a research project to qualitatively evaluate the comprehensive cancer control plans of each state, tribe and territory and is involved in coordinating a supplement to the National Journal of the Cancer Institute, “Coordinating Care Across the Cancer Continuum: the interface of primary and oncology specialty care.” Ms. Terry received a Bachelor of Liberal Studies in 2004 and a Master of Public Health in 2007, both from Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Georgia. In addition, Ms. Terry has worked for the Coastal Health District as the Youth Development Coordinator implementing evidence-based programming with 10 to 19 year olds and has taught a community education course in Health Literacy and an undergraduate college course in Health Information and Resources.

Leah Wilcox
Leah Wilcox is a Health Communications Intern with the Center for Cancer Research (CCR), Office of the Director. She develops and implements strategies to market NCI’s animated tutorial on targeted therapies to health professionals in the oncology community. In this capacity, Ms. Wilcox determines the best route of dissemination for this web-based tutorial and develops a regimen of supporting materials for maximal diffusion into the health professional sector. Ms. Wilcox participates in cancer education meetings and interviews with NIH health professionals to garner feedback on the product. She manages the outreach plan in conjunction with the Office of Advocacy Relations. Ms. Wilcox is also responsible for managing clearances for CCR press releases and promoting CCR research papers to the Office of Media Relations and the NCI Cancer Bulletin. To that end, she serves as CCR liaison to the Bulletin and Media Relations Office. After receiving her Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology and Psychology from Valparaiso University, Ms. Wilcox worked in biotechnology, in the field of preclinical toxicology. She spent five and a half years at a contract research lab and two years at a biotechnology company. She gained invaluable experience, developing a wide range of leadership, communication, and professional skills. Shifting career goals, Ms. Wilcox is currently a candidate for the Master of Public Health at the University of Southern California, with a focus on health education and health promotion.

Alumni Profiles

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Testimonials

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