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Nearly fifty faculty serve as mentors for the Cancer Prevention and Control Training Program through the Cancer Control and Prevention Science (CCPS) or Cancer Chemoprevention (CC) programs.

 

Primary Mentors:

CCPS

Ritu Aneja, PhD

Primary Mentor

Professor of Clinical and Diagnostic Sciences

Associate Dean for Research and Innovation

Research Interests:
Socio-biological determinants of breast cancer racial disparities

Email:
raneja@uab.edu

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CCPS

Marie Bakitas, DNSc, NP

Primary Mentor

Professor of Nursing

Research Interests:
Palliative care, disparities research, community-based participatory research (CBPR)

Email:
mbakitas@uab.edu

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CCPS

Sofia Beas Parodi, PhD

Primary Mentor

Assistant Professor of Neurobiology

Research Interests:
Elucidating the neuronal processes that guide motivation

Email:
sbeas@uab.edu

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CCPS

Smita Bhatia, MD, MPH

Primary Mentor

Professor of Pediatrics

Research Interests:
Cancer survivorship and late effects

Email:
mbakitas@uab.edu

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CCPS

Elizabeth Brown, PhD, MPH

Primary Mentor

Professor of Molecular & Cellular Pathology

Research Interests:
Epidemiology of lymphoma and multiple myeloma

Email:
elbrown@uab.edu

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CCPS

Karen Cropsey, PhD

Primary Mentor

Associate Professor of Psychology

Research Interests:
Smoking cessation interventions

Email:
kcropsey@uab.edu

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J. Nick Dionne-Odom, PhD, MSN

Primary Mentor

Assistant Professor of Nursing

Research Interests:
Palliative care research in oncology caregiving

Email:
dionneod@uab.edu

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CCPS

Gareth Dutton, PhD

Primary Mentor

Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine

Research Interests:
Weight loss interventions in high-risk populations

Email:
gdutton@uab.edu

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CCPS

Ronit Elk, PhD

Primary Mentor

Professor of Geriatrics, Gerontology & Palliative Care

Research Interests:
Palliative care, disparities research, community-based participatory research (CBPR)

Email:
elkronit@uab.edu

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CC

Craig Elmets, MD

Primary Mentor

Professor of Dermatology

Research Interests:
Chemoprevention of skin cancers

Email:
celmets@uabmc.edu

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CCPS

Kevin Fontaine, PhD

Primary Mentor

Professor of Health Behavior

Research Interests:
Lifestyle interventions in high-risk populations

Email:
kfontai1@uab.edu

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CCPS

Mona Fouad, MD, MPH

Primary Mentor

Professor of Preventive Medicine

Research Interests:
Cancer disparities

Email:
mfouad@uab.edu

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CCPS

Barbara Gower, PhD

Primary Mentor

Professor of Nutrition Sciences

Research Interests:
Dietary interventions in breast, brain and ovarian CA

Email:
bgower@uab.edu

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CCPS

Nataliya Ivankova, PhD, MPH

Primary Mentor

Professor of Health Services Administration

Research Interests:
Qualitative and mixed methods evaluation of cancer survivorship

Email:
nivankov@uab.edu

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CC

Natalia Kedishvili, PhD

Primary Mentor

Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics

Research Interests:
Retinol/sterol metabolism in chemoprevention

Email:
nkedishvili@uab.edu

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Mirjam-Colette Kempf, PhD, MPH

Primary Mentor

Professor of Nursing

Research Interests:
Women’s health in HIV disease, psychosocial determinants of infectious disease outcomes

Email:
mkempf@uab.edu

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CCPS

Wendy Landier, PhD

Primary Mentor

Professor of Anatomic Pathology

Research Interests:
Health disparities in colorectal cancer

Email:
manne@uab.edu

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CC

Upender Manne, PhD

Primary Mentor

Professor of Anatomic Pathology

Research Interests:
Health disparities in colorectal cancer

Email:
manne@uab.edu

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Ludwine Messiaen, PhD

Primary Mentor

Professor of Clinical Genetics

Research Interests:
Genotype-phenotype associations in schwannomas

Email:
lmessiaen@uab.edu

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CCPS

Donna Murdaugh, PhD

Primary Mentor

Associate Professor of Pediatric - Hematology-Oncology

Research Interests:
Understanding and improving neurocognitive outcomes in pediatric and young adult cancer survivors

Email:
dlmurdaugh@uab.edu

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CCPS

Lyse Norian, PhD

Primary Mentor

Associate Professor of Nutrition Sciences

Research Interests:
Immuno-modulating lifestyle interventions

Email:
lnorian@uab.edu

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CCPS

Dorothy Pekmezi, PhD

Primary Mentor

Associate Professor of Nutrition Sciences

Research Interests:
Immuno-modulating lifestyle interventions

Email:
lnorian@uab.edu

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CCPS

Maria Pisu, PhD

Primary Mentor

Professor of Preventive Medicine

Research Interests:
Health economics, financial toxicity in cancer patients

Email:
mpisu@uab.edu

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CC

Jeevan Prasain, PhD

Primary Mentor

Associate Professor of Pharmacology & Toxicology

Research Interests:
Bioactive dietary natural products in the prevention of cancer

Email:
jprasain@uab.edu 

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CCPS

Gabrielle Rocque, MD

Primary Mentor

Assistant Professor of Hematology & Oncology

Research Interests:
Enhancing shared decision making in metastatic breast cancer

Email:
grocque@uab.edu

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CCPS

Laura Rogers, MD, MPH

Primary Mentor

Professor of Nutrition Sciences

Research Interests:
Physical activity interventions in cancer survivors

Email:
rogersl@uab.edu 

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CCPS

Isabel Scarinci, PhD

Primary Mentor

Professor of Preventive Medicine

Research Interests:
Prevention in high-risk populations and global health

Email:
scarinci@uab.edu

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James Shikany, DrPH

Primary Mentor

Professor of Preventive Medicine

Research Interests:
Diet, dietary patterns and cancer

Email:
jshikany@dopm.uab.edu

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CCPS

Ellen Smith, PhD, MSN, RN

Primary Mentor

Professor of Nursing, Acute, Chronic and Continuing Care

Assistant Dean for Research and Scholarship

Research Interests:
Interventions for chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy

Email:
esmith3@uab.edu

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CC

Trygve Tollefsbol, PhD, DO

Primary Mentor

Professor of Biology

Research Interests:
Epigenetic modulation of cancer risk via botanicals and functional foods

Email:
trygve@uab.edu

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Ursula Wesselmann, MD, PhD

Primary Mentor

Professor of Anaesthesiology

Research Interests:
Pain in cancer patients and survivors

Email:
ursulawesselmann@uabmc.edu

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Julie Wolfson, MD

Primary Mentor

Assistant Professor of Hematology & Oncology

Research Interests:
Health services research in childhood cancer survivors

Email:
wolfsonj@uab.edu

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CC

Nabiha Yusuf, PhD, MPH

Primary Mentor

Associate Professor of Dermatology

Research Interests:
Interferon prevention of photo-carcinogenesis

Email:
nabiha@uab.edu

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CCPS

Lisa Zubkoff, PhD

Primary Mentor

Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine

Research Interests:
Developing and testing implementation strategies to improve the uptake of evidence-based practices

Email:
lzubkoff@uab.edu

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Secondary Mentors:

CC

Farrukh Afaq, PhD

Secondary Mentor

Assistant Professor of Dermatology

Research Interests:
Photocarcinogenesis, photoaging and other hyperproliferative and inflammatory skin diseases

Email:
farrukhafaq@uabmc.edu

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CC

Venkatram Atigadda, PhD

Secondary Mentor

Assistant Professor of Chemistry

Research Interests:
Design and development of novel rexinoids, retinoids and their mechanistic studies

Email:
venkatra@uab.edu

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CC

Tatjana Coric, PhD

Secondary Mentor

Assistant Professor of Pharmacology & Toxicology

Research Interests:
Cancer prevention, chemotherapeutics, non-coding RNAs, high-throughput screening

Email:
tcoric@uab.edu 

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Kelly Kenzik, PhD, MS

Secondary Mentor

Assistant Professor of Hematology & Oncology

Research Interests:
Impact of cancer diagnoses on patient-reported outcomes, morbidity, mortality and health care utilization

Email:
kkenzik@uab.edu

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Sadeep Shrestha, PhD

Secondary Mentor

Associate Professor of Public Health

Research Interests:
Cancer control, racial disparities, HPV, head and neck cancers

Email:
sshrestha@uab.edu

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CCPS

Kristen Triebel, PhD

Secondary Mentor

Associate Professor of Medicine

Research Interests:
Decision making in brain cancer patients

Email:
kgerstenecker@uabmc.edu

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CCPS

John Waterbor, MD

Secondary Mentor

Associate Professor of Epidemiology

Research Interests:
Cancer epidemiology, cancer clusters

Email:
h2obor@uab.edu

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Grant Williams, MD

Secondary Mentor

Assistant Professor of Hematology & Oncology

Research Interests:
Sarcopenia and age-related conditions in cancer survivors

Email:
gwillia@uab.edu

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