Steering Committee and Task Force

Dina Avery, DSHc, MA, MAED, is an Assistant Professor for the UAB School of Health Professions and Credentialed Course Instructor for the University of Alabama Birmingham Honors Program. She is Chair of the Alabama Comprehensive Cancer Coalition for the Alabama Department of Public Health (2020-2022). Dr. Avery is the first, elected African American to serve a two-year term on the Global Board of Directors for the Association of Graduate Regulatory Educators (2021-2023). Dr. Avery is also Vice President for the UAB African American Faculty Association (2020-2022). Dr. Dina Avery was voted to serve as the Executive Director for Veterans Institute for Scientific and Technical Applications Research Center located at the Birmingham Veterans Affairs Health Care System.

Dr. Avery has professional experience with clinical research, health disparities research, community based participatory research, regulatory/compliance, and program management in the areas of cardiovascular surgery, ophthalmology, neurology, preventive medicine, and oncology.

Dr. Avery received her Bachelor of Science from the University of Montevallo (Sociology/Family & Child Studies). Dr. Avery also holds a Master of Arts (Health Studies) from the University of Alabama and a Master of Education (Adult Education) from the University of Phoenix and a Master of Arts (Applied Sociology) from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. Avery completed a Doctorate of Health Science with a concentration in Global Health from A. T. Still University, School of Health Science.

Ronny Bell, PhD, MS is Professor of Social Sciences and Health Policy in the Division of Public Health Sciences at the Wake Forest School of Medicine.  Dr. Bell is also Associate Director of Community Outreach and Engagement and Director of the Office of Cancer Health Equity at the Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center. 

Dr. Bell is a member of the Lumbee tribe of eastern North Carolina, and currently serves a Chair of the North Carolina American Indian Health Board.  He is a member of the North Carolina Advisory Committee on Cancer Coordination and Control and co-chairs the NC ACCCC Prevention Subcommittee.  In 2019, he was appointed as Scientific Co-Editor for the North Carolina Medical Journal.  He previously served as Chair of the North Carolina Diabetes Advisory Council and Co-Chair of the Healthy North Carolina 2030 Task Force.

Dr. Bell completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Gerontology and completed a Master’s in Epidemiology (1996) from the Wake Forest School of Medicine. Dr. Bell received his Doctorate (1993) and masters (1988) in Foods and Nutrition from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.  He completed his  undergraduate degree in Public Health Nutrition from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health (1985).

Heather Bittner Fagan, M.D., MPH, FAAFP has been a practicing family physician in Claymont, Delaware, a medically underserved area, for over 19 years and has made regional and national contributions to research on cancer screening in primary care and underserved populations.   Dr. Fagan is a faculty member, senior scientist, and medical director of Clinical Prevention in Family & Community Medicine at Christiana Care. Dr. Fagan is a full professor at Thomas Jefferson University.  Dr. Fagan is the chair of the Delaware Health Care Consortium’s Early Detection and Prevention Committee and an invited member of the National Lung Cancer Roundtable, as well as a former recipient of the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Control Career Development Award and a co- director for the Community Engagement and Outreach component of the ACCEL program, Delaware’s NIGMS-funded Center for Translational Research.

Dr. Fagan has published on cancer, cancer epidemiology, biomarkers and prevention, and medical care in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, Journal of Obesity, and other journals. Dr. Fagan has had funding for her work from the National Cancer Institute, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute as well as state and foundation grants.

Dr. Fagan earned her medical degree from MCP Hahnemann University and completed her residency at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in 2002. She completed her primary care research fellowship at Jefferson Medical College in 2003. In 2007, she completed a distance fellowship for the grant-generating project of the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation. Dr. Fagan completed a master’s degree in public health at Jefferson Medical College in 2011.

Andrea Ferris is President and CEO of LUNGevity and a member of the Board of Directors. In this capacity, she is responsible for setting and executing the strategic direction of the organization and its science programs. Ms. Ferris was the Vice President of Strategy and Growth of Decision Lens, Inc. a company she helped launch in January 2005. Prior to joining Decision Lens, Andrea held a variety of management positions at Johnson & Johnson, including Director of Investor Relations, Manager Corporate Mergers & Acquisitions, and Plant Controller. She also spent several years at McNeil Consumer Products, a J&J subsidiary, in marketing and mergers & acquisitions. Prior to her time at J&J, Andrea worked for Lehman Brothers and Coopers & Lybrand in New York City in both Mergers and Acquisitions and as a CPA.

Ms. Ferris served on Washington, DC’s Kennedy Center National Committee of Performing Arts and on the Board of ARCS (Achievement Rewards for College Scientists) of Metro DC. She has also served on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors for DC Metro Boys and Girls Club and has worked with the Ronald McDonald House and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Ms. Ferris received her BS in Economics from Wharton with concentrations in Accounting, Decision Sciences, and Finance. She received her MBA from Wharton with concentrations in Finance and Latin American Studies.

Michelle Futrell is the Director of Lung Cancer Screening Programs and Initiatives at the LUNGevity Foundation.  

Prior to joining LUNGevity, Michelle worked as a registered nurse, 10 years of which were in the emergency department. She most recently spent eight years at Virginia Commonwealth University as a Lung Cancer Screening Program Coordinator. 

Michelle has a Bachelor of Science in Nursing as well as a dual-degree — Master of Science in Nursing, and Master of Science in Business Administration.  

Michael Gieske, MD, is the Director of Lung Cancer Screening at St. Elizabeth Healthcare. He has worked with his team at St. Elizabeth Healthcare to build one of the most successful lung cancer screening programs in the country. In addition to his daily practice, he is the lead physician at his site in Ft. Mitchell, Ky., and the East Division Physician Director of Primary Care, overseeing 10 sites.

Dr. Gieske sits on the boards of the American College of Radiology, GO2 Foundation, Lung Ambition Alliance, NLCRT, LungCan, and the Rural Appalachian Lung Cancer Screening Initiative. He is a dedicated advocate for lung cancer survivors and caregivers, raising awareness and promoting policy to bring hope to patients with lung cancer and those at risk for lung cancer.

He graduated from University of Louisville Medical College in 1984, then completed his Family Practice Residency at St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Edgewood, Kentucky in 1987. 

Originally from Blacksburg, Virginia, Janet joined Cancer Support Community (CSC) in 2021 as Senior Director of Partner Growth working to reach more people impacted by cancer by opening new locations, developing new partnerships, and helping existing partners grow their impact.  Prior to CSC, Janet was Chief Operating Officer at Gilda’s Club Kentuckiana – a CSC partner - with primary responsibilities focused on their growth and expansion through community, corporate, and hospital partnerships. She also led efforts to expand their facility allowing for the growth of programs and services.

Janet earned her Master’s in Education from Spalding University and her Bachelor of Arts from Concordia College in International Relations with minors in Business, Communications and Spanish. After careers in both consumer-packaged goods and education she joined Gilda’s Club Kentuckiana in 2014.

As corporate nomads, Janet, her husband Scott, and their two, now adult, daughters, lived in nine cities throughout the country prior to settling in Louisville, KY. She enjoys traveling, reading, watching college football and basketball, and playing the occasional round of golf.

Rob Headrick, MD, MBA is an author, speaker, inventor, and thoracic surgeon specializing in lung cancer. Dr. Headrick is board certified in both general and thoracic surgery. He has been recognized for his contributions to modernizing the operating room, developing innovative products to reduce pulmonary air leaks and led the way in developing a mobile CT platform for lung cancer screening. The Southern Thoracic Surgical Association awarded him with the Physician Inspiration Award and the STS has recognized his advocacy efforts in Washington for lung cancer research and support.

Dr. Headrick completed his undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering at Vanderbilt University and attended medical school at the University of Tennessee in Memphis. Dr. Headrick completed a general surgery residency at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine, Chattanooga and a fellowship in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota. He was awarded the Health Policy and Leadership scholarship at Brandeis University by the STS/ACS and completed a Master of Business Administration at the Haslam College of Business at the University of Tennessee.

Lauren McCauley-Hixenbaugh, MBA, is the Program Manager for the WVUCI Mobile Lung Cancer Screening Program. She has been a part of the Cancer Prevention and Control at WVU since 2018, during her time she has managed the WV State Cancer Coalition, Mountains of Hope, and the WV Lung Cancer Project. Lauren is the author of the WVU Cancer Institute’s Providers Guide to Communicating About Lung Cancer and is the host of the Living Beyond Cancer Podcast created for cancer patients, caregivers, and survivors.

Lauren earned her Master of Business Administration and her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the Fairmont State University.

Timothy Wm. Mullett, MD, MBA, FACS, is a professor of surgery in the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Kentucky (UK). Dr. Mullett is the medical director of the Markey Cancer Center Affiliate Network, a program that provides high-quality cancer care closer to home at collaborating centers through specialty services, education and outreach programs. He also serves as medical director of the Markey Cancer Center Research Network, a collaborative network of sites that conducts a portfolio of high priority trials including therapeutic oncology trials and interventional and non-interventional studies appropriate for community centers. 

Dr. Mullett’s clinical practice and research focuses on the overwhelming burden of lung cancer in Kentucky. He is a member of the UK Markey Cancer Center – Kentucky’s only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center – and is chair of UK’s Cancer Committee. He served as the Commission on Cancer’s state chair for six years and was awarded Outstanding State Chair in 2019. In October of 2020, Dr. Mullett was installed as Chair of the Commission on Cancer.

Dr. Mullett received his medical degree and surgical training at the University of Florida.

Mary E. Reid, MSPH, PhD, is the Director of Cancer Screening and Survivorship at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. She is also currently a Professor of Oncology in the Department of Medicine. As Director of Cancer Screening and Survivorship, Dr. Reid has worked to expand Roswell Park’s pioneering Lung Cancer Screening program and develop other cancer screening initiatives within the Institute, working with clinical departments to increase the colon and breast screening programs. Dr. Reid is also developing a comprehensive survivorship clinical and outreach program.  

Prior to joining Roswell Park, she served as Assistant Professor in the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Public Health and Co-Director of the Cancer Prevention and Control Training Program at the Arizona Cancer Center in Tucson.  

She has authored or co-authored more than 95 publications, serves as a regular reviewer for several cancer, nutrition, and epidemiology journals and as a regular ad hoc reviewer for several National Cancer Institute grant mechanisms. 

Rochelle Waddell, RN, serves as a nurse navigator for lung cancer screening at the Appalachian Regional Healthcare System. Rochelle has worked as a registered nurse in oncology, care navigator in chronic care management, operating room manager and as a clinic head nurse. In her current role, Rochelle works to educate the community about the benefits of early lung cancer detection through low dose CT and to ensure providers have all they need in offering this screening to patients and lower rates of lung cancer in Appalachia.

She has made it a priority to increase awareness of lung cancer and lung cancer screening within her health system and community.