Christina Armstrong
Administrative Program Specialist
Ms. Armstrong serves as office manager and administrative program specialist to OCCAM’s director. Her role includes managing office budgets, contracts, travel and guest arrangements; planning and scheduling for the director; and overseeing full-time and contract staff. She works closely with the OCCAM director and staff, communicating federal policies and ensuring efficient operation of the office.
Ms. Armstrong has over seventeen years of federal service. She began her career as an administrative secretary for the Office of the Secretary, Office of Minority Heath in 1991 and joined the National Cancer Institute in 2000. Ms. Armstrong attended the Global Technology Business School and earned a certification in business and computer technology. She also holds numerous certifications in federal applications.
Libin Jia, M.D.
Health Scientist Administrator
Dr. Jia joined OCCAM in 2005 as a health scientist administrator. In this position, he helps establish research collaborations, most recently in the area of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and serves as a liaison between the collaborative parties and OCCAM. He also manages CAM supplements provided by OCCAM to NCI Cancer Centers and Community Clinical Oncology Programs.
Previously, Dr. Jia was a scientific project director in the NCI Office of Cancer Genomics and participated in the Cancer Genome Anatomy Project, Mammalian Gene Collection, and the H-Invitational, which is an international human genome annotation project. He also joined the project officer team for the Molecular Library Screening Centers Networks of the NIH Road Map in 2006, managing the compounds screening projects.
Dr. Jia graduated from Shanghai Medical University II with his M.D. in 1988 and did his post doctoral study at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.
Akiko Nakayama, M.S.
Scientific Program Analyst, Contractor
Ms. Nakayama joined OCCAM as a scientific program analyst in September 2008. She reviews literature used to update the Physician Data Query (PDQ) Cancer Information Summaries on CAM, and conducts a literature review on botanical products and other CAM therapies related to cancer.
Ms. Nakayama earned her M.S. in Physiology with an emphasis on complementary and alternative medicine from Georgetown University. She conducted basic science research of the motor protein dynein and its regulatory mechanisms during college at the University of Tokyo, Japan. Ms. Nakayama earned her B.A. in Biophysics from the University of Tokyo.
Oluwadamilola Olaku, M.D., M.P.H., MRCOG
Scientific Program Analyst, Contractor
Dr. Olaku has served as a scientific program analyst for OCCAM since 2004. In this role, his duties include reviewing cases submitted to the NCI Best Case Series Program, providing technical assistance to grant applicants, analyzing the NCI CAM portfolio, managing grants, and coordinating the OCCAM Monthly Lecture Series.
Dr. Olaku received his M.D. from the College of Medicine University of Lagos, Nigeria in 1989. He completed a residency in obstetrics and gynecology in the United Kingdom where he received the Membership of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (MRCOG). He received a law degree at the Middlesex University in London, England. Dr. Olaku is certified by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates and is a recipient of National Research Service Award. In 2004, he completed a postdoctoral clinical fellowship in complementary and alternative medicine at Morgan State University and Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.
Akia Samuda
Administrative Assistant, Contractor
Ms. Samuda serves as the administrative program assistant in the OCCAM Office of the Director. In this role, she assists with planning, scheduling office meetings and conferences, and preparing foreign and domestic travel.
Before working at OCCAM, Ms. Samuda served as an extramural support assistant for four years with the NIH Center for Scientific Review, where she assisted with reviewing and disseminating grant proposals and summary statements. Ms. Samuda attended the Sanford Brown Institute and currently studies business management at Prince George’s Community College.
Isis Mikhail, M.D., Dr.P.H., M.P.H.
Research Development and Support Program Director
Dr. Mikhail rejoined OCCAM in 2008 as director of the Research Development and Support Program. In this role, she leads and fosters extramural CAM research activities. Previously, Dr. Mikhail served as a contractor for OCCAM from 2003-2004 when she worked on a study of homeopathy and lung cancer.
Prior to rejoining OCCAM, Dr. Mikhail was an epidemiologist and program director at the Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Branch of the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS) at NCI, where she oversaw a portfolio of cancer epidemiology grants and was involved in several research activities. Dr. Mikhail served as chair of the Health Disparities Interest Group at DCCPS, was a member of the NCI Special Studies Institutional Review Board, and received an NCI Merit Award in 2008.
Before coming to NCI, Dr. Mikhail worked for 15 years at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), where she held positions of program director and research coordinator of several large-scale epidemiologic studies and clinical trials.
Dr. Mikhail received her M.D. from Cairo University School of Medicine in Egypt and her M.P.H. and Dr.P.H. in Epidemiology and International Health from the UAB School of Public Health.
Dan Xi, Ph.D.
Program Officer
Dr. Xi joined OCCAM in 2005. As program officer for the Research Development and Support Program, she is responsible for overseeing and managing a portfolio of research grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts related to cancer CAM. She also conducts the NCI CAM research portfolio analysis for NCI’s Annual Report on CAM.
Dr. Xi received her Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology & Pathobiology from the Medical University of South Carolina. Since then, she has been working in the fields of neuroscience and cancer at the National Institutes of Health. She has extensive research experience in high throughput technologies (e.g. microarray technology and bioinformatics), pharmacology/toxicology, as well as cellular and molecular biology.
Colleen Lee, M.S., CRNP, AOCN ®
Practice Assessment Program Coordinator
Since 2001, U. S. Public Health Service Commander (CDR) Lee has overseen the daily activities of the NCI Best Case Series Program. In her role as Practice Assessment Program coordinator, she serves as a project manager and is responsible for compiling case report materials. CDR Lee is also coordinator of the Oncology Nursing Society’s complementary and integrative therapies special interest group.
Before coming to OCCAM, CDR Lee served as clinic coordinator and transplant coordinator for the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Solid Organ Transplant Program. She gained her oncology experience as a clinical research nurse at the University of Pennsylvania and the NIH Clinical Center in the inpatient medical oncology units.
CDR Lee received her B.S.N. from St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana in 1985. She received her M.S. in Advanced Practice Oncology Nursing (CNS) in 1996 and completed her Adult Primary Care Nurse Practitioner certification in 2006 from the University of Maryland.
Farah Zia, M.D.
Practice Assessment Program Director
Dr. Zia joined OCCAM in September 2007 as the director of the Practice Assessment Program. She brings her expertise in medical oncology to the program, assessing cases submitted to the NCI Best Case Series Program and exploring promising treatments for potential clinical work in NCI’s intramural program. She is also a member of the Clinical Center Medical Staff at the Center for Cancer Research, Medical Oncology Branch, seeing patients in the early drug development clinic.
Dr. Zia is a hematologist/oncologist who received her M.D. from the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in 1997. She subsequently completed her internship and residency in internal medicine at the George Washington University Hospital in 2000. Dr. Zia then completed a subspecialty training fellowship in hematology/oncology through NCI and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. As a fellow, she developed a special interest in the treatment of breast cancer and was protocol chairperson and associate investigator on several breast cancer trials at NCI.
Shea Buckman, M.A.
Communications and Outreach Program Coordinator, Contractor
Ms. Buckman serves as the Communications and Outreach Program manager. Her responsibilities include producing OCCAM’s newsletters, annual reports, and other publications; overseeing the conference and exhibit program; planning and conducting qualitative and quantitative communication research; and managing the OCCAM Web site.
Prior to her role at OCCAM, Ms. Buckman worked at the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine as a media specialist. She also held positions managing the conference exhibit program and supervising a team of health information specialists. Previously, she was a fellow in the NCI’s Health Communications Internship Program in 2001, where she helped write web content for the Health Communications and Informatics Research Branch.
Ms. Buckman received a joint B.S. and M.A. in Health Communications from the University Scholars Program at the University of Kentucky in 2001.
Lauren Rice, M.S.
Communications Analyst, Contractor
Ms. Rice joined OCCAM in 2008 as the communications analyst for the Communications and Outreach Program. She manages the Web site, researches and writes for OCCAM publications, and contributes to various outreach efforts to cancer patients, cancer researchers, health care providers, and advocates.
Prior to her role at OCCAM, Ms. Rice worked in the fields of marketing and human resources at Harvard University Credit Union and American University. She received her M.S. in Health Promotion Management from American University in 2007 and completed a health promotion internship at AARP. She earned her B.A. in Communication from the State University of New York at Geneseo in 2001.
Vera Rosenthal, M.P.H.
Health Communications Intern
Ms. Rosenthal is a fellow in the OCCAM Communications and Outreach Program. Her role includes researching, writing, and editing for OCCAM publications such as the annual report and biannual newsletters. She also monitors and compiles daily cancer CAM news articles for the office, and assists with organizing and writing content for OCCAM’s Web site.
Ms. Rosenthal recently received her M.P.H., with an emphasis on health policy, from the George Washington School of Public Health and Health Services. During her time in school, she interned for the American Cancer Society (ACS) National Government Relations Department, where she developed cancer factsheets and pamphlets and researched health care plans and policies.
