This fall, AACI will welcome six new members to its Clinical Research Innovation (CRI) and Government Relations (GR) Forum steering committees. The new members will formally assume their duties during the
2019 AACI/CCAF Annual Meeting, October 20-22, in Washington, DC.
Joining the CRI Steering Committee are
Bhanu Pappu, PhD, MHA, vice president of research operations and strategy at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center;
Jessica Rhee, MD, MS, medical director of the clinical trials office at University of Hawai'i Cancer Center, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa; and
Michael Sainz, research operations director in the Office of Clinical Research at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center.
Three members will also roll off the CRI Steering Committee this month:
Theresa Cummings, RN, MS, CCRP, administrator of clinical research operations at the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center;
Ashley Baker Lee, CCRP, senior vice president of research operations at City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center; and
Kristie Moffett, MHA, senior director of clinical research at Moffitt Cancer Center.
Cummings, Lee, and Moffett each served on the steering committee from 2016 – 2019. During their terms, they attended AACI Corporate Roundtable meetings, served on various working groups related to clinical research, and helped plan the annual CRI meeting.
The GR Forum Steering Committee will add
Catherine Liao, associate vice president of government relations at Duke Cancer Institute, Duke Medical Center;
Peter Mackler, executive director of healthcare policy and advocacy at City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center; and
Kent Springfield, assistant vice president of research and government relations at the University of Colorado Cancer Center.
Liao, Mackler, and Springfield will fill the positions vacated by outgoing steering committee members
Ashlee Bright, director of communications and public affairs at Huntsman Cancer Institute, who served from 2016 – 2019;
Robert Clark, MS, FACHE, chief government affairs officer at the Comprehensive Cancer Center, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, who served from 2013 – 2019;
Ross Frommer, vice president for government and community affairs and associate dean at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, who served from 2007 – 2019; and
Kathryn Kuhn, vice president of government and community relations at the Medical College of Wisconsin Cancer Center, who served from 2016 – 2019.
Bright, Clark, Frommer, and Kuhn have been active members of the steering committee, helping plan congressional briefings on Capitol Hill, setting agendas for in-person government relations meetings, and presenting on their cancer centers' respective government relations departments. Frommer has addressed attendees at two AACI/CCAF annual meetings, providing election analysis and a high-level overview of potential impacts to funding for the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute.
New leadership for the AACI CRI, Government Relations, and Physician Clinical Leadership Initiative steering committees was announced in the September 2019 AACI
Update.