Contact & Staff Bios
Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities
National Cancer Institute
9609 Medical Center Drive, MSC 9746
Sixth Floor, West Tower
Bethesda, MD 20892
Office Phone: 240-276-6170
Office Fax: 240-276-7862
Email: nci-crchd@mail.nih.gov
Staff Contacts by Offices & Branches
Office of the Director
| Name | Email & Office Phone Number | Office Room |
|---|---|---|
| Sanya A. Springfield, Ph.D. Director |
springfs@mail.nih.gov |
6W110 |
| H. Nelson Aguila, D.V.M. Deputy Director |
aguilah@mail.nih.gov |
6W102 |
| Mary Ann S. Van Duyn, Ph.D., M.P.H. Associate Deputy Director for Integration |
vanduynm@mail.nih.gov |
6W108 |
| Jason Liu, Ph.D. Program Director |
liuj9@mail.nih.gov |
6W222 |
| Hana Odeh, Ph.D. Program Director |
odehhm@mail.nih.gov |
6W252 |
| Emmanuel A. Taylor, M.Sc., Dr.P.H. Program Director |
taylorem@mail.nih.gov |
6W242 |
| Tiffany Wallace, Ph.D. Program Director |
wallaceti@mail.nih.gov |
6W256 |
| Dionne Burt Program Analyst |
burtd@mail.nih.gov |
6W206 |
|
Victoria Coan |
victoria.coan@nih.gov |
6W226 |
|
Brian Davis (C) |
brian.davis@nih.gov (240) 276-5677 |
6W208 |
| Janice Jeter, B.A. (C) Program Analyst |
jeterj@mail.nih.gov |
6W212 |
| Dawn Reid (C) Program Specialist |
dawn.reid@nih.gov |
6W220 |
| Fred Snyder, M.A. (C) Senior Evaluation Researcher |
fsnyder@mail.nih.gov |
6W208 |
Diversity Training Branch (DTB)
| Name | Email & Office Phone Number | Office Room |
|---|---|---|
| Peter Ogunbiyi, Ph.D., D.V.M. Chief |
ogunbiyp@mail.nih.gov |
6W106 |
| Alison Lin, Ph.D. Deputy Chief |
linaj@mail.nih.gov (240) 276-6177 |
6W236 |
| Jessica Calzola, Ph.D., P.M.P. Program Director |
jessica.calzola@nih.gov |
6W222 |
| Eric Johnson Chavarria, Ph.D. Program Director |
eric.johnsonchavarria@nih.gov |
6W118 |
| Anthony DiBello, Ph.D. Program Director |
anthony.dibello@nih.gov (240) 276-6170 |
6W206 |
| Samson Y. Gebreab, Ph.D., M.Sc. Program Director |
samson.gebreab@nih.gov (240) 276-7841 |
6W118 |
| Mauricio Rangel-Gomez, Ph.D. Program Director |
mauricio.rangel-gomez@nih.gov (240) 620-0534 |
6W228 |
| Mark Sellers, Ph.D. Program Director |
mark.sellers@nih.gov (240) 276-6170 |
6W232 |
| Mulualem Tilahun, D.V.M., Ph.D. Program Director |
mulualem.tilahun@nih.gov |
6W244 |
|
Rita LaPointe, M.B.A |
rita.lapointe@nih.gov |
6W230 |
|
Etaria V. Omekwe, M.S. (C) |
etaria.omekwe@nih.gov |
6W120 |
Integrated Networks Branch (INB)
| Name | Email & Office Phone Number | Office Room |
|---|---|---|
| LeeAnn Bailey, M.B.B.S, Ph.D., M.S. Chief |
leeann.bailey@nih.gov |
6W104 |
| Sheba Dunston, Ed.D., M.P.H., CHES Program Director |
sheba.dunston@nih.gov (240) 276-7493 |
6W124 |
| Sandra L. San Miguel, M.S. Program Director |
sandra.sanmiguel@nih.gov |
6W218 |
| Anil Wali, Ph.D. Program Director |
walia@mail.nih.gov |
6W248 |
| Molly Boyajian (C) Program Specialist |
boyajianm@mail.nih.gov |
6W204 |
(C) indicates contract staff
Staff Bios
Office of the Director
Sanya A. Springfield (Ph.D.) – Director
Sanya A. Springfield is Director of the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI's) Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities (CRCHD) where she supports programs, initiatives, and activities to spawn cancer health disparities research, increase workforce diversity and create networks for community outreach, education and engagement. Within NCI, Dr. Springfield is a member of the Scientific Program Leadership (SPL) where she champions the need for continued investment for diversity training and education programs and to reduce cancer health disparities.
Previously, Dr. Springfield was chief of NCI Diversity Training Branch, where she conceived, implemented and oversaw the Continuing Umbrella of Research Experiences (CURE) program. Utilizing a unique, holistic, training pipeline approach, CURE seeks to increase the number of competitive cancer researchers from racial and ethnically diverse, and other underserved populations. Dr. Springfield expanded the CURE program by the launching a middle school program as part of a CURE early intervention strategy. Prior to this, Dr. Springfield had expanded the diversity training landscape through the creation and implementation of the Partnerships to Advance Cancer Health Equity (PACHE). PACHE aims to improve the cancer research infrastructure at institutions serving underrepresented populations and enhance the ability of NCI-Designated Cancer Centers to address cancer health disparities in their communities.
Dr. Springfield serves on a variety of trans-NIH/NCI scientific and programmatic committees focused on increasing workforce diversity. For her vision and leadership in promoting diversity in biomedical research, Dr. Springfield was honored with the NIH Director’s Award and the NCI Director’s Award. Dr. Springfield also serves as a member of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Minorities in Cancer Research (MICR) and the Science Education and Career Development Committee, and played a vital role in establishing the The Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial and Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved annual meeting.
Dr. Springfield received her Ph.D. in physiology and biophysics from Howard University and was the third African-American neuroscientist in the world. After completing her postdoctoral studies at the Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine, she joined the faculty at City College of New York. Dr. Springfield left the academic ranks to serve as a Program Director at the National Science Foundation, and then, entered NIH as a Grants Associate after which she joined the NCI.
H. Nelson Aguila (D.V.M.) – Deputy Director
H. Nelson Aguila is Deputy Director of NCI’s CRCHD. In this capacity, Dr. Aguila plays a central role in coordinating the day-to-day functions of the Center and development of strategic planning, priority-setting and management of CRCHD’s disparities research, diversity training, and community education/outreach efforts.
Previously, Dr. Aguila served as chief of CRCHD's Diversity Training Branch. Prior to coming to NIH, Dr. Aguila worked at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a Reviewer Toxicologist at the Center for Veterinary Medicine. Earlier in his career, Dr. Aguila held senior research scientist positions in neuropathology at the University of Miami and later in cancer gene therapy at Aventis-Gencell.
Dr. Aguila earned his doctor of veterinary medicine degree at Austral University in Chile and trained as a neurobiologist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas.
Mary Ann S. Van Duyn (Ph.D., M.P.H., R.D., L.D.) – Associate Deputy Director for Integration
Mary Ann S. Van Duyn, Ph.D., M.P.H. is Associate Deputy Director for Integration within the Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities (CRCHD) at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). In this capacity, Dr. Van Duyn oversees the integration of CRCHD-supported disparities research, diversity training, and network-based efforts, and manages efforts to support the navigation of next-generation, under-represented cancer researchers. She also leads CRCHD’s efforts in knowledge transfer and exchange through active dissemination of information, products, and evidence-based programs for cancer health disparities reduction within the public and scientific community.
Dr. Van Duyn previously served as chief of the Health Promotions Branch, NCI Office of Communications. Her work before joining the NIH focused on the development, implementation and assessment of cancer prevention programs for diverse and underserved populations, and on the development of information delivery systems at community, national, and international levels.
Dr. Van Duyn received a B.S. from Cornell University, an M.P.H. from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, and a Ph.D. in population and behavioral sciences from the University of Maryland, College Park. Her training also includes a clinical care delivery-focused fellowship from the Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Emmanuel A. Taylor (M.Sc., Dr.P.H.) – Program Director
Emmanuel A. Taylor is a Program Director in the Office of the Director of the NCI’s CRCHD since 2004. In this role, Dr. Taylor provides technical and scientific expertise to the evaluation of programs within the Center.
Prior to joining CRCHD, Dr. Taylor was President and CEO of Health Information Management Associates (HIMA), Inc. While at HIMA, Inc., he served as the chief epidemiologist and director of health informatics, research and program evaluation at HIMA. He was an Associate Professor of Public Health at Morgan State University, and Senior Epidemiologist for Minority Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Dr. Taylor received his doctorate in International Health/Epidemiology from the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, with a specialty in the application of epidemiological methods for planning and evaluation of public health programs; a M.Sc. in Health Education and Communications, and a B.S. in Pre-med/Biology from the University of Southern Mississippi.
Jiexin (Jason) Liu (Ph.D., M.B.A, M.S.) – Program Director
Jason Liu is a Program Director in Office of the Director of the NCI’s CRCHD since 2013. In this role, Dr. Liu contributes to the identification of performance measures, design of data collection instruments, and conducts analyses to evaluate the impact of CRCHD-funded programs aimed at reducing cancer health disparities and increasing biomedical workforce diversity. In addition, Dr. Liu contributes to the grants management of CRCHD’s Research Conference Awards (R13).
Prior to joining NCI, Dr. Liu served as a CRCHD onsite contractor as biostatistician and program evaluation researcher conducting program evaluation.
Dr. Liu received his Ph.D. in health services research, policy, and administration from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. He earned his M.S. in chemistry and M.B.A. from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Liu completed his B.S. in pharmacy from the Shenyang College of Pharmacy in China.
Hana Odeh (Ph.D.) – Program Director
Hana Odeh is a Program Director in the Office of the Director of the NCI’s CRCHD since 2016. In this role, Dr. Odeh’s primary responsibility is Training Navigation for the Center’s funding opportunities.
Prior to joining CRCHD, Dr. Odeh was a Project Manager in the Biorepositories and Biospecimen Research Branch at the NCI providing project management and experimental design support for projects within the Biospecimen Pre-Analytical Variables program. Before moving to the NCI, Dr. Odeh served as a Program Analyst for the NHLBI’s Office of the Scientific Director (OSD). In the OSD, she participated in the annual Board of Scientific Counselors site review process, managed the invitation of extramural ad-hoc reviewers and implemented new scientific review processes. In addition, Dr. Odeh worked directly with the chair of the Promotion and Tenure committee and other NHLBI investigators to review all staff appointments, promotions, and tenure conversion applications for scientific merit and participated in a developing a performance evaluation program for all GS-level biologists.
Dr. Odeh received her Ph.D. in Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Michigan and completed her postdoctoral studies in the molecular analysis of breast and prostate cancer.
Tiffany Wallace (Ph.D.) – Program Director
Tiffany Wallace is a Program Director in the Office of the Director of the NCI’s CRCHD since 2014. In this role, Dr. Wallace contributes to CRCHD’s programmatic efforts to strengthen NCI’s cancer health disparity research portfolio, encompassing basic, clinical, translational, and population-based research. Additional roles include contributing to the grant management of basic cancer research in cancer health disparities and representing CRCHD in the NCI’s Provocative Questions Initiative.
Prior to joining NCI, Dr. Wallace was an Oncology Scientist at Human Genome Sciences (HGS), a biopharmaceutical corporation acquired by GlaxoSmithKline in 2011. While at HGS she managed oncology research programs and conducted preclinical development of promising cancer therapeutic drugs and biologics.
Dr. Wallace received her Ph.D. in biomedical sciences from the University of Florida in Gainesville. She completed her postdoctoral training in the Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis at NCI, where she conducted basic and translational research that provided novel insights on the role of biological factors as they contribute to cancer health disparities. Her research included identification of biomarkers of aggressive disease in prostate and breast cancers, with a focus on variations between different racial/ethnic groups.
Diversity Training Branch (DTB)
Peter Ogunbiyi (Ph.D., D.V.M.) – Chief
Peter Ogunbiyi is Chief of the Diversity Training Branch, formerly the Comprehensive Minority Biomedical Branch, of the NCI's CRCHD. In this capacity, he coordinates existing and establishes new training, outreach, and career development programs designed to increase the number of underrepresented individuals, including racially/ethnically diverse, socioeconomically disadvantaged, and disabled, in the cancer research workforce.
Prior to his appointment as chief, Dr. Ogunbiyi served as a program director in CRCHD’s DTB, where he managed research training programs and partnership programs between institutions working with underserved communities with cancer health disparities and cancer centers. Before joining NCI, Dr. Ogunbiyi served in academia, holding faculty positions at Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria and Tuskegee University in Alabama. As a faculty member, he was actively involved in teaching, research, and training students for careers in biomedical sciences.
Dr. Ogunbiyi earned both his B.S. in biochemistry and his D.V.M. from Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria, and his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in pharmacology/toxicology from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. Dr. Ogunbiyi is well-published in the area of molecular and biochemical bases of free radical-induced injuries and their pharmacological modulation.
Alison Lin (Ph.D.) – Deputy Chief
Alison Lin is Deputy Chief of the Diversity Training Branch of the NCI’s CRCHD since 2012. In this role, Dr. Lin contributes to the grants management of the NCI Research Supplements to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research, the NCI Supplements to Promote Reentry into Biomedical and Behavioral Research Careers, the NCI Cancer Center Supplements for Underrepresented High School and Undergraduate Student Research Experiences (P30S), the Youth Enjoy Science (YES) Research Education Program (R25), and the Partnerships to Advance Cancer Health Equity (PACHE) program (CPACHE U54 and P20).
Prior to joining NCI, Dr. Lin served as an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA. While at Harvard Medical School, she conducted interdisciplinary research focused on understanding the molecular interactions of membrane proteins and their signaling mechanisms, particularly those that modulate the cytoskeleton.
Dr. Lin received her Ph.D. in physics/biophysics from the University of California, Santa Barbara for work on the optimization of non-viral cationic lipid DNA carriers in gene delivery. She received her B.S. in physics, summa cum laude, from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
Jessica M. Calzola (Ph.D.) – Program Director
Jessica M. Calzola is a Program Director in the Office of the Director of the NCI’s CRCHD since 2019. In this role, Dr. Calzola’s primary responsibility is program management for the Intramural Continuing Umbrella of Research Experiences program.
Prior to joining NCI, Dr. Calzola was a Program Manager with Leidos, supporting the Army’s Medical Research Program in Systems Biology at Fort Detrick in Frederick, MD. Dr. Calzola also had a previous role providing project and program management support to the Congressionally Directed Research Program (CDMRP), specifically the Parkinson’s Research Program, as well as the Joint Program Committee-6/Combat Casualty Care Research Program (JPC-6/CCCRP). In these roles she helped recruit, coordinate and execute programmatic review meetings and other program requirements.
Dr. Calzola earned her B.S. in biochemistry from Juniata College, Pennsylvania. As an undergraduate she was selected for the NIH Undergraduate Scholarship Program. In this program she conducted basic research for a summer with Dr. Susan Gottesman at NCI. Dr. Calzola then went on to get her Ph.D. in microbiology and molecular genetics from Rutgers University, New Jersey. Her postdoctoral training was done in the Proteomic section of the Laboratory of Systems Biology at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, where she worked on modeling toll-like receptor 4 signaling.
Eric M. Johnson Chavarria (Ph.D.) – Program Director
Eric M. Johnson Chavarria is a Program Director of the Intramural Continuing Umbrella of Research Experiences (iCURE) program within NCI’s CRCHD since August 2019. In this role, Dr. Johnson Chavarria contributes to the iCURE program as lead training navigator and mentoring network coordinator for postbaccalaureate, graduate and postdoctoral iCURE scholars.
Prior to joining CRCHD, Dr. Johnson Chavarria served as an AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow in the Division of Cancer Biology (DCB) at NCI. While in DCB, he leveraged open innovation approaches to bridge emerging technology to address health challenges. These approaches included innovation labs and challenge prize competitions. Innovation labs are five-day residential workshops that bring together investigators from disparate fields for collaboration to address intractable data and health problems. Challenge prize competitions, specifically data related, allow researchers across different fields to address health-related challenges by developing algorithms or tools to overcome barriers in data and metadata management, curation and aggregation.
Dr. Johnson Chavarria received his B.S. in physics from the University of Texas, San Antonio and his Ph.D. in biophysics from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign for work developing an automated microfluidic platform for confinement of single cells in free solution using planar extensional flow. He then went on to complete postdoctoral research at Yale University in the Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry Department, focusing on actin cytoskeleton force modulation and regulatory protein interactions under microfluidic flow induced tension.
Anthony DiBello (Ph.D.) – Program Director
Anthony DiBello is a Program Director in the Diversity Training Branch of the NCI's CRCHD since October 2020. Dr. DiBello is primarily responsible for managing the Kirschstein NRSA Predoctoral Fellowship to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research (F31 - Diversity) program for NCI. In this role, Dr. DiBello also supports portfolio analysis and program evaluation efforts.
Prior to joining NCI, Dr. DiBello served as a data management and research officer at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. While at IMF/World Bank, Dr. DiBello conducted interdisciplinary research focused on relationships between environmental health, climate, economic inequality, and economic/social welfare. Before joining the IMF, Dr. DiBello spent years, first at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and later at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), conducting biomedical research investigating the mechanisms that govern ubiquitin-signaling and its role in responding to cell stress and DNA damage.
Dr. DiBello earned a dual B.S. in Physics and Mathematics, as well as a B.A. in Philosophy, from Northern Kentucky University. He received his Ph.D. in Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he completed his thesis on the “Regulation of Ubiquitin Conjugation and Removal.” His postdoctoral training, completed at NIDDK, focused on an investigation into the regulation of the cellular response to misfolded protein stress by ubiquitin-signaling.
Samson Y. Gebreab (Ph.D., MS.c.) – Program Director
Dr. Samson Gebreab is a Program Director in the Diversity Training Branch of the NCI’s CRCHD since 2020. In this role, Dr. Gebreab contributes to the grant management of Feasibility Studies to Build Collaborative Partnerships in Cancer Research (P20), NCI Research Supplements to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research, and NCI Supplements to Promote Reentry into Biomedical and Behavioral Research Careers, and conducts analyses on research activities and funding addressing cancer health disparities and minority health.
Prior to joining CRCHD, Dr. Gebreab worked as a Mathematical Statistician at the Center for Tobacco Products, FDA. In this role, he served as FDA's lead working groups on sampling design and data analyses and data delivery for the PATH Study and scientific reviewer for tobacco-related regulatory research projects. Prior joining to FDA, Dr. Gebreab was a Staff Scientist at NHGRI, NIH, and served as an Associate Investigator in Genomics, Environmental and Social Determinants of Cardiovascular Disease in African Americans. While at NHGRI, his research focused on health disparities, especially in African Americans, examining the impact of socioeconomic position across lifespan, psychosocial factors, behavioral, and neighborhood social and physical environments on health disparities and understanding the biological mechanisms contributing to racial/ethnic disparities in health outcomes. He was also actively involved in managing protocols and databases and mentoring summer students and postdoctoral fellows. Earlier in his career, Dr. Gebreab served as a Biostatistician/Epidemiologist of the Jackson Heart Study.
Dr. Gebreab received his M.Sc. in Geographic Information Science (GIS) from Wageningen University, the Netherlands, and joint M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Statistics and Spatial Epidemiology from Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA. Dr. Gebreab completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, where he studied the influence of social determinants, such as socioeconomic status, neighborhood characteristics and psychosocial factors, on cardiovascular outcomes.
Mauricio Rangel-Gomez (Ph.D.) – Program Director
Mauricio Rangel-Gomez is a Program Director in the Diversity Training Branch of the NCI’s CRCHD since October 2020. In this role, Dr. Rangel-Gomez supports the grant management of the Exploratory Grant Award to Promote Workforce Diversity in Basic Cancer Research (R21) and the Comprehensive Partnerships to Advance Cancer Health Equity (CPACHE – U54). In addition to the grant management support, Dr. Rangel-Gomez works on the enhancement of the portfolio analysis tools used by CRCHD.
Prior to joining CRCHD, Dr. Rangel-Gomez held positions within the U.S. government and academia. Dr. Rangel-Gomez served as Health Scientist and was a Tobacco Regulatory Science Fellow at the Center for Tobacco Products at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In this role, Dr. Rangel-Gomez was responsible for coordinating the NIH-FDA grants portfolio, covering funding mechanisms across the career trajectory spectrum of the researchers within the program. Additionally, he worked on initiatives to improve STEM participation and reduce health disparities. While working in academia, Dr. Rangel-Gomez was a researcher at the University of Maryland, College Park and the University of California, Berkeley, studying the neural correlates of reward processing and addiction.
Dr. Rangel-Gomez received his Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He graduated Cum Laude from Maastricht University, The Netherlands, with an M.Sc. in Neuropsychology. Additionally, Dr. Rangel-Gomez graduated Magna Cum Laude from Universidad El Bosque, Colombia, with a B.S. in Psychology, and obtained a B.S. in Engineering from Universidad de los Andes, Colombia.
Mark Sellers (Ph.D.) – Program Director
Mark Sellers is a Presidential Management Fellow and Health Specialist on the Intramural Continuing Umbrella of Research Experiences (iCURE) program team. He provides administrative support for the iCURE program and for the Diversity Training Branch. In this role, Dr. Sellers also supports portfolio analysis and program evaluation efforts.
Dr. Sellers is a former National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow (NSF GRFP) and research assistant from Washington University in St. Louis. His dissertation focused on nucleation—the formation of crystallites in a liquid as it changes into a solid—and how gravity or local atomic structure either helped or hindered this process.
Dr. Sellers received his Ph.D. in physics from Washington University in St. Louis in May 2020. He also graduated Summa Cum Laude from Rhodes College in May 2015 with a B.S. in Physics and a minor in Spanish.
Mulualem E. Tilahun (D.V.M., Ph.D.) - Program Director
Mulualem E. Tilahun is a Program Director in the Diversity Training Branch of the NCI’s CRCHD since August 2019. In this role, Dr. Tilahun contributes to the grants management of Career Development Mechanisms (K01 - NCI Mentored Research Scientist Development Award to Promote Diversity and K22 - NCI Transition Career Development Award to Promote Diversity) and the Comprehensive Partnerships to Advance Cancer Health Equity (CPACHE U54) programs.
Prior to joining the NCI, Dr. Tilahun was a Health Scientist and AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the Office of AIDS Research (OAR), DPCPSI, OD, NIH. In this role, he primarily supported the reducing the incidence of HIV research priority area; performed review of the HIV vaccine portfolio and the funding plan request for HIV vaccine research; contributed to the development of the NIH strategic plan for HIV and HIV-related research; performed portfolio data analysis related to rural health research and HIV-associated coinfections; led the OAR scientific briefings; and other NIH priorities for HIV and HIV-related research. Before joining the OAR, Dr. Tilahun was a fellow in the intramural program in the Laboratory of Immunology at NIAID/NIH, investigating the mechanisms of viral immune evasion and the molecular and cellular mechanisms of drug-induced, HLA-associated, T-cell mediated hypersensitivity reactions. Dr. Tilahun has extensive multidisciplinary knowledge and experience in translational and basic research in immunology, cancer biology, therapeutic antibody development and engineering, immunotherapy, infectious diseases, and pre-clinical animal models.
Dr. Tilahun graduated with a Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Massachusetts and a D.V.M. from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. Dr. Tilahun is interested in pursuing a career in supporting biomedical research administration, research and training portfolio analysis to identify gaps, health disparities research, and training of next-generation scientists from diverse populations.
Integrated Networks Branch (INB)
LeeAnn Bailey (M.B.B.S, Ph.D., M.S.) – Chief
LeeAnn Bailey is Chief of the Integrated Networks Branch of the NCI’s CRCHD since 2016. In this role, she manages, develops, and assesses strategies for enhancing the integration and dissemination of diversity training, women’s health, and sexual and gender minority efforts within and across NCI, as well as within the scientific community and underserved communities through NCI-supported networks. She also identifies and leverages opportunities to address unmet needs in cancer health disparities research.
Prior to joining NCI, she was a healthcare consultant at Deloitte Consulting LLP. She has also been a principal investigator researching tissue engineered products and cellular inflammatory responses at the National Institute of Standards and Technology as well as an adjunct professor at Morgan State University.
Dr. Bailey received her M.B.B.S (M.D. equivalent) from the University of Adelaide Medical School with an emphasis on aboriginal health and pediatric oncology. Dr. Bailey also has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics and a M.S. in Biological and Physical Sciences from the University of Virginia School of Medicine.
Sheba K. Dunston (Ed.D., M.P.H., CHES) - Program Director
Dr. Sheba Dunston is a Program Director in the Integrated Networks Branch of the NCI’s CRCHD since 2019. In this role, she contributes technical and scientific expertise to management of the National Outreach Network program.
Dr. Dunston was previously a Scientific Review Officer with NIH’s Center for Scientific Review. Prior to that, she served as a Behavioral Scientist with the National Center for Health Statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In this role, she facilitated the full planning and execution of question design and survey evaluation studies to test, develop and improve federal survey questions. Dr. Dunston has several years of qualitative and mixed-method research experience, as well as experience in project management, health education, health promotion and health disparities research.
Dr. Dunston received an Ed.D. in Health Education from Columbia University, an MPH with a focus on community health from Drexel University, and a B.S. in Biology from Syracuse University.
Amanda Alise Price (Ph.D.) – Program Director
Dr. Amanda Alise Price is a Program Director in the Integrated Networks Branch of the NCI’s CRCHD since 2020. In this role, Dr. Price contributes to the management and support of several supplement portfolios that address cancer health disparities, women’s health, and sexual and gender minority efforts within and across NCI, as well as within the scientific community and underserved communities through NCI-supported networks administrative supplements.
Prior to joining the NCI, Dr. Price served as a tenured Associate Professor in the School of Health Sciences at Winston-Salem State University. In academia, she successfully competed for NIH funding as a principal investigator and generated numerous publications and presentations from her work centered on the prevention and management of chronic diseases through promotion of healthy lifestyle behaviors, with an emphasis on addressing health disparities. Dr. Price also has extensive expertise in research methods and design, statistics, and training future health care professionals. Furthermore, Dr. Price has held several key leadership roles with Winston-Salem State University, the University of North Carolina System, and the American College of Sports Medicine.
Dr. Price earned both her Ph.D. and B.S.Ed. in exercise physiology with a doctoral concentration in statistics and undergraduate minors in chemistry and sports medicine from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, FL.
Sandra L. San Miguel (M.S.) – Program Director
Sandra L. San Miguel is a Program Director in the Integrated Networks Branch of the NCI’s CRCHD since 2016. In this role, Ms. San Miguel contributes to the grants management of the to the National Outreach Network program.
Prior to joining NCI, Ms. San Miguel served in academia, holding faculty positions at the Dept. of Medicine - Epidemiology & Biostatistics at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Texas and at the Dept. of Biology and International Studies at Trinity University. Her expertise is in developing, implementing, and evaluating evidence-based, culturally sensitive behavioral interventions among racially/ethnically diverse populations within the U.S. and Latin America, with an emphasis on Latino cancer health disparities, patient navigation, recruitment into clinical trials/biorepositories, breast cancer genetic testing and survivorship.
Ms. San Miguel received her M.S. in counseling psychology from Our Lady of the Lake University. She received her B.A. in psychology from the University of the Incarnate Word.
Anil Wali (Ph.D.) – Program Director
Anil Wali is a Program Director in the Integrated Networks Branch of the NCI’s CRCHD since 2009. In this role, Dr. Wali contributes to the grants management of CRCHD’s Geographic Management of Cancer Health Disparities Program. He also provides technical and scientific expertise to the Comprehensive Partnerships to Advance Cancer Health Equity (CPACHE U54) program.
Prior to joining NCI, Dr. Wali served as Associate Professor in the Departments of Surgery and Pathology at the NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, Wayne State University, Detroit Michigan. While at Wayne State University, Dr. Wali served as Principal Investigator on a Veterans Administration Merit Review award funded project on the Role of Ubiquitin-Proteasome Pathway in Mesothelioma Carcinogenesis. Dr. Wali conducted NCI Clinical trial on asbestos exposed patient populations to determine their risk for developing Lung Cancer and Mesothelioma using high throughput Genomics and Proteomics technologies.
Dr. Wali received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Kashmir, in Srinagar, India. He earned his Ph.D. at the Postgraduate Institute in Chandigarh, India. Dr. Wali completed postdoctoral fellowships at the Institute for Environmental Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania; at the FELS Institute for Cancer Research at Temple University, Philadelphia, PA; and in the Department of Pathology at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA.