Jennifer Bail, Dr. Marie Bakitas, Victoria Williams, Roman Johnson and Dr. Wendy Demark-Wahnefried.
Postdoctoral fellow:
Jennifer Bail, PhD, RN
Dr. Jennifer Bail is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Nutrition Sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) under the mentorship of Dr. Wendy Demark-Wahnefried. Jennifer’s 10-year career as a systems analyst took a turn when she lost her mother and father to metastatic cancer, events that inspired her to pursue her PhD in Nursing and a career in cancer survivorship research. Jennifer’s long-term career goal is to become a leading independent nurse scientist in an academic health science center conducting novel intervention strategies to instill hope and improve quality of life among metastatic cancer survivors.
Predoctoral fellows:
Roman Johnson
Roman Johnson is a Predoctoral Fellow in the Cancer Prevention and Control Training Program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) under the mentorship of Dr. Ronit Elk. Roman’s research focuses on minority cancer prevention outcomes, survivorship, and translational science. Roman’s training in African-American studies and health decision-making research led him to explore people of color’s cancer care service delivery obstacles. This motivated him to pursue a PhD in Medical Sociology and a research career in cancer prevention research. For his long-term career goals, he plans to pursue a research professorship at a cancer care research university where he can analyze cancer prevention patient outcomes and translate his findings to community intervention projects for underserved communities.
Victoria Williams
Victoria Williams is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Public Health’s Department of Health Behavior at the University of Alabama at Birmingham under the mentorship of Dr. Kevin Fontaine and Dr. Dori Pekmezi. As a graduate research assistant (GRA) with the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, Victoria assisted with developing and testing a pilot healthy lifestyle website for cancer survivors, SurvivorSHINE, which will serve as her dissertation project. With multiple cancer survivors in her family, Victoria is especially invested in primary cancer prevention as well as helping cancer survivors adopt healthy lifestyles. Specifically, Victoria’s primary research interests include using technology (gamification) and community-based interventions to improve lifestyle behaviors, prevent cancer, reduce recurrence in survivors, and eliminate related health disparities. After graduating from the doctoral program, Victoria plans to pursue a cancer-related post-doctoral fellowship with the ultimate goal of becoming an independent investigator and faculty member at a premier research institution.
