Experience of Diverse Physicians / PIs in Clinical Research
11/16/2021
Despite many diversity initiatives over the past 10 years, a lack of meaningful representation of certain racial and ethnic minorities continues in the oncology workforce. A diverse workforce allows oncology care providers to engage and increase participation among patients and build trust within various communities. In this session, a diverse panel of physicians/PIs will discuss from their perspectives and experiences, the challenges that they face providing care. The goal of this session is to create a safe space for courageous and necessary conversations to share lived experiences and ways to improve access to care for racial and ethnic minority patients, greater patient choice and satisfaction, and better patient-provider communication.
Moderator
Lorena Kuri
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Lorena Kuri
Head of Diversity Strategy, Bristol Myers Squibb
As the Head of Diversity Strategy at Bristol Myers Squibb, Lorena leads the diversity in clinical trials efforts since 2019, with the objective of recruiting a patient population that reflect both the demographics of the real world and represent the epidemiology of the disease being studied.
Prior to working at BMS, she spent several years in the Latin America and Canada Region in Novartis, where she started her career in Pharma back in Mexico over 15 years ago.
As a strong inclusion advocate, she leverages her experience, intersectionality, and personal purpose, as well as the roles she holds at organizations such as WOCIP, the RedShoeMovement and her hometown Diversity Committee to build an inclusive culture that values differences and serves ALL populations.
Lorena was awarded the 2020 PEOPLE EN ESPANOL MAGAZINE Recognition: “Las 25 mujeres mas poderosas” celebrating women who have made a difference empowering others.
Speakers
Dr. Isabel Preeshagul
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Dr. Isabel Preeshagul
Assistant Attending, Thoracic Oncology Service, MSK Cancer Center
Dr. Isabel Preeshagul is an assistant attending on the thoracic medical oncology service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Her main research focus is on predictive /prognostic biomarkers for response to immunotherapy and targeted therapies. She has a passion for patient advocacy, education, and identifying/addressing health care disparities.
Dr. Preeshagul received her Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine and a Master of Biomedical Sciences (MBS) from Rutgers University School of Biomedical Sciences. She completed her Residency in Internal Medicine from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai-Mount Sinai Beth Israel, and her Fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at North Shore University Hospital-Long Island Jewish Medical Center-Northwell Health.
Dr. Estelamari Rodriguez, AD
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Dr. Estelamari Rodriguez, AD
Community Outreach & Co-Lead, Thoracic Site Disease Group, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center
Dr. Estelamari Rodriguez is Associate Director of Community Outreach and Co-Lead of the Thoracic Site Disease Group of the NCI-designated Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. She has a special interest in the early phase clinical trials and is an active member of the Experimental Therapeutics Program at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Dr. Rodriguez received her bachelors degree from Columbia College and her medical degree from State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate College of Medicine. She completed her internal medicine residency at Columbia University’s New York-Presbyterian Hospital and her medical oncology fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Rodriguez also has a master’s degree in Public Health from the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain. She has given numerous lectures as invited speaker on issues related to lung cancer and healthcare disparities.
Dr. Sadhana Jackson
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Dr. Sadhana Jackson
Pediatric Neuro-oncologist, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and NIH
Dr. Sadhana Jackson is a board-certified pediatrician and pediatric hematologist/oncologist with clinical expertise and research efforts related to the blood-brain barrier and malignant glioma. Dr. Jackson’s clinical practice focuses on enhancing drug delivery of systemic agents for pediatric malignant brain tumor patients to improve treatment response and survival.
Dr. Jackson is a driven clinician-scientist with an enthusiasm for research, a commitment to inspiring youth to pursue careers in STEM, and a passion for achieving racial equity within the biomedical field. Her passion for science stems from an early love of astronomy and chemistry linked with her personal journey as a thyroid cancer survivor. This experience deeply influences her empathy towards patients/patient families, motivates her cancer research studies and compels her to ensure equity, diversity and inclusion is paramount within STEM.
She attended Hampton University where she received her Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology and then obtained her MD from Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS). Dr. Jackson subsequently completed a residency in Pediatrics at Orlando Health and then completed a three-year fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Additionally, she completed a two-year joint fellowship in pediatric neuro-oncology and clinical pharmacology at Johns Hopkins Medical Institute before being selected as an NCI Assistant Clinical Investigator in the Clinical Investigator Development Program in 2015. In 2018 she was selected as an NIH Distinguished Scholar and in 2020, was promoted to an NINDS/NCI tenure-track investigator.