Members of the Advisory Committee on Breast Cancer in Young Women

For contact information and terms, please see the roster. [PDF-58KB]

• Chair: Ann H. Partridge, MD, MPH
  Dr. Partridge is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and serves as the Clinical Director of the Breast Oncology Center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She founded and directs the Program for Young Women with Breast Cancer at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center to address the unique needs of women in their early 40s and younger.
• Otis Webb Brawley, MD
  Dr. Brawley is the Chief Medical Officer for the American Cancer Society, and a practicing oncologist. He served as the professor of Hematology and Oncology and Epidemiology at Emory University, as medical director of the Georgia Cancer Center for Excellence at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, and as deputy director for cancer control at Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University.
• Generosa Grana, MD, FACP
  Dr. Grana is Director of the Cooper Cancer Institute, head of the division of hematology/medical oncology at Cooper University Hospital, and an associate professor of medicine at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. She focuses her clinical practice, community education efforts, and research on breast cancer, cancer and genetics, and cancer prevention.
• Brandon Hayes-Lattin, MD
  Dr. Hayes-Lattin is the Medical Director of the Knight Cancer Institute Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology Program at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU). Dr. Hayes-Lattin is a leader in developing the new discipline of adolescent and young adult (AYA) oncology. He is the first medical co-chair of the Lance Armstrong Foundation's LIVESTRONG Young Adult Alliance and a member of the National Cancer Institute's Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology Progress Review Group.
• Maimah Karmo
  Ms. Karmo is the Founder and President of Tigerlily Foundation and a three year survivor of breast cancer. She received the Congressional Black Caucus Leadership in Advocacy Award for her work with young women and breast cancer. She created Tigerlily Foundation after being diagnosed with breast cancer at age 32. Tigerlily Foundation provides women with services to help them while they are in treatment.
• Karen Kelly Thomas, PhD, RN, FAAN
  Dr. Kelly Thomas is an experienced nurse executive and CEO of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP), a professional society of almost 7,500 professionals dedicated to promoting optimal health for children through leadership, practice, advocacy, education, and research.
• Lisa A. Newman, MD, MPH, FACS
  Dr. Newman is a surgical oncologist, Associate Professor of Surgery, and Director of the Breast Care Center for the University of Michigan. Prior to assuming her current position at the University of Michigan, Dr. Newman served as Assistant Professor of Surgery at the MD Anderson Cancer Center with a full-time commitment to research and clinical practice in the Surgical Breast Section, and was Associate Director for the Walt Breast Center at Wayne State University for two years.
• Mavis Nitta, MPH, CHES
  Ms. Nitta is the Chronic Disease Program Coordinator at the Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum. She has worked on cancer awareness and education initiatives with a variety of stakeholders including community-based organizations, public health departments, unions, and cancer survivors. Most recently, she worked in Asian American and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities on cancer awareness collaborations and education campaigns.
• Rochelle Shoretz, JD
  Ms. Shoretz is the Founder and Executive Director of Sharsheret, a national organization of cancer survivors dedicated to addressing the unique concerns of young Jewish women facing breast cancer. Ms. Shoretz, a two-time breast cancer survivor, founded Sharsheret in 2001 to connect young Jewish women fighting breast cancer following her own diagnosis at age 28.
• Joy Simha
  Joy Simha is one of the three original Co-Founders of the Young Survival Coalition (YSC) and currently serves on their Board of Directors. YSC provides support and services to young women diagnosed with breast cancer and their families. Ms. Simha represents YSC on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC). She also serves on Integration Panel of the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program and the Consumer Coalition of the Cochrane Collaboration. Ms. Simha has been a panel member to the IOM Evidence Communication Innovation Collaborative. She currently resides in New Jersey with her husband and two children. She comes from a background of Video and Media Production and enjoys writing. Ms. Simha was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1994 at the age of 26.
• Jeanne L. Steiner, DO
  Dr. Steiner is an Associate Professor at Yale University School of Medicine. She serves as the Medical Director of the Connecticut Mental Health Center (CMHC), where she oversees programs in quality improvement, clinical risk management, and medical staff affairs. She is involved in initiatives to improve the health of individuals with serious mental illness who are served by the center and throughout the public system in Connecticut.
• Wendy Susswein
  Ms. Susswein serves on the Board of Directors of the Strathmore Hall Foundation in Montgomery County, Maryland. She was formerly a program officer and director of philanthropic outreach for the Arlington Health Foundation. She served 11 years at the Council on Foundations in several capacities, including director of affinity group and regional association services, where she oversaw the coordination of joint programming for over 30 special interest groups.
• Donald Warne, MD, MPH
  Dr. Warne is the Medical Director of the Aberdeen Area Tribal Chairmen's Health Board, as well as the former President of the Board of the Native American Community Health Center, Inc., and President and CEO of the American Indian Health Management and Policy, Inc. (AIHMP). Dr. Warne has served on numerous boards and committees and has received several awards for his contributions to minority health policy and medicine.

Ex Officio Members

• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality: Vacant
• Department of Defense: Gayle Vaday, Ph.D.
  Dr. Vaday joined the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) as a Grants Manager in January 2006 and became the Program Manager of the Breast Cancer Research Program (BCRP) in December 2006. She coordinates all aspects of the acquisition program cycle leading to the investment of congressional appropriations for the BCRP. She also oversees the Breast Cancer Research Semi-Postal funds allocated to the BCRP. She represents the Department of Defense as a member of the Interagency Breast Cancer Environmental Research Coordinating Committee. Dr. Vaday received her Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Rochester. After completing postdoctoral training as a Feinberg Fellow at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, Dr. Vaday served as a research scientist for the Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center and research assistant professor at Stony Brook University, where she conducted prostate and breast cancer research.
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women's Health: Nancy C. Lee, M.D.
  Dr. Lee is the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Health-Women’s Health and Director, Office of Women’s Health in the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She was appointed to this position in March 2011. Before her appointment, she worked from 2004–2011 as a private consultant in the areas of public health, epidemiology, and cancer control. From 1981–2004, she was employed at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, GA, in various scientific and leadership positions. In her most recent role at CDC, as Director of the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control (DCPC) from 1999–2004, Dr. Lee provided overall guidance and vision for DCPC, a division with more than 130 staff and a 2004 budget of $280 million. Her research efforts focused on cancer screening and early detection, the epidemiology of reproductive system cancers, safety of contraceptive methods, and HIV infection among American women. She has extensive experience in women’s health, cancer prevention and control, data analysis, epidemiology, and surveillance systems. She has published over 95 articles in journals. Dr. Lee received a B.A. in Mathematics (summa cum laude) from the University of Texas, and an M.D. (cum laude) from Baylor College of Medicine. She completed her residency training at the University of Pennsylvania and is board-certified in internal medicine.
• Health Resources and Services Administration: Morrisa Rice, MHA, REHS, RS
  Lieutenant Commander Rice is a senior public health analyst currently working in the Health Resources and Services Administration Office of Women's Health as a Contracting Officer's Technical Representative for the Bright Futures for Women's Health and Wellness Emotional Wellness Guides Evaluation. She has been involved in public health since 2000 in a variety of positions which include: directing a program to increase physical activity and good nutrition among minority women; food environmental sanitarian; serving as a disease intervention specialist assisting those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections.
• Indian Health Service: Susan Karol, MD
  Dr. Karol serves as the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the Indian Health Service (IHS). She is a member of the Tuscarora Indian Nation. Dr. Karol previously served in the IHS from 1988–1990 as a Lieutenant Commander in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps while holding the position of Chief of Surgery and Anesthesia at the Shiprock Indian Hospital, Shiprock, New Mexico. As the IHS CMO, Dr. Karol provides medical advice and guidance to the Office of the Director and staff on American Indian and Alaska Native health care policies and issues.
• National Institutes of Health: Jo Anne Zujewski, MD
  Dr. Zujewski is the Head of Breast Cancer Therapeutics in the Clinical Investigation Branch of the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP) of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). In this role, she is the scientific liaison and disease expert for breast cancer clinical trials sponsored by the CTEP program of the NCI. She was the founding chairperson of the Breast Cancer Faculty steering committee at NCI and a member of the planning committee for the National Institutes of Health Consensus Conference for the adjuvant treatment of breast cancer, preoperative therapy in invasive breast cancer, and the State-of-the-Science Conference for ductal carcinoma in situ.

Liaison Representative Organizations

• American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
• Avon Foundation for Women
• Black Women's Health Imperative
• LIVESTRONG
• Living Beyond Breast Cancer
• Sisters Network, Inc.
• Patient Advocate Foundation