The Research Evangelist

On today's episode, meet Dr. Sami Diab. Dr. Diab is a Medical Oncologist and Medical Director of Lone Tree Oncology, part of the University of Colorado Health System. He attended medical school at Damascus University, in Damascus, Syria followed by residency at Wayne State University, in Detroit, MI. He did his fellowship in Medical Oncology at the University of Texas, MD Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute, in Houston and a fellowship in Integrative Medicine, at the University of Arizona.  Dr. Ross Camidge calls him "arguably one of the most informed general oncologists I know."

On today's episode, meet Dr. Ross Camidge. Dr. Camidge has been the Director of the Thoracic Oncology Clinical and Clinical Research Programs at the University of Colorado since 2007. He earned his medical degree from University of Oxford, and his PhD from University of Cambridge after receiving his undergraduate degree at Oxford University. Beyond the medicine, Dr. Camidge and all members of his team also believe they should look after every patient, and their friends and family, as they would want their own friends and family to be looked after.

On today's episode, meet Josh Bergren. Josh is Director of Advocacy and Professional Relations at Pfizer Oncology. He has been with Pfizer for 15 years and is passionate about advocacy, precision medicine, health literacy, cancer finances and biomarkers. He is one of the good guys in pharma whose approach to his work is aligned with his core values. Josh received his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management and Marketing from the University of Rhode Island. 

On today's episode, meet Dr. Ella Kazerooni. She is Professor of Radiology and Internal Medicine, and serves as the Associate Chief Clinical Officer for the Diagnostic and Clinical Information Oversight Team within the University of Michigan Medical Group (UMMG). She received her medical degree and completed her diagnostic radiology residency at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School before joining the faculty at the University of Michigan.

On today's episode, meet Dr. Jasleen Pannu. Dr. Pannu is an Interventional Pulmonologist. She is Director of Interventional Pulmonology Translational Research at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. She received her medical degree from Goa Medical College, in Panaji India. Dr. Pannu did her residency at Western Reserve Care System in Youngstown, OH and did fellowships at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, Bridgeport Hospital in Bridgeport, CT and Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN.

On today's episode, meet Renee Iacona. Renee is Vice President, Oncology Biometrics, Oncology R&D at AstraZeneca. In her current role, Renee oversees biometrics for the entire Oncology portfolio, across early and late development stages, encompassing statistics, programming, statistical innovation, data science, and information science teams. Another amazing human.

On today's episode, we catch up with thoracic oncologist Dr. Narjust Florez. Since the last time we spoke to her she has moved to Boston to assume the role of Associate Director, Cancer Care Equity Program at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Apart from her clinical interests in lung cancer, she is also a leading researcher in cancer health disparities, gender and racial discrimination in medical education and medicine. Listen to our previous conversation with Dr. Florez here.

On today's episode, meet Rita Ribeiro. Rita is a bi-lingual leader with broad multi-cultural and health equity experience. She is currently the Product Director, Lung at The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). Before joining JNJ, Rita held multiple roles in Sales and marketing at Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Abbott Diagnostics and Bristol Myers Squibb company. Rita has a bachelor’s degree in Management from Pace University, a Master’s in Business Administration in Marketing Management from Pace Lubin School of Business and a Strategic Marketing Certificate from Columbia University in New York.

She holds leadership roles with community not-for profit organizations including president of the board of directors of the United Way of greater Mercer County, the first Latina to hold the position. Her non-profit work is focused on community health, economic development, and gender parity.

On today's episode, meet John Connolly, PhD. John is the Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) at the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI), where he designs and executes PICI’s overall research strategy in close collaboration with the institute’s leadership team, center directors and scientific steering committee. Dr. Connolly previously served as CSO of Tessa Therapeutics, a clinical stage cell therapy company focused on solid tumor immunotherapy, and one of PICI’s strategic partners. He is an associate professor at National University of Singapore and an adjunct associate professor of immunology at Baylor University. Dr. Connolly received his PhD in Immunology from Dartmouth Medical School and studied human dendritic cell biology under Dr. Michael Fanger.

On today's episode, meet Dr. Chi-Fu Jeffrey Yang. Dr. Yang is a thoracic surgeon and researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital. He received his bachelor's degree in biochemistry from Harvard College and his medical degree at Harvard Medical School. He completed his general surgery residency at Duke University and cardiothoracic surgery fellowship at Stanford University Medical Center. Dr. Yang is also focused on raising awareness of lung cancer screening. He started the American Lung Cancer Screening Initiative, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, which has worked with communities across 50 states to highlight the importance of lung cancer screening.