Advisory Committee

Susan Ash-Lee, MSW, LCSW, is the vice president of Clinical Services and Education at Cancer Support Community (CSC) in Lone Tree, Colorado, where she leads all education and clinical program services, including in-person, telephonic, and digital support— all critical components of the $50 million in free services CSC provides patients and their loved ones each year. She has focused her career on building robust supportive care oncology programs which include psychosocial research, integrated psychosocial support, advanced illness coordination, and post-treatment survivorship. She is particularly interested in how resiliency models and positive psychology interventions can increase well-being, enhance life satisfaction, and personal growth and change. Her articles have appeared in publications such as the JOP and the Journal of Psychosocial Oncology.

Ms. Ash-Lee currently serves as faculty for the Society for Social Work Leadership in Health Care’s Leadership Institute, psychosocial staff for Casting for Recovery, and is a member of the client services advisory council for Project Angel Heart. She was the 2010 recipient of the American Psychosocial Oncology Society’s “Outstanding Clinical Care Award”. Prior to joining CSC, Ash-Lee was the director of clinical social work at Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers, Colorado’s largest provider of cancer care.

Ms. Ash-Lee earned her bachelor’s degree in English from Westmont College and her master’s degree in social work from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She holds a clinical social work license in both Colorado and California.

Dr. Deepti Behl is a medical oncologist, chair of the Sutter Melanoma Program of Distinction, and medical director of the lung cancer program at Sutter Medical Center in Sacramento, CA.  Dr. Behl is also the medical director of the Sutter Institute for Medical Research (SIMR) and a member of the tobacco cessation committee of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer.

Dr. Behl attended the Christian Medical College in Ludhiana, India, and completed her residency and fellowship training in hematology and oncology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.

Dr. Behl is board certified in medical oncology, hospice, and palliative care, and she focuses her research on lung cancer and melanoma. She is currently enrolled in the University of Arizona Andrew Weil Fellowship in Integrative Medicine, and she expects to graduate in 2023.

Al B. Benson III, MD, FACP, FASCO, is a professor of medicine in the division of hematology/oncology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois. He is also the associate director for cooperative groups at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Dr. Benson is a recipient of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Statesman Award (fellow of ASCO) and has served on a number of committees, including as member of the Quality of Cancer Care Task Force, co-chair of ASCO’s Colorectal Cancer Guidelines Subcommittee, the Stage II Colon Cancer Guidelines Panel, and the Guidelines Panel for use of Radiofrequency Ablation for Colorectal Cancer. In addition, he served as ACCC President (2010-2011), and most recently as as chair of the ACCC Clinical Affairs Committee. He is also a  past president of the Illinois Medical Oncology Society. Dr. Benson He is on the editorial board of the ASCO Connection (term completed), Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, American Health and Drug Benefits, Personalized Medicine in Oncology, Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research, and Gastrointestinal Cancer Research, among others. 

Dr. Benson’s research is primarily in the areas of gastrointestinal cancer clinical trials, biologic therapies, phase I cancer clinical trials, health services research, and cancer guideline development. He has authored or coauthored numerous reports, reviews, and book chapters focusing on these topics. His research in biologics, cancer therapy, and cancer prevention has been awarded funding from a variety of sources including the National Institutes of Health. His most recent national awards include the NCCN Rodger J. Winn Award and the ACCC Clinical Research Award.

Christa Braun-Inglis is a nurse practitioner and an assistant researcher at the University of Hawaii Cancer Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. She is also a clinical faculty member at the University of Hawaii School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene, as well as a board-certified oncology nurse practitioner.

Ms. Braun-Inglis has 25 years of oncology nursing experience, with over 18 years as an oncology nurse practitioner. She has a wealth of clinical expertise and has been a huge proponent of cancer clinical trials in the community.  Her interests include increasing advanced practice provider involvement in clinical trials, cancer care delivery, breast and GI cancers, as well as providing quality cancer care to residents of Hawaii.

Dr. Alex Chehrazi-Raffle graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania. He received his medical degree from the Rosalind Franklin University Chicago Medical School and then went on to complete his residency in internal medicine at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. It was during this residency that Dr. Chehrazi-Raffle gained exposure to the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, where he is currently completing his fellowship in hematology/oncology and will stay on as assistant professor in the Department of Medical Oncology and Experimental Therapeutics. During his fellowship, Dr. Chehrazi-Raffle has helped lead a multi-center research initiative that investigated barriers to clinical trial referrals in Southern California. To build on these findings, Dr. Chehrazi-Raffle joined ACORI to help improve access to clinical trials for all patients with cancer.

Jeffrey Kendall, PsyD, LP, is the Director of Oncology Supportive Care at M Health Fairview in Minneapolis, MN. He joined the University of Minnesota Cancer Care program in 2016 where he is dedicated to addressing the impact of cancer on individuals and families. Currently his professional time is divided among direct patient care, program administration, program development, and research collaboration.

Dr. Kendall speaks nationally and internationally and has published 40 journal articles and abstracts on topics related to psychosocial oncology and cancer survivorship. Dr. Kendall serves on committees for the American Psychosocial Oncology Society and the Association of Community Cancer Centers.

Dr. Kendall received his Doctorate from Indiana State University and completed his Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Psychosocial Oncology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York.

Prior to her current role at the Winship Cancer Institute in Emory University, Colleen Lewis served as the director of clinical operations/lead APP for the Phase I Clinical Trial Program. She is also the interim director for the Clifton Infusion Center, where she leads clinical and operational improvements.  Lewis joined the Phase I program at the Winship Cancer Institute in 2008, and she serves as a co-investigator on Phase I trials by collaborating with physicians, nurses, and research team members to care for patients enrolled in trials. Lewis is a member of the Emory Protocol Review & Monitoring Committee,  the Oncology Nursing Society, and she serves as a peer reviewer for the Oncology Nursing Forum and the Journal of the Advanced Practitioner in Oncology. Lewis also serves as a member of the National Education Committee for the Advanced Practitioner Society for Hematology and Oncology. Lewis  earned her BSN from the University of Miami and completed her Adult Oncology Nurse Practitioner training at and earned her MSN from Emory University.

Dr. Marc Matrana is Director of the Ochsner Precision Cancer Therapies Program, the only dedicated Phase I cancer research program between Houston and Birmingham. He serves as a senior medical oncologist at Ochsner’s Gayle and Tom Benson Cancer Center in New Orleans and holds an Endowed Professorship at Ochsner Health System.  He also serves as Associate Director of Clinical Cancer Research at the Ochsner Cancer Institute, and as Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Queensland School of Medicine in Brisbane, Australia.  Dr. Matrana is a ninth-generation native of New Orleans, where he earned a Master of Science degree in Human Genetics from Tulane University and received his medical degree from LSU School of Medicine. He served as Chief Resident at Ochsner, and Chief Fellow at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.  He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed books, articles, chapters, and abstracts.  He has presented his research findings and educational programs at numerous national and international meetings.

Dr. Randall A. Oyer is a practicing medical oncologist at the Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute at Penn Medicine Lancaster General in Pennsylvania, where he serves as the medical director. Dr. Oyer is also the medical director of oncology, the chair of the Cancer Committee, the chair of the Oncology Physicians Advisory Council, and the medical director of the Cancer Risk Evaluation (Cancer Genetics) Program at Penn Medicine. Dr. Oyer is a member of the Cancer Service Line Executive Committee and the Cancer Service Line Quality Committee at the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Dr. Oyer divides his time among patient care, program administration, program development, and community outreach. He works closely with a multidisciplinary team that includes nursing, social work, pharmacy, chaplaincy, and medical specialties focused on strategy, implementation, and patient care. A long-standing active member of ACCC, he served as president from 2020 to 2021. Dr. Oyer is also an ex-officio member of the National Cancer Policy Forum and commissioner of the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer, where he represents ACCC. Dr. Oyer is a graduate of Georgetown University and Georgetown University School of Medicine, and is Clinical Professor of Medicine at Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Pal is an internationally recognized leader in the area of genitourinary cancers, including kidney, bladder, and prostate cancer. He is the co-director of City of Hope's Kidney Cancer Program, where he is also the head of the kidney and bladder cancer disease team. Dr. Pal entered college at the age of 13 and began medical school at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) at age 17. After completing his residency training at UCLA, Dr. Pal completed a fellowship program in medical oncology at City of Hope's comprehensive cancer center, where he has remained on faculty since 2009.

Dr. Pal sits on the editorial board for Kidney Cancer, and he is a reviewer for multiple journals, including The Lancet, The Journal of Clinical Oncology, The Journal of Urology, European Urology, and others. He has received grants from the National Institute of Health, the Comprehensive Cancer Network, SWOG Cancer Research Network, and multiple other leading entities in support of his research.

Joanne Riemer began her nursing career at Johns Hopkins Hospital as an inpatient nurse on the solid tumor oncology unit. From there, she moved into critical care in coronary care, intensive care, emergency, and recovery rooms. In 2002, Reimer returned to oncology at Johns Hopkins in the outpatient infusion area, then radiation oncology, and staff education. In 2010, she assumed her current position as senior research nurse on the Upper Aero-digestive Team. In January 2011, Reimer was asked to work with the immunology group on a multidisease study using MDX-1106, which became BMS-936558 and then Nivolumab. She was assigned the non-small cell lung cancer patients and has since been almost exclusively working with immunotherapy trials.

In addition to her involvement the immunotherapy trials, Reimer and her colleagues have created a booklet for oncology nurses treating patients with immuno-oncology agents. It is an overview of these agents' indications, mechanisms of action, and suspected related side effects.

Linda Zerr is the director of the Sue Ann Wortman Cancer Center, a Commission on Cancer Accredited Community Cancer Program in Greenfield, Indiana. Zerr has been with Hancock Regional Hospital in this role for eight years. She has more than 20 years of healthcare experience and has worked in a physician practice that is part of the US Oncology Network and in both academic and community hospital settings. Kerr has extensive experience in both the financial and operational aspects of cancer care.