Ms. Ann Marie Dawidczyk

Blue Earth Diagnostics

Blue Earth Diagnostics

Vice President Patient Access and Advocacy

Next Generation Precision Radiopharmaceuticals for Patients with Cancer    Watch Video

Ann Marie is the Vice President of Patient Access and Advocacy at Blue Earth Diagnostics. She leads a team focused on educating customers and patients about prostate imaging, developing health policy, working with legislators and government officials, and advocating for change. She also is the Chair of the Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance (MITA) PET Coding, Coverage and Payment Committee.

She was previously the lead of US Policy and Reimbursement Strategy at GE Healthcare Pharmaceutical Diagnostics. Prior to GE she held market access roles at LifeCell, Genzyme Tissue Repair, Smith & Nephew and Johnson and Johnson. Her career has focused on removing patient access barriers to innovative medical technologies including tissue regeneration products, diagnostics and chronic wound treatments.

Ann Marie holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Health Sciences and Administration from Simmons College.

Magnolia Contreras, MSW, MBA

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Vice President for Community Health

Understanding Social Determinants of Health and Impact on the Prostate Cancer Racial Disparity    Watch Video

Ms. Contreras joined Dana-Farber in 2007 and currently oversees the Community Health and Community Benefits programs. In this role, she is charged with helping the Institute carry out its Community Benefits mission through the delivery of evidence-based cancer prevention, screening and early detection programs and working across the cancer continuum to help improve cancer care outcomes for medically underserved populations.

The role of Dana-Farber’s Community Benefits office is to support the Institute’s goal to reduce cancer risk among medically underserved populations. Ms. Contreras and her teamwork with city and state health departments, community partners, and Boston-based coalitions to assess and monitor the needs of local residents with respect to cancer control. They are on the front lines of supporting and collaborating on programs designed to eliminate disparities in breast, colon, and skin cancer; educate diverse populations about tobacco cessation, human papillomavirus (HPV) prevention and screening; and strengthen the support system for medically underserved populations. They are committed to making Dana-Farber’s care and research findings more accessible to everyone within and outside its walls.

Ms. Contreras is a graduate of Boston College, Simmons College Graduate School of Social Work and Suffolk University Sawyer Business School. She has been an Adjunct Faculty member in the Graduate School of Social Work at Salem State University, Simmons College and Boston College.

Hala Borno, MD

Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center

Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center

Assistant Clinical Professor, Genitourinary Oncology Program, University of California, San Francisco

Financial Toxicities and How Access to Treatment are Affected     Watch Video

Dr. Hala Borno is faculty at UCSF and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine and Division of Hematology/Oncology and co-Medical Director of the Genitourinary Medical Oncology Clinic at the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center (HDFCCC) at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). Dr. Borno is a medical oncologist with clinical expertise in the management of advanced urologic malignancies such as prostate, kidney, bladder, and testicular cancers. At HDFCCC, Dr. Borno serves on the executive leadership committee for the Prostate Cancer Program and the Liaison to the Office of Community Engagement. She is also a member of

the American Society of Clinical Oncology Social Determinants of Health working group, and GU committee for NRG oncology. She serves as the Vice Chair of the Health Disparities Committee for Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology.

Dr. Borno’s research program consists of prostate cancer therapeutic development and cancer disparities. She serves as medical oncology co-chair for phase III clinical trials and is the principal investigator for clinical trials conducted at HDFCCC in advanced prostate cancer. Dr. Borno has an extensive research program on the promotion of equity in cancer precision medicine.

She has developed novel recruitment technologies that are clinician and patient facing to promote diversity and inclusion of racial/ethnic minorities in clinical trials. Dr. Borno used human-centered design to develop Trial LibraryTM, a patient facing clinical trial matching tool. Dr. Borno’s research has been featured in peer-reviewed journals such JAMA Oncology, Cancer, and Nature. Her work has been covered by national news outlets such as NPR, Washington Post, CBS News, Bloomberg News, and STAT News.

Dr. Borno graduated with honors in biochemistry and received her medical degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she was a Medical Alumni Loyalty Fund Scholar. She completed her internal medicine residency and medical oncology fellowship training at UCSF. She served as chief oncology fellow at UCSF and was a National Institute on Aging T32 research fellow in the Division of Geriatrics.

Jacob Berchuck, MD

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Medical Oncologist

Considerations for the Management of Advanced Prostate Cancer    Watch Video

Dr. Jacob Berchuck is a Medical Oncologist in the Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center. Dr. Berchuck received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Duke University. He trained in Internal Medicine at the University of California San Francisco. He then completed a fellowship in Medical Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. In addition to caring for patients, Dr. Berchuck conducts research using cell-free DNA to develop “liquid biopsies” for early and accurate cancer detection.

Mark Pomerantz, MD

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Medical Oncologist

Dr. Mark Pomerantz is a medical oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Pomerantz received his undergraduate degree from Yale University and his medical degree from Stanford University. He trained in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. He then pursued a fellowship in Medical Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Dr. Pomerantz received his post-doctoral training in cancer genetics with Dr. Matthew Freedman at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. He is on faculty at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in the Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology.

Waseem Hussain, MD

Luminis Healthcare System

Luminis Healthcare System

Associate Regional Medical Director for Primary Care

Watch Video – Discusses the Incorporation of the PHEN Early Detection Screening Program in Luminis Healthcare Practice

Dr. Waseem Hussain is Associate Regional Medical Director for Primary Care and a practicing family physician in the Luminis Healthcare System.  He graduated from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, completed his family practice residency in Chicago, and has been a practicing board certified family physician since 1999. He is also  a multiple-time  winner of Washingtonian Magazine’s Top Doctor and Castle Connelly Top Doctor Award, became a Fellow in the American Association of Family Physicians in 2007,  and was recently given the Luminis Health Physician.