Archives: Members

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Joseph Chin, MD, MS

Steering Committee Member
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

 

Joseph Chin, MD, MS, is the Deputy Director of the Coverage and Analysis Group (CAG) in the Center for Clinical Standards and Quality at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). He joined CMS in 1992 as a medical officer in the quality improvement component and transitioned to CAG in 1999, focusing on systematic evidence reviews, Medicare translational science and preventive services. Prior to joining CMS, Dr. Chin practiced full time in occupational and ambulatory medicine. He is board certified in preventive medicine, completed his MD, MS in epidemiology and residency at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and maintains an active primary care practice in Maryland.

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Bob Smith photo

Robert A. Smith, PhD, FSBI

Steering Committee Member
American Cancer Society

 

Robert A. Smith, PhD, FSBI, is a cancer epidemiologist and Senior Vice-President, Cancer Screening at the National Office of the American Cancer Society (ACS) in Atlanta, Georgia. He also is Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University School of Medicine, and an Honorary Professor, Centre for Cancer Prevention, Wolfson Institute of Preventative Medicine at Queen Mary University of London. His primary research interests are cancer epidemiology, evaluation of cancer prevention and early detection programs, quality assurance in the delivery of health services, and cancer rehabilitation and survivorship. He received his PhD from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1983. Prior to joining the staff at the ACS, he held positions with the Boston University School of Public Health, and the Centers for Disease Control.

At the ACS, he leads the development of cancer screening guidelines, and special research and policy projects focused on cancer prevention and control. He is the author of over 300 peer-reviewed scientific articles, reports, and book chapters, and a frequent lecturer on cancer screening issues. He serves on many international and national government and professional advisory committees and working groups, and in 2017 was a member of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Handbooks Working Group for volume 17 on Colorectal Cancer Screening. Dr. Smith was one of the founding members of the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable, and has served as its Co-Director for 20 years. He also is a founding member of the National Lung Cancer Roundtable and the Principle Investigator of the first 3-year supporting grant. Among his honors, Dr. Smith is an Honorary Fellow of the Society of Breast Imaging; in 2004 he received the Cancer Prevention Laurel for Outstanding National Leadership from the Prevent Cancer Foundation; and in 2011 he received the Medal of Honor from the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

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Raymond U. Osarogiagbon, MBBS

Steering Committee Member
Baptist Cancer Center

 

Dr. Osarogiagbon, MBBS, is the Chief Scientist at Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation, headquartered in Memphis, TN. He is Director of the Multidisciplinary Thoracic Oncology Program and the Thoracic Oncology Research Group at the Baptist Cancer Center and Principal Investigator of the Baptist Health System/Mid-South Minority-Underserved Consortium NCORP. He is a Research Professor at Vanderbilt University and a member of the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center.

Dr. Osarogiagbon’s research interests center around improving population-level outcomes of cancer care by improving care delivery systems and processes. His current major endeavor is ‘the Mid-South Miracle’ an institution-wide project to disseminate seven high-quality lung cancer control programs (including tobacco control, early detection, surgical quality improvement, and clinical trials infrastructure) across a 111-county, six-state service area population of the Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation with the goal of reducing population-level lung cancer mortality by 25% greater than the US average over the course of a decade. He is a member of the NCI Cancer Prevention Steering Committee, the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) Staging and Prognostic Factors Committee, the Fleischner Society, the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, and is a member of the Steering Committee for the American Cancer Society’s National Lung Cancer Roundtable. He is board-certified in the Internal Medicine subspecialties of Hematology and Medical Oncology, a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, and a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American Society of Hematology.

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Jamie Studts, PhD, FSBM

Steering Committee Member
University of Colorado School of Medicine

 

Jamie L. Studts, PhD, FSBM, is a Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Scientific Director of Behavioral Oncology. Dr. Studts also serves as the Program Co-Leader for Cancer Prevention and Control and Co-Director of the Population Health Shared Resource at the University of Colorado Cancer Center. Prior to joining the University of Colorado, Dr. Studts served as Professor of Behavioral Science at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Assistant Director for Cancer Prevention and Control, and Director of the Behavioral and Community-Based Research Shared Resource Facility at the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center.

Dr. Studts is a licensed clinical health psychologist, and his interests address behavioral aspects of tobacco-related malignancies. His research develops and tests interventions to promote informed/shared decision-making and behavior change among patients and clinicians regarding prevention, screening, and survivorship of lung and head/neck cancer. His research has been funded by NCI, NIDCR, NIDA, NIEHS, the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, and the Kentucky Lung Cancer Research Program. Dr. Studts is the Principal Investigator of the Kentucky LEADS Collaborative, and he previously served on the Institute of Medicine National Cancer Policy Forum addressing Implementation of Lung Cancer Screening. He is a Fellow of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, a member of the Scientific Leadership Board for the GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer, and he recently joined the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s Lung Cancer Screening and Smoking Cessation Panels. Dr. Studts also serves as the Chair of American Cancer Society National Lung Cancer Roundtable’s Survivorship, Stigma, and Nihilism Task Group. Recently, Dr. Studts received the Centerstone Healthcare Advocacy award in recognition of his efforts to reduce the burden of lung cancer in Kentucky.

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Richard Wender, MD

Steering Committee Member
University of Pennsylvania

 

Richard Wender, MD, has dedicated his career to leading medical and public health efforts that strive to improve the quality of primary care, implement population health, and address social determinants of health in the continuous pursuit of equity for all people.  He was recently appointed as the Chair of the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.   Dr. Wender spent the first 33 years of his career in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University, including 12 years as the Alumni Professor and Chair of the Department.  At Jefferson, Dr. Wender and his team spearheaded innovative programs in geriatric medicine, palliative care, the patient-centered medical home, quality-based payment, refugee health, and community partnership.  From 2013 to 2020, Dr. Wender served as the first Chief Cancer Control Officer of the American Cancer Society.  He helped to build a cancer control team that launched a transformative national initiative to achieve 80% colorectal cancer screening rates in every community, a national and global campaign to increase HPV vaccination rates, and an enterprise-wide effort to help build healthier communities.

Dr. Wender has continuously advocated for the importance of preventive care and for the creation of an effective bridge between primary care and public health.   This includes providing 100’s of keynote addresses, at least one in all 50 states, and authoring numerous publications.  As Chair of the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable and a member of the steering committee for the President’s Cancer Panel cancer screening initiative, Dr. Wender is helping to lead efforts to promote the safe provision of cancer screening services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Bruce E. Johnson, MD, FASCO

Steering Committee Member
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

 

Bruce E. Johnson, MD, FASCO, is the Chief Clinical Research Officer at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Leader of the Lung Cancer Program for the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. He is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an Institute Physician at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Dr. Johnson served on the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Board of Directors from 2008 to 2011, received their Cancer Foundation’s Translational Research Professorship in 2008, and was selected as an ASCO Fellow in 2012.  Dr. Johnson was elected ASCO President for the 2017-2018 term, and served as Immediate Past President in 2018-2019.

Dr. Johnson has published over two hundred and forty research articles on a variety of topics, including the molecular basis of lung cancers and the development of targeted therapies for patients with specific genomic alterations in lung cancer. He is one of the investigators who discovered epidermal growth factor receptor mutations which have enhanced the treatment of lung cancer around the world. He also led the studies that led to the approval of dabrafenib plus trametinib for BRAF mutant non-small cell lung cancer.  His research is devoted to testing novel therapeutic agents for their efficacy against lung cancer and other thoracic malignancies.

Dr. Johnson completed his Medical Oncology training at the National Cancer Institute, where he served as an NCI faculty member from 1985 to 1998 and head of their Lung Cancer Biology section for six years. He came to Dana-Farber in 1998 to head the Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology. Dr. Johnson received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University, his medical degree from the University of Minnesota, and trained in Internal Medicine at the University of Chicago. roles.

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Jill Feldman photo

Jill Feldman

Steering Committee Member
EGFR Resisters

 

Jill Feldman is a lung cancer patient and advocate. When Jill was 13 years old, she lost her dad and two grandparents to lung cancer and then her mom and close aunt died of lung cancer when she was in her 20’s. She became a volunteer, an advocate and past president of LUNGevity Foundation before the unthinkable happened. In 2009, at 39 years old with four small children, Jill herself was diagnosed with EGFR positive lung cancer.

Jill continues to be involved with LUNGevity. She is also Deputy Chair of IASLC’s patient advisory board and a member of The Chicago Institute of Translational Medicine’s patient advisory board. Jill is committed to understanding and promoting patient-centered research as a member of the programmatic panel for the Department of Defense Lung Cancer Research Program, as a planning committee member on IASLC’s North America Conference on Lung cancer and as a member of the the ECOG-ACRIN Research Group’s patient advocate committee and thoracic committee.

Jill has presented patient perspectives at conferences, including the World Conference on Lung Cancer hosted by IASLC and the virtual ASCO Education Program. She is a co-author of the ASTRO Guidelines for SBRT in early stage lung cancer that was published in an ASCO special article in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2017, Jill co-founded the EGFR Resisters, a grassroots, patient-driven community committed to accelerating research that will prolong and better the lives of people diagnosed with EGFRm lung cancer. Jill also continues to share her story in the media and at various events and participates in countless advocacy opportunities to shine a light on lung cancer and end the stigma associated with it.  

 

Robert J. Volk, PhD

University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

 

Robert J. Volk, PhD, is a decision scientist and Professor in the Department of Health Services Research at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. His research focus is shared decision making, a process wherein patients and their health care providers jointly making difficult clinical decisions when the optimal strategy is uncertain. Dr. Volk is head of the Decision Support Lab and the Shared Decision Making Collaborative at MD Anderson, where he was named the 2012 Outstanding Patient Educator, received a President’s Recognition for Faculty Excellence award in 2016, and a President’s Recognition for Faculty Excellence in Education and Mentorship Advancement award in 2017. His patient decision aids have received two Telly Awards and platinum and Gold Hermes Creative Awards for best film and video production in the area of health care. He is a member of the Steering Committee for the International Patient Decision Aid Standards (IPDAS) Collaboration, which recently published a series of standards for developers and users of patient decision aids. His research in patient decision support has been funded by the National Cancer Institute, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), and other non-federal sources. Dr. Volk’s recent PCORI funding focuses on promotion of informed decisions about lung cancer screening with low-dose computed tomography. Dr. Volk also served as co-principal investigator of the John M. Eisenberg Center for Clinical Decisions and Communications Science, an AHRQ-funded center for translation of complex scientific information into materials for consumers, clinicians and policymakers.

Charles White, MD

University of Maryland School of Medicine

 

Charles White, MD, is a Professor of Radiology and Internal Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the Director of Thoracic Imaging and Vice-Chairman for Clinical Affairs at the University of Maryland Medical Center. He received his training at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. Dr. White is certified by both the American Board of Radiology and the American Board of Internal Medicine.

He is the author of over 100 publications in a variety of areas of Cardiothoracic Radiology with a recent emphasis on cardiac CT imaging. He is a member of the Fleischner Society, the past Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Thoracic Imaging and a Past-President of the Society of Thora

M. Patricia Rivera, MD, FCCP

Professor of Medicine

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

 

M. Patricia Rivera, MD, FCCP, is a professor of medicine in the division of pulmonary and critical care at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill (UNC).  She is currently the Chair of the ATS Thoracic Oncology Assembly and Vice-chair of the ACCP Thoracic Oncology Network.

Dr. Rivera is recognized as a pulmonologist with expertise in lung cancer and as a pioneer in the development of multidisciplinary lung cancer programs. She was instrumental in the development of the Multidisciplinary Thoracic Oncology Program (MTOP) at UNC, a program she has co-directed for 23 years. More recently, she developed and is the director of the Multidisciplinary Lung Cancer Screening Program at UNC.

Dr. Rivera is committed to improving the care of the lung cancer patient and is dedicated to promoting state of the art, evidence-based care. Her research interests have focused on early detection of pre-invasive bronchial lesions, toxicities caused by therapies in lung cancer, lung cancer in women and more recently, lung cancer screening. Dr. Rivera has been an active participant in the ACCP Lung Cancer Guidelines Initiative and had an integral part in the guidelines development and implementation. Her expertise in lung cancer, clinical expertise in diagnostic procedures and interest in early detection catapulted her interest in developing a multidisciplinary lung cancer screening program at UNC. Dr. Rivera has been part of the UNC lung cancer screening initiative in the development of a lung cancer screening registry and as a co-investigator in quality improvement of lung cancer screening implementation.

Dr. Rivera is committed to promoting multidisciplinary programs to enhance the overall care of lung cancer patients, including behavioral, psychological, and quality-of-life components of their care.