Steering Committee

The Steering Committee of the ACS NBCRT provides leadership and vision to help advance the Roundtable’s mission, monitors performance and progress toward achieving its goals, represents the ACS NBCRT as appropriate in professional meetings and collaborative opportunities, guides planning and implementation of ACS NBCRT priorities and projects, and approves new members of the ACS NBCRT.

ACS NBCRT Chairs

Arif Kamal, MD, MBA, MHS, FAAHPM, FASCO

Dr. Arif Kamal serves as Chief Patient Officer at the American Cancer Society. In this role, Dr. Kamal drives coordinated efforts to accelerate progress against cancer through the organization’s patient-, caregiver-, and healthcare professional-facing activities.

He leads the American Cancer Society’s patient support objectives and the development of strategic plans to measurably improve the lives of people with cancer and their families. Dr. Kamal oversees the organization’s cancer support, patient navigation, educational programs, patient lodging solutions, transportation services, contact center, and digital patient support offerings, as well as all aspects of organizational functions that touch cancer patients across 5,000 communities around the globe.
Olufunmilayo F. Olopade, MBBS, FAACR, FASCO

Dr. Olopade is a Walter L. Palmer Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine and Human Genetics and founding Director of the Center for Clinical Cancer Genetics and Global Health at the University of Chicago Medicine.

Dr. Olopade’s research is focused on gaining a better understanding of the root causes and genomic basis of cancer in diverse populations. She has published extensively on genetic and non-genetic risk factors for breast cancer and is internationally renowned for her work in inherited cancer syndromes and clinical expertise in early detection and prevention of breast cancer in high risk women.
John Williams, MD, FACS

Dr. John Williams is a breast cancer surgeon and patient education advocate. He founded and is medical director of the Breast Cancer School for Patients, an online video-based cancer education platform.

Dr. Williams served two administrations as Chair of the President’s Cancer Panel, which recommended the creation of the National Breast Cancer Roundtable to the President of the United States in February 2022. Dr. Williams’s policy interests focus on improving cancer outcomes and disparities by promoting a transparent and patient-focused national healthcare system.

ACS NBCRT Steering Committee Members

Ysabel Duron

Ysabel Duron is an award-winning Latina journalist (Ret), a 22-year cancer survivor, and a national voice in Latino/Hispanic cancer education, advocacy and community engagement. Ms. Duron is the Founder/Executive Director of The Latino Cancer Institute, launched in 2017 to amplify Latino voices nationally and demand action from all stakeholders to eliminate the Latino cancer burden.

Ms. Duron’s first two agencies developed programs for low income, Spanish speaking and immigrant communities – addressing gaps along the continuum to include cancer awareness education, navigation into screening, psychosocial support groups.
Ricki Fairley, MBA

As a Stage 3A Triple Negative Breast Cancer Survivor/Thriver, Ricki Fairley’s personal purpose, passion, mission, ministry and blessing is to bring focus, attention, research and action to eradicating Black Breast Cancer, and supporting and coaching what she calls her “Breasties” through their breast cancer experience.

Ms. Fairley co-founded and serves as CEO of TOUCH, The Black Breast Cancer Alliance to address Black Breast Cancer as a unique and special disease state, with the overall goal of reducing the mortality rate for Black women. She is a founding member of #BlackDataMatters, in partnership with Breastcancer.org, Ciitizen, The Center for Health Care Innovation, Morehouse School of Medicine and Susan G. Komen Foundation to encourage and elevate the importance of Black Women participating in clinical trial research.
Erika Hamilton, MD

Dr. Hamilton oversees the research program and clinical trial menu for gynecologic and breast cancer from a medical oncology perspective. Dr. Hamilton is a past chair of ASCO’s Scientific Breast Committee a ’21-’22, participant of the ASCO Leadership Development Program, Associate Editor for Clinical Breast Cancer, co-chair for Great Debates and Updates in Women’s Oncology Conference and a board member of the Susan G. Komen Foundation of Central Tennessee. She is a member of the European Society of Medical Oncology, American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and American Medical Association.

When she is not treating patients and conducting research, Dr. Hamilton enjoys spending time with her daughters, attending their sporting events, going to parks and nature hiking. She also has a deep appreciation for great food.
Maimah Karmo

Maimah Karmo is the Founder/CEO of the Tigerlily Foundation (Tigerlily) and a 16-year survivor of breast cancer. Ms. Karmo launched an organization to educate, empower, advocate for and support young women affected by breast cancer.

Tigerlily Foundation has launched national and global health initiatives focused on ending disparities, and working to end disparities for black women in our lifetime.
Adjoa Kyerematen, MS

Adjoa Kyerematen is Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications at the National Minority Quality Forum (NMQF), the leading research national nonprofit focused on health equity and advancing minority health. Ms. Kyerematen
co-chairs the Cancer Stage Shifting Initiative, NMQF’s initiative aligned with President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot program, and leads strategic campaigns that shape policy, execute community interventions, and drives awareness to advance cancer equity.
CAPT Jacqueline Miller, MD, FACS

CAPT Jacqueline Miller is a board-certified general surgeon and a Captain with the U.S. Public Health Service. Dr. Miller practiced general surgery for eight years in Atlanta with a special interest in breast cancer before
joining the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer in the Division of Adult and Community Health. Currently, she is the Medical Director for CDC’s National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program in the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control. She continues to provide clinical care in an outpatient clinic setting.
Cheryl Modica, , PhD, MPH, BSN

As Director of the Quality Center at the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), Dr. Cheryl Modica provides strategic direction in clinical quality and health center transformation. Dr. Modica is author of the Value Transformation Framework, a conceptual model to guide health center systems change and support health center advancement toward value-based models of care and the Quintuple Aim: improved health outcomes, improved patient experience, improved staff experience, reduced costs, and equity.

Dr. Modica has decades of experience designing, developing, and operationalizing innovative health care initiatives aimed toward integrating primary care and public health and translating evidence into practice.
Tia Newcomer

As CEO, Tia ensures that all operations contribute toward the CaringBridge vision — a world where no one goes through a health journey alone. She joined the team in 2021, passionate about building on the 25-year CaringBridge legacy and leading the team in finding the next opportunities for growth that exponentially help more families with their health journeys.

Prior to joining CaringBridge, she was Chief Commercial Officer at Generate Life sciences and has spent the last decade in executive healthcare industry roles (Cord Blood Registry, Prelude Fertility, Kindara) with a foundation in technology and consumer packaged goods (Hewlett Packard, Frito Lay, Clorox, Revlon).

Newcomer holds a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Gabrielle Rocque, MD

Dr. Gabrielle Rocque is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Divisions of Hematology & Oncology and Gerontology, Geriatrics, & Palliative Care at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Dr. Rocque is a medical oncologist, clinically specializing in breast cancer.

Dr. Rocque completed a Masters of Public Health in Outcomes Research. Her research interests include improving the quality of healthcare delivery for cancer patients with an emphasis on quality, patient-reported outcomes, provision of supportive care services to patients, and payment reform.
Victoria Wolodzko Smart

Victoria Wolodzko Smart serves as SVP, Mission for Susan G. Komen. Ms. Smart oversees all aspects of Komen’s mission through investments in groundbreaking research, provision of evidence-based education and high-quality patient care services and advocacy for sound public policies on behalf of millions of breast cancer patients and survivors.

Ms. Smart leads Komen’s health equity initiatives designed to overcome breast cancer disparities in communities disproportionally impacted by breast cancer, a strategic imperative for Komen. Ms. Smart also heads Komen’s Center for Public Policy, mobilizing the voices of the breast cancer community to achieve lasting change by advocating in support of laws and policies that help people fight breast cancer.
Nancy U. Lin, MD

Dr. Lin is an internationally recognized medical oncologist specializing in the care of patients with all stages of breast cancer. Her research focuses on improving the outcomes of people living with metastatic breast cancer, including a particular focus on the challenge of breast cancer brain metastases. She has led multiple clinical trials which have led to new treatment options for patients with metastatic breast cancer.

Dr. Lin received her MD from Harvard Medical School in 1999. She completed her residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and went on to complete fellowships in medical oncology and hematology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. In 2005, she joined the staff of Brigham and Women’s and Dana-Farber, where she is a medical oncologist and clinical investigator in the Breast Oncology Center. She mentors students, residents, and fellows at Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber.