National Capital Area Minority/Underserved NCORP Leadership

Principal Investigators

Lucile L. Adams-Campbell, PhD

Lucile L. Adams-Campbell, PhD, is a cancer epidemiologist and health disparities researcher. She is a professor of oncology, associate director for minority health and health disparities research, and senior associate dean for community outreach and engagement at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and Georgetown University Medical Center. She received a B.S. in biology and an M.S. in biomedical science from Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA, and received her PhD in epidemiology from the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Adams-Campbell has received numerous awards and honors for her decades of research and contributions to the area of health disparities, including election to the National Academy of Medicine, induction into the DC Hall of Fame, and receiving gold medallions from her alma maters, Drexel University and the University of Pittsburgh.

Chul Kim, MD

Dr. Chul Kim is an Associate Professor at Georgetown University with a focus on thoracic oncology. His goal as a thoracic medical oncologist is to introduce innovative cancer therapies into clinical practice, and he is devoted to formulating clinical trials aimed at promoting personalized cancer treatments.

Dr. Kim’s academic journey began at the Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude. He furthered his studies at the Harvard School of Public Health, obtaining a Master’s degree in Public Health. His medical training continued at the University of Minnesota where he trained in internal medicine. Later, he became a clinical fellow in hematology and oncology at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Dr. Kim has authored more than 60 articles in reputable peer-reviewed journals, including Lancet Oncology, JAMA Oncology, Journal of Thoracic Oncology, Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, and Clinical Cancer Research. Additionally, he has served as a reviewer for various journals such as Journal of Clinical Oncology, Clinical Lung Cancer, Lancet HIV, Lancet Haematology, and JCO Precision Oncology.

Administrator

Sherieda Muthra, M.S.

Sherieda Muthra, M.S., manages and oversees daily activities and regulatory requirements of the NCA M/U NCORP. Sherieda joined the Georgetown Lombardi Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities Research in 2010. Her focus is community outreach and the reduction of health disparities in underserved and minority populations in the District of Columbia. Ms. Muthra received her Master of Science in Cancer Biology, Prevention, and Control through the University of the District of Columbia and Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University Medical Center.

Executive Committee

Chiranjeev Dash, PhD, MBBS, MPH

Chiranjeev Dash, PhD, MBBS, MPH, is the assistant director of health disparities research and an associate professor of oncology in the Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities Research at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is also a member of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program and has a secondary appointment in the Department of Biostatistics, Bioinformatics & Biomathematics. Dr. Dash’s expertise is in the design, implementation, and analysis of epidemiologic studies. His research primarily focuses on molecular epidemiology and cancer prevention and control in minorities and underserved populations.

Christopher Gallagher, MD

Christopher Gallagher, MD, is a hematologist/medical oncologist, the medical director of cancer services of the Washington Cancer Institute and an assistant professor of medicine at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD. Dr. Gallagher’s clinical practice focuses on breast cancer. He specializes in advanced and metastatic breast cancer as well as human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)/neu-positive and triple-negative breast cancer.

Jeanne Mandelblatt, MD, MPH

Jeanne Mandelblatt, MD, MPH, is a tenured professor of medicine and oncology at Georgetown University. With her clinical translational training in geriatrics, health services research, and cancer epidemiology, Dr. Mandelblatt is a nationally recognized population scientist with more than three decades of continuous, multi-RO1 funded NIH collaborative research focused on cancer, policy, and aging. Dr. Mandelblatt has published more than 235 articles to date with her colleagues, with close to 17,000 citations of this work (H-index of 70). Dr. Mandelblatt’s research focuses on screening and survivorship at the intersection of aging. Her early screening research provided the foundation for addition of Medicare benefits to cover Pap smear screening. This was the first covered preventive service under Medicare.

Marc Schwartz, PhD

Marc D. Schwartz, PhD, is a tenured professor in the Department of Oncology at the Georgetown University School of Medicine, where he also serves as an associate director (for Population Science) of the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. Prior to taking on this role, Dr. Schwartz served as co-leader of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program for 15 years. Dr. Schwartz also co-directs the Jess and Mildred Fisher Center for Hereditary Cancer and Clinical Genomics Research at Georgetown University. A clinical psychologist by training, Dr. Schwartz’s research focuses on the clinical and population translation of advances in cancer genomics; cancer risk assessment; medical decision making and decision support for cancer treatment and screening.

Kathryn Taylor, PhD

Kathryn Taylor, PhD, is a tenured professor in the Department of Oncology and a member of the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Cancer Prevention and Control Program. Dr. Taylor’s research focuses on three broad areas: 1) understanding the impact of prostate cancer treatment on psychosocial, behavioral and clinical outcomes; 2) developing and evaluating interventions designed to improve the outcomes of men undergoing prostate cancer screening and treatment; and 3) the clinical and public health translation of lung cancer screening as a teachable moment for smoking cessation and relapse prevention.

Jeffery Toretsky, MD

Jeffrey A. Toretsky, MD, serves as chief of MedStar Georgetown University Hospital’s Division of Pediatric, Adolescent, and Young Adult Hematology/Oncology. Dr. Toretsky is an internationally recognized expert in sarcomas in children, adolescents, and young adults. He is the principal investigator and director of the NIH-funded Molecular Oncology Program at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and co-leads a regional multidisciplinary sarcoma clinic. Dr. Toretsky and a multidisciplinary team are engaged with all aspects of pediatric hematology/oncology from diagnosis through survivorship. His laboratory is pursuing new and targeted therapies for Ewing sarcoma, including a new medication for Ewing sarcoma currently in phase 1 clinical trials.

Kenneth Tercyak, PhD

Kenneth Tercyak, PhD, is a tenured professor in the Departments of Oncology and Pediatrics at the Georgetown University School of Medicine. At Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Dr. Tercyak serves as leader of the Cancer Prevention and Control research program in the Division of Population Sciences. He is a member of the Fisher Center for Hereditary Cancer and Clinical Genomics Research, a senior scholar at the Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development, and an affiliate faculty member of the Department of Psychology. A clinical health psychologist by training and specializing in children and families affected by cancer, Dr. Tercyak has been supported by the NIH since 1998. He completed postdoctoral, early stage and mid-career training awards in basic behavioral research in cancer prevention-control. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (Divisions 38, 54) and the Society of Behavioral Medicine, and holds an appointment in pediatric psychology at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.

Suzanne O’Neill, PhD

Suzanne O’Neill, PhD, is a clinical health psychologist whose program of research focuses on how patients and their health care providers interpret and apply novel risk information, such as genomic risks, to make decisions that can reduce cancer morbidity and mortality. Over the past decade, Dr. O’Neill and her team have assessed patient outcomes following genomic risk communication, primarily among women with breast cancer and those with a family history of breast and/or ovarian cancer, and developed interventions to support outcomes in these populations. This early work in genomic testing allowed Dr. O’Neill to recognize that recent mandates for patient disclosure of mammographic breast density following routine screening mammography could serve as an opportunity to reach women at clinically elevated risk for breast cancer.

Geoffrey Gibney, MD

Geoffrey Gibney, MD, is a co-leader of the Melanoma Disease Group at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and MedStar Cancer Network, and a member of the Developmental Therapeutics (Phase I) program. He is well known for treating patients with advanced non-melanoma skin cancers (basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and merkel cell carcinoma), renal cell carcinoma and other rare skin cancers. Dr. Gibney is board certified in both internal medicine and medical oncology. He was previously a faculty member in the Department of Cutaneous Oncology at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa. Dr. Gibney is recognized for his advanced melanoma research. He is currently involved in several clinical trials focused on developing novel immunotherapy and targeted therapy strategies. Past clinical research has included the study of anti-PD-1 therapy to prevent recurrences of resected melanoma, combination immunotherapies (such as ipilimumab plus the novel IDO1 inhibitor, epacadostat) to enhance the clinical benefit in advanced melanoma patients and combination BRAF targeted therapy to overcome drug resistance.