2018-2019 Advisory Committee

Priscilla “Lilly” Allen, PhD, LMSW, is a Professor at Louisiana State University School of Social Work. She also serves as the Associate Director of LSU's Life Course and Aging Center and Associate Editor of the Journal of Comparative Social Welfare. Dr. Allen’s research interests are in long-term care, healthy aging, policy issues and aging, and ageism. She currently serves as a board member of Louisiana Enhancing Aging Through Dignity Empowerment and Respect (LEADER), Louisiana’s first nursing home culture change coalition. Dr. Allen’s research interests are in long-term care, healthy aging, policy issues and aging, and ageism.

Previously, Dr. Allen worked as a long-term care ombudsman advocating for the rights and care of 3,400 nursing home residents in southwestern Connecticut. She has also worked in the nursing home industry as a social worker as well as serving as a town social worker in rural Connecticut.

She earned a PhD from Fordham University, an MSW from the University of Connecticut, and a BA in Sociology from Keene State College.

Dr. Al-Mansour is Assistant Professor, Hematology/BMT Bone Marrow Transplantation at UMass Memorial Medical Center specializing in Geriatric Oncology and Hematologic Malignancies.

Peggy Burhenn is a Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) in geriatric oncology. In her current role as Professional Practice Leader for Geriatric Oncology at City of Hope in Duarte California, she is involved in education, research, and care management of the older adult with cancer. Her focus has been to teach nurses about caring for the older adult with cancer. She is co-investigator for an NIH R25 grant to educate oncology nurses about geriatric oncology. Her work focuses on a diversity of geriatric related issues such as: geriatric assessment, delirium, sleep promotion, fall prevention, cognition, pain in the older adult, and guided imagery.

In 2013 she received the Margo McCaffery Excellence in Pain Management award and the Values in Action award at City of Hope for Intellectual Curiosity and in 2014 the Advanced Oncology Certified Nurse of the Year from the Greater Los Angeles Oncology Nursing Society. In April 2015 she received the Oncology Nursing Society national award for Excellence in Caring for the Older Adult with Cancer.

Steven D'Amato, BSPharm, BCOP, is the Executive Director and clinical pharmacy specialist at New England Cancer Specialists in Scarborough, Maine. He is a clinical associate professor at the University of Tufts College of Medicine. He is a member of ASCO, ACCP, ACCC, and HOPA.

A member of the Maine Medical Center Institutional Review Board in Portland, Maine, Mr. D’Amato has 30 years of experience in clinical oncology in both the hospital and private practice settings. He has extensive knowledge of EMR implementation, utilization, and practice management.

He has lectured extensively on pain management, end-of-life care, and oncology practice. He is a board member of the Community Cancer Center in South Portland, Maine, a non-profit organization providing education and support to cancer patients.

He is a past President of the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC), and is the ACCC Delegate Representative for New England Cancer Specialists. He earned his undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy in Boston, Mass.

Dr. Dotan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medical Oncology and the Program Director of the Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program at the Fox Chase Cancer Center.  She specializes in treatment of patients with gastrointestinal cancers and geriatric oncology. Dr. Dotan is chair of the NCCN Older Adult Oncology Panel and a member of the Pancreatic Cancer Guideline Panel. She is also a member of the International Society of Geriatric Oncology (SIOG) and the Cancer and Aging Research Group (CARG). Her research interests include clinical trials of novel treatments for gastrointestinal cancers with specific attention to the treatment of older patients with these cancers.

Dr. Jolly is an Assistant Professor in the UNC Department of Medicine, Divisions of Geriatric Medicine and Hematology/Oncology and care provider in the Geriatric Oncology Specialty Clinic. He is a prior Ruth L. Kirschstein National Service Research Award appointee and a current Hartford Center of Excellence in Geriatric Medicine Scholar. His research focuses on the value of geriatric assessment to guide interventions and treatment decisions in older adults with cancer. He has collaborated on several studies which incorporate a concise geriatric assessment and was involved in the conduct of preliminary research that established the feasibility of geriatric assessment in a busy multidisciplinary tertiary referral cancer center clinic and community oncology practices. His long-term goal is to become a leader in field with expertise in research and care of older cancer patients.

Dr. Jolly earned his medical degree from the University of the West Indies, Trinidad and completed subspecialty training at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, and UNC Chapel Hill.

Dr. Loh graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and completed her internship and residency at Baystate Medical Center/Tufts University School of Medicine. She is currently pursuing a fellowship in combined geriatrics and hematology/oncology at University of Rochester/Strong Memorial Hospital, James P. Wilmot Cancer Center. At the University of Rochester, she works very closely with her mentors, Dr. Supriya Mohile and Dr. Karen Mustian, in multiple projects related to geriatric oncology. Her current research interests include the decision-making process in older adults with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and the use of mobile health technologies in coordinating care and delivering supportive care interventions such as exercise to older adults with cancer. Her clinical interest is in older adults with hematologic malignancies. She is part of the Young SIOG Leadership Team and the ASCO Trainee Council.

Dr. Karuturi is currently medical oncologist and Assistant Professor, Department of Breast Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. Dr. Karuturi’s research interests and publications include approach and management of breast cancer in the elderly, fractures in older adults with cancer, understanding cognition in older patients with cancer, and an interprofessionally developed geriatric oncology curriculum for hematology–oncology fellows.

Dr. Lichtman is the President of the International Society of Geriatric Oncology (SIOG) and is a practicing medical oncologist and member of the Gynecologic Oncology Disease Management Team at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC).  He is interested in the treatment of older cancer patients and participates in the Weill Cornell Medical College 65+ Clinical Geriatrics Program. Dr. Lichtman is a member of the MSKCC Cancer in the Elderly Taskforce and the Cancer in the Elderly Committee of the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology. He also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Geriatric Oncology. In 2014 Dr. Lichtman received the ASCO BJ Kennedy Award for Scientific Excellence in Geriatric Oncology (2014).

Dr. Carol Mathew is a medical oncologist and hematology/oncology fellow at UMass Memorial Medical Center. She received her medical degree from Ross University School of Medicine.

Dr. Naeim currently serves as Associate Professor of Medicine in the divisions of Hematology-Oncology and Geriatric Medicine at the David Geffen UCLA School of Medicine. He is also director of both the Geriatric-Oncology Research and Training Program and the Hematology-Oncology Fellowship Program at UCLA. His career spans a combination of health services, informatics, health policy and quality of care issues.

He holds key organizational roles in the Cancer Center, within UCLA Health, and for the Department of Medicine. He is Assistant Vice Chancellor of Research for the UCLA Campus focusing on strategic planning in research informatics. He is a Senior Leader and Director of Informatics for the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is Chair of the Ronald Reagan Hospital Cancer Committee as well as the Oncology Lead and Clinical Content Coordinator for the Health System’s electronic health record (EHR). He is Director of Quality and Quality Improvement for the Division of Hematology-Oncology. His primary research focus is on breast cancer, and other research interests include outcomes research, cost-effectiveness analysis, modeling of health and frailty, and clinical trial design.

Dr. Naeim has received numerous honors for his research, including an American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Young Investigator Award, an NIH Mentored Research Award, California Breast Cancer Research Foundation Award, and UC MRPI Award, and most recently a Stop Cancer ICON Award.

Ginah Nightingale, PharmD, BCOP, is a full-time faculty member in the Department of Pharmacy Practice at the Jefferson College of Pharmacy (JCP) in both the didactic and experiential settings. Dr. Nightingale’s clinical practice sites include the inpatient Medical Oncology unit at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and the ambulatory Senior Adult Oncology Center at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Kimmel Cancer Center where she provides medication management services, medication adherence counseling and medication education.

Dr. Nightingale’s research interests include senior adult oncology, specifically, medication related problems including polypharmacy, potentially inappropriate medication use, adverse drug events and medication adherence in senor adults living with cancer. She has authored several papers on the prevalence of polypharmacy in older adults with cancer and the impact of polypharmacy on patient outcomes in older adults with cancer.

Dr. Nightingale is an active member of the Hematology Oncology Pharmacy Association (HOPA), the International Society of Geriatric Oncology (SIOG), and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) and the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC). Dr. Nightingale earned her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers University in New Jersey. She is a Board Certified Oncology Pharmacist through the Board of Pharmacy Specialties.

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. Presley is currently working at The Ohio State Comprehensive Cancer Center as a thoracic and geriatric oncologist and researcher, specializing in the treatment of older adults with advanced lung cancer.  Her main research objectives are to optimize functional status and minimize treatment burden of older adults with lung cancer using geriatric-assessment-directed interventions, integrated oncopalliative care delivery models, and patient reported and universal health outcomes.

Dr. Presley is an active member of the Cancer Outcomes, Public Policy and Effectiveness Research Center (COPPER), the Yale Program on Aging, and the national Cancer and Aging Research Group (CARG).

Dr. Presley earned her medical degree from Dartmouth Medical School and completed residency in Internal Medicine and combined fellowship in Geriatric Oncology and Hematology at Yale-New Haven Hospital.