Pre-Doctoral Student, Department of Health Services Administration, School of Health Professions, UAB

Mentor: Soumya J. Niranjan, M.S., Ph.D., BPharm
Assistant Professor, Department of Health Services Administration, School of Health Professions, UAB

Pre-Doctoral Student, Department of Health Policy and Organization, School of Public Health, UAB

Mentor: Soumya J. Niranjan, M.S., Ph.D., BPharm
Assistant Professor, Department of Health Services Administration, School of Health Professions, UAB

Post-Doctoral Fellow, Cancer Prevention and Control T32; Division of General Internal Medicine and Population Science, Department of Medicine, Heersink School of Medicine, UAB

Mentor: Timiya S. Nolan, Ph.D., APRN-CNP, ANP-BC, FAAN
Associate Professor, Division of General Internal Medicine and Population Science, Department of Medicine, Heersink School of Medicine, UAB

Post-Doctoral Fellow, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, UAB

Mentor: Rebecca C. Arend, M.D., MSPH
Associate Professor, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, UAB

Pre-Doctoral Student, Heersink School of Medicine, UAB

Mentor: Kimberly E. Kopecky, M.D., MSCI
Assistant Professor, Division of Surgical Oncology, Department of Surgery, UAB

Clinical Research Assistant, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, UAB

Mentor: Rebecca C. Arend, M.D., MSPH
Assistant Professor, Division of Surgical Oncology, Department of Surgery, UAB

Pre-Doctoral Student, Heersink School of Medicine, UAB

Mentor: Kimberly E. Kopecky, M.D., MSCI
Assistant Professor, Division of Surgical Oncology, Department of Surgery, UAB

Pre-Doctoral Student, Heersink School of Medicine, UAB

Mentor: Nicole L. Henderson, Ph.D., MPH
Assistant Professor, Division of Hematology & Oncology, Department of Medicine, UAB

Clinical Data Analyst, Division of General Internal Medicine and Population Science, Department of Medicine, UAB

Mentor: Rebecca C. Arend, M.D., MSPH
Associate Professor, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, UAB

Pre-Doctoral Student, Pathobiology, Pharmacology, & Physiology Theme, Graduate Biomedical Sciences, UAB

Mentor: William Marsiglia, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Genetics Research Division, Academic Joint Departments, UAB

DeBran Tarver, Ph.D., MPH
Senior Director, Research, The Black Women’s Health Imperative

Lori Bateman, Ph.D., R.D.
Associate Professor, Division of General Internal Medicine & Population Science, Department of Medicine, UAB

Pre-Doctoral Student, Heersink School of Medicine

Mentor: Noha Sharafeldin, MBBCh, M.Sc., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Division of Hematology & Oncology, Department of Medicine, Heersink School of Medicine, UAB

Director, UAB O’Neal Cancer Center

Barry Sleckman is currently a Professor of Medicine and the Director of the UAB O’Neal Cancer Center. Sleckman has been elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians, and he is a fellow in the American Academy for the Advancement of Science.

Associate Director of Community Outreach and Engagement, UAB O’Neal Cancer Center

Megan Word is a registered dietitian at the UAB Weight Loss Medicine Clinic and a third-year doctoral student in Nutrition Sciences at the UAB Heersink School of Medicine and Associate Director for Community Outreach and Engagement at the UAB O’Neal Cancer Center.

Mayor, City of Hoover, Alabama

Nicholas C. Derzis currently serves as the Mayor of Hoover, Alabama, having assumed office on November 3, 2025. He is committed to putting residents first; ensuring public safety; promoting economic growth; and maintaining transparent, accountable city government.

State of Alabama Health Officer

Scott Harris, M.D., MPH, was appointed Acting State Health Officer for the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) in September 2017 and formally designated as Alabama’s 12th State Health Officer in February 2018.

Pastor, Greater New Heights Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama

Pastor Alphonso D. Bowen is a Southern gospel quartet singer and the pastor of Greater New Heights Missionary Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. He is well-known for his passionate preaching and traditional gospel recordings.

Owner andSenior Engagement Consultant, INGAGE & Associate Consulting, LLC.

Claudia M. Hardy, B.A, MPA, is the founder and Senior Engagement Consultant for INGAGE and Associate Consulting LLC. INGAGE is designed to support organizations and individuals in developing community-driven strategies to improve health outcomes. Ms. Hardy is a retired, distinguished public health leader with more than 30 years; she previously served as the Director of Community Health Access and Relations at the UAB O’Neal Cancer Center.

Regional Lead / County Coordinator, UAB O’Neal Cancer Center

Founder and President, Community Health is Wealth

Milinda King is the founder and president of Community Health is Wealth, a a vital community resource that actively improves the lives of Vance County residents through comprehensive fitness and wellness programs.

Professor, UAB Heersink School of Medicine

Laura Rogers is a Professor in the UAB Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine and Population Science. She is also a Senior Scientist in the UAB O’Neal Cancer Center, and she co-leads the Cancer Center’s Cancer Control and Population Sciences Research Program.

Registered Dietitian, UAB Weight Loss Medicine Clinic

Megan Word is a registered dietitian at the UAB Weight Loss Medicine Clinic and a third-year doctoral student in Nutrition Sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Founder and CEO, Roots 2 Harvest

Dr. Amanda D. Clark is bridging the gap between metropolitan food deserts and sustainable agriculture, one heritage vegetable at a time. Today, through From Roots2Harvest LLC and the Roots2Harvest Foundation, she and her colleagues are building models that address food access and local food systems while preserving Southern heritage crop varieties for future generations.

Associate Professor, UAB Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuro-biology

Dr. S. Justin Thomas is an Associate Professor in the UAB Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neurobiology. He serves as Director of the UAB Behavioral Sleep Medicine Clinic and Training Program, which provides both pediatric and adult behavioral sleep medicine clinical services.

Director, UAB Arts in Medicine (AIM)

Kimberly Kirklin is Senior Director of UAB Arts in Medicine and an Assistant Professor in the UAB Department of Occupational Therapy. Her work and research interests include creative approaches to mental health, healthy aging, chronic illness, disability, and community-engaged health promotion.

Associate Professor, UAB Pulmonology, Sleep Medicine

Puneet Aulakh, M.D., completed her initial medical training at India’s Safdarjung Hospital, followed by her MD training at Odessa National Medical University. She then continued her training by completing an internship, residency, and fellowship at Augusta University’s Medical College, where she was chief fellow.

Assistant Professor, UAB School of Public Health

Blake Buchalter, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the UAB School of Public Health. His current work emphasizes geographic study of cancer disparities, causes of colorectal cancer in young people, and quantifying neighborhood-level access to health care providers.

Associate Scientist, UAB O’Neal Cancer Center

Andrea Comba, Ph.D., is an Associate Scientist in the Neuro-Oncology Program at the UAB O’Neal Cancer Center and the Comprehensive Neuroscience Center. She also serves as Director of the Brain Tumor Tissue Biorepository and co-directs the Brain Tumor Research in Progress (BRAIN TRIP) initiative, contributing to the institutional neuro-oncology program.

Assistant Professor, UAB Biomedical Engineering

Dr. Mary Kathryn “M.K.” Sewell-Loftin is an Assistant Professor in the UAB Department of Biomedical Engineering, and she also serves as an Associate Scientist at the UAB O’Neal Cancer Center. Dr. Sewell-Loftin’s research investigates biomechanical regulation within 3D tissues to understand fundamental cellular behaviors, with particular expertise in cancer mechanobiology.

Assistant Professor, UAB Department of Surgery

Rachael Guenter, Ph.D., investigates the molecular mechanisms of neuroendocrine cancer and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma to develop novel therapeutic strategies. Dr. Guenter has a track record of publishing on strategies to improve the detection of neuroendocrine tumors.

Associate Professor, UAB Pathology; Associate Director for Faculty Advancement, UAB O’Neal Cancer Center

Natalie R. Gassman, Ph.D., is an associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology at UAB with joint appointments in Nutrition Sciences and at the O’Neal Cancer Center, and her work focuses on characterizing how environmental exposures influence DNA repair and how DNA repair proteins are altered or modified in the context of cancer.

Professor, UAB Molecular and Cellular Biology

Sooryanarayana Varambally, Ph.D., MBA, is a professor in the UAB Department of Biomedical Informatics and Data Science, as well as a scientist in the UAB O’Neal Cancer Center. His research focus is to understand the molecular basis of cancer using integrative genomic, epigenetic, proteomic and cancer biology approach.

Assistant Professor, UAB Heersink School of Medicine

Kelly Palmer is an Assistant Professor of General Internal Medicine and Population Science. Her work focuses on developing and implementing contextually tailored, community-engaged interventions to prevent chronic disease in underserved populations. Dr. Palmer’s overarching goal is to reduce health disparities through interventions that are both responsive to community needs and scalable within healthcare and community settings.

Associate Professor, UAB Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine

Gabriela Oates, Ph.D., is a social epidemiologist with expertise in social determinants of health and experience in observational and interventional studies focused on patient and community health outcomes.

Assistant Professor, UAB Heersink School of Medicine

Chloe Taub is an Assistant Professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Population Science at the UAB Heersink School of Medicine and Associate Member of the UAB O’Neal Cancer Center. Her research focuses on psychosocial coping and symptom management interventions to improve mental and physical health.

Associate Professor, UAB Gynecology Oncology; Associate Director for Clinical Research, UAB O’Neal Cancer Center

Rebecca C. Arend, M.D., MPH, is the Associate Director for Clinical Trials at the UAB O’Neal Cancer Center. She is additionally the Endowed Professor of Gynecologic Oncology in the UAB Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Chief of Oncology, UAB Heersink School of Medicine

Mehmet Akce, M.D., serves as Interim Chief of Oncology, Director of Phase I and Precision Medicine Program at UAB and Associate Director of Hugh Kaul Precision Medicine Institute in the UAB Heersink School of Medicine.

Vice Chair, Researach, UAB Radiation Oncology

Christopher D. Wiley, M.D., Ph.D., is the Hale-Stephens ROAR Endowed Chair for Distinctive Radiation Research and the Vice Chair of Research in the UAB Department of Radiation Oncology. He is also a physician-scientist in the UAB O’Neal Cancer Center, with clinical expertise is in central nervous system, head and neck, and lung malignancies using fractionated and radiosurgery techniques.

Associate Professor, UAB Cell, Developmental, and Integrative Biology

Braden McFarland, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor who studies brain cancer and teaches future scientists and healthcare professionals. McFarland runs a research lab focused on studying how bacteria in the gut (the gut microbiome) can influence brain cancer growth and how patients respond to treatment. Her work aims to improve understanding of brain cancer and help guide better therapies in the future.

Associate Professor, UAB Neurology

Rebecca Brown, M.D., Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Neuro-Oncology at UAB, as well as the Director of the UAB Neurofibromatosis and Schwannomatosis Program.

Assistant Professor, UAB Gastroenterology

Patricia Ajayi-Fox M.D., is a general gastroenterologist with an interest in addressing health disparities and improving Colorectal Cancer Screening. She is specifically interested in the role health literacy plays in patient’s understanding of the need for colon cancer screening, and also the role in adequately completing bowel preparation.

Program Coordinator, Rumpshaker Inc.

Jacqueline has been a dedicated member of Rumpshaker Inc. for the past 12 years, bringing both professional expertise and personal passion to the organization’s mission.

Health Services Administrator, Alabama Department of Public Health

Stephen Walker Jaye is a healthcare administrator with the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) who is committed to improving the quality and delivery of health services across Alabama.

Associate Professor and Surgeon-Scientist, UAB Otolaryngology

Anne Kane, MD, FACS, is an Associate Professor in the UAB Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery and a surgeon-scientist specializing in head and neck surgical oncology and microvascular reconstruction. She provides advanced surgical care for patients with head and neck cancers, including minimally invasive procedures.

Director, UAB Division of Global and Rural Health, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Isabel Scarinci is a Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UAB, where she also serves as the Founding Director in the Division for Global and Rural Health and as Senior Advisor for Global Cancer at the O’Neal Cancer Center. She has dedicated her career to cervical cancer prevention and control among underserved populations in rural U.S. and low- and middle-income countries.

Executive Director and Founder, SistersCANcervive

Taliesha L. Cash is the Executive Director and Founder of Sisterscancervive.org, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring that no sister walks the cancer journey alone. With more than 30 years of healthcare experience serving as a Director of Billing for multiple surgery centers, Taliesha is a passionate community leader, speaker, and patient advocate.

Assistant Professor, UAB

Nicole Henderson is a medical anthropologist and health services researcher who is strongly committed to improving the quality of care that all patients with cancer receive by bridging the gap between local and biomedical cultures. Her primary research interests relate to the role of culture in medicine and medical research.

Senior Manager, Community Outreach, USA Health Mitchell Cancer Institute

Janel Lowman, MHA has over a decade’s worth of experience in community outreach and education at the University of South Alabama, beginning her career as a Certified Asthma Educator and Coordinator of the University’s BreathMobile. Ms. Lowman maintains an active academic research agenda, presenting papers at conferences and publishing in outlets such as the Journal of Applied Social Science.

Founder and CEO, Wellness 4 Life LLC.

Marshelle Harris NBC-HWC is the founder and CEO of Wellness 4 Life LLC., a digital health and wellness coaching and consulting company. Her work bridges science, advocacy, and compassionate support, equipping individuals with the tools they need to move from surviving to thriving.

Cancer Program Manager, The Center for Black Health & Equity

Bryce Kahari oversees and coordinates the planning, implementation, and evaluation of cancer initiatives within The Center for Black Health & Equity’s Tobacco and Cancer programs.

Program Coordinator, UAB O’Neal Cancer Center

Kimberly Braden is the Program Coordinator for Jefferson County in O’Neal Cancer Center’s Office of Outreach and Engagement. She has more than 35 years of experience as a team lead, a certified Project Manager and non-profit consulting. She has worked in Community Outreach since 2014 and her efforts have earned her a Certificate of Recognition from Congress.

Associate Professor, UAB Medicine, General Internal Medicine & Population Science

Lori Brand Bateman, Ph.D., R.D., an Associate Professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Population Science at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), is a medical sociologist and registered dietitian. Her research examines health and illness in the context of social structure, focusing on health disparities, how social determinants shape health (SDOH) and well-being, and community engaged interventions to improve health outcomes.

Cancer Awareness Advocate, Prostate Cancer Awareness Network

Senator, District 24, State of Mississippi

Elected in December 2025, Justin Pope serves as the Mississippi State Senator for District 24 and brings a strong commitment to public service and community advancement.

Associate Professor, UAB Department of Family & Community Medicine

Ian D. McKeag, MD, MS, CAQSM, is an Associate Professor in the UAB Department of Family & Community Medicine and serves as Program Director of the Cahaba – UAB Sports & Exercise Medicine Fellowship.

Associate Scientist, UAB O’Neal Cancer Center; Assistant Professor UAB Heersink School of Medicine, Radiation Oncology Chair Office

Dr. Neil Pfister, assistant professor of radiation oncology at UAB, is an oncologist with broad expertise in clinical implementation of translational research. Has spearheaded multiple clinical phase projects across several cancer types with focus on novel implementations of multiomics technologies for patient selection/stratification.

Director of Evaluation and Special Projects, UAB Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences

Cari Oliver spent 13 years shaping ethical research as Assistant Director of the Institutional Review Board at UAB. Today, she serves as Program Director for Evaluation & Special Projects at the Center for Clinical and Translational Science, where special projects is less a category and more a playground for innovation.

Executive Director, Pinktopps Inc.

Raque’l Smith is the Founder and Executive Director of Pinktopps Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering young breast cancer survivors through awareness, education,wellness, advocacy, and supportive services.

Founder, The Watkins Group

The Rev. Dr. Tommie Lee Watkins Jr. is a Behavioral Health Social Worker who graduated from the University of Alabama School of Social Work in May 2009 and licensed as an LMSW in August of the same year. He also is a spiritual director, spiritual counselor, and licensed multi-engine rated commercial pilot.

Associate Professor, UAB School of Nursing

J. Nicholas Odom, Ph.D., R.N., is an Associate Professor and the Doreen C. Harper Endowed Chair of Nursing in the UAB School of Nursing and a Co-Program Leader of Cancer Control and Populations Sciences in the UAB O’Neal Cancer Center.

Oncology Nurse Navigator, UAB Medicine

Christyna Malone-Frazier is an Oncology Nurse Navigator with the Gastrointestinal Oncology team at the UAB O’Neal Cancer Center. She assist patients to establish care at UAB, facilitates starting treatments, organizes patients’ care, and provides support for patients and their families.