Dina Lansey is an Assistant Professor of Oncology in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and serves as the Assistant Director for Clinical Research and Population Sciences at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Dina has led SKCCC efforts to improve the inclusion of women, minorities, and other underrepresented patient groups in clinical trials since 2012. Her efforts to understanding barriers to trial participation as they appear in practice and to develop interventions to address them through research, policy changes, education, patient supportive care services and community outreach and engagement have led to significant declines in long standing trial participation disparities at the Center. Today, her work also includes identifying and addressing the socioeconomic, environmental and structural barriers that influence disparities in cancer risk reduction, screening and access to treatment.

Dina received her B.S.N from the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and M.S.N from Drexel University. She is currently a doctoral candidate at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her dissertation is focused on environmental justice and its influence on cancer health disparities.

Kenan Onel, MD, PhD, is a Professor of Oncology at the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, where he leads the new Department of Clinical Genomics and is founding Director of the Center for Precision Oncology and Cancer Prevention. Dr Onel is a physician/scientist who studies the genetic contribution to cancer risk and response to therapy. As a physician, he is Board-certified in Pediatric Oncology and has spent his career as a clinical cancer geneticist caring for families at high risk for cancer due to their genetics or family history. As a scientist, he is known internationally for his work on the genetic contribution to cancer risk and response to therapy and is recognized as a leader in functional genomics, an emerging field integrating genetic and laboratory investigations that is yielding profound new insights into human health and disease. He has a long history of NIH and foundation funding, and has published almost 100 articles, reviews, and book chapters.

Dr. Luis Carvajal-Carmona is the Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Diversity and a Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine at the University of California at Davis (UCD). He holds the Auburn Community Cancer Endowed Chair in Basic Science. He serves as the Center for Advancing Cancer Health Director and co-director of the Community Engagement Program at the Clinical and Translational Science Center.  Dr. Carvajal-Carmona obtained his Ph.D. from University College London, completed postdoctoral training at the London Research Institute, and was a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford. Dr. Carvajal-Carmona specializes in cancer genetics, epidemiology, health disparities, and global health. He has discovered multiple cancer genes and has published over 100 research manuscripts. His main contributions to science include the elucidation of the genetic origins of Latino populations, discovering the first common variants increasing the risk of colorectal cancer, and identifying a novel familial form of gastric cancer.

As a Triple Negative Breast Cancer Survivor/Thriver, Ricki’s personal purpose, passion, mission, ministry, and blessing is to bring focus, attention, research, science, and action to eradicating Black Breast Cancer, and supporting and coaching what she calls her “Blessties” through their breast cancer experience. Ricki is an award-winning seasoned marketing veteran that has transformed her strategic acumen into breast cancer advocacy. Ricki co-founded and serves as CEO of TOUCH, The Black Breast Cancer Alliance to address Black Breast Cancer as a unique and special disease state, with the overall goal of reducing the mortality rate for Black women. Ricki founded and serves as co-host for “The Doctor Is In,” a weekly live breast cancer advocacy web series on the BlackDoctor.org Facebook page that reaches over 3 million viewers. She is a founding member of #BlackDataMatters, in partnership with Ciitizen, The Center for Health Care Innovation and Morehouse School of Medicine to encourage and elevate the importance of Black Women participating in clinical trial research. In January 2022, she started the When We Tri(al) Movement to change the game on Black women participating in clinical trials to improve outcomes for Black women with breast cancer. The Movement has resulted in over 17,000 Black women in clinical trial portals in the past year. In January 2023, she founded the For The Love of My Gurls Campaign to drive awareness and action, now having reached over 375,000 young Black women. In 2023, she launched the first ever advocacy led nurse navigator outreach program for pharmaceutical company clinical trials to elevate the inclusion and participation of Black women. Ricki is a board member for Xeris Biopharma. She is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation, and a board member for the Center for Healthcare Innovation. Ricki serves on the President’s Cancer Panel: Innovative Navigation Models Workgroup, and the American Cancer Society National Breast Cancer Roundtable Steering Committee where she serves as co-leader for the Clinical Trials Work Group and the Roundtable Membership Committee. She serves on the National Minority Quality Forum Cancer Stage Shifting Initiative Scientific Advisory Board, Cancer X Workgroups, is a Consumer Reviewer for the Breast Cancer Research Program, and a member of the FDA Patient Engagement Collaborative. Ricki is in the Executive Group of the Metastatic Breast Cancer Alliance. Ricki serves on the Daichii Sankyo Global Advocacy Leaders Think Tank Steering Committee, the Pfizer Breast Cancer Advocacy Steering Committee, and the Astrazeneca Breast Cancer Forum. She is an Ambassador for the Novartis More Than Just Words Campaign and serves on the Novartis US Breast Patient Insight Panel. Ricki is on the leadership team of the BOW Collective and member of The Links, Inc. She speaks avidly as a Patient Advocate.

Dr. Kimmie Ng is Associate Chief of the Division of Gastrointestinal Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She also serves as the Founding Director of the Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer Center and Co-Director of the Colon and Rectal Cancer Center at DFCI. Her research focuses on identifying dietary, plasma, and molecular predictors of improved survival in patients with colorectal cancer, with a special interest in the vitamin D pathway, microbiome, and young-onset colorectal cancer. She is the recipient of numerous NIH, foundation, and industry grants to support this work. She chaired the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Scientific Program Committee for the 2023 Annual Meeting and currently serves as a member of ASCO’s Nominating Committee. She was appointed an Associate Editor of JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) in February 2024. She has been featured in multiple national media outlets, including the TODAY Show, ABC News, The New York Times, CNN, and The Washington Post, to raise awareness of young-onset colorectal cancer and the importance of cancer screening. Dr. Ng obtained her Bachelor of Science degree with Distinction from Yale University and her Doctor of Medicine degree from University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. She completed a residency in internal medicine at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and a medical oncology fellowship at Dana-Farber/Partners Cancer Care. She subsequently received a Master of Public Health degree from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Nelli Zafman is a nurse practitioner and holds a Master of Science in Nursing degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing. She has been working at Sydney Kimmel Cancer Canter, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, for the last 18 years. Part of her career there she has been taking care of women and men with a history of early and metastatic breast cancer. Ms. Zafman is ANCC certified and holds an Advanced Oncology Certified Nurse Practitioner, ONS certification. She has also been participating in therapeutic studies looking at management of early-stage as well as late-stage breast cancer. 

The Williams Group is led by Michael “Mike” Williams. Mr. Williams has more than two decades of experience in business advocacy and strategic communication, as well as federal and state government service. Prior to founding The Williams Group, he was a managing director of Credit Suisse in the Public Policy Americas division. Mr. Williams served as special assistant to the president and staff Director for legislative affairs during the Clinton administration. He has worked in numerous election campaigns at all levels and has served as a congressional liaison for the National Democratic Convention for over 14 years.