Zora Brown
Founder and Chairperson
Cancer Awareness Program Services
Breast Cancer Resource Committee

Zora Brown is founder and chairperson of Cancer Awareness Program Services (CAPS) and the Breast Cancer Resource Committee (BCRC). CAPS was organized on January 1, 1992, to institute a comprehensive cancer prevention program focusing on awareness and education targeting women, particularly women of color. Established in 1989, the goal of BCRC is to reduce the mortality rates from breast cancer among African-American women by 50 percent. She is also founder of Rise, Sister, Rise, a breast-cancer support group model for African-American women. In 1996, Ms. Brown organized Men in Action Against Breast Cancer, a support arm of the Breast Cancer Resource Committee. In 2002 Ms. Brown, along with her nieces, founded SASSi™ (Sisters Accessing Skills for Survival and Intervention.)

In 1991, Ms. Brown was appointed by President Bush to the National Cancer Advisory Board, National Cancer Institute, where she served until March 1998. She is past-chair of the Cancer Association of South Africa; she has co-chaired the Howard University Cancer Center Advisory Board, along with the esteemed LaSalle Leffall, MD. She serves on the Board of the Medical University of South Africa Trust (MEDUNSA); member of the board, Hollings Cancer Center at the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC; member of the Board, National Dialogue on Cancer (now C-Change); member of the board, National Coalition for Cancer Research; member of the board, Intercultural Cancer Council; member of the board, National Biomedical Research Foundation; member of the board, Friends of Cancer Research; member of the medical advisory board, CancerSource.com. She has served as a member of the Special Commission on Breast Cancer and the National Action Plan on Breast Cancer; and chair of the District of Columbia Cancer Consortium.

She is also a member of AAWARE (an African-American women's political action committee). Under her leadership, BCRC is responsible for the television broadcast production of "A Celebration of Life: Rising Above Breast Cancer," broadcast on more than 200 PBS stations in its first airing. BCRC received a major grant from the Avon Foundation, Inc., to launch a national franchise of Rise, Sister, Rise™. She is co-author of a book entitled, 100 Questions and Answers About Breast Cancer. Ms. Brown is currently working on a book with Harold Freeman, MD. She co-produced a CD-ROM utilizing the breast cancer risk assessment tool set to original jazz.

Hee-Soon Juon, PhD
Associate Professor
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Hee-Soon Juon is an associate professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She has a PhD in behavioral sciences and health education from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and 15 years of professional experience conducting health-related research. Her expertise is in the area of cancer control behaviors among Asian Americans, and her research focuses on breast cancer, cervical cancer and colorectal cancers. She is also one of the principal investigators of the Korean American Cancer Project in Maryland and Asian Indian Breast Cancer Project in the Baltimore Washington Metropolitan Areas.

For the past six years, in a series of studies employing both quantitative and qualitative methods funded from the National Institutes of Health, the Komen Foundation and the Maryland Cigarette Restitution Fund, Dr. Juon has examined the likelihood of Korean Americans living in Maryland being screened for health problems and the reasons why the rates of screening are so low. Recently, she developed culturally integrated breast and cervical cancer educational materials designed for Korean American women. As a next step, she is planning to work on community-based interventions to reduce cancer health disparities among this non-English speaking population.

In response to the rapid expansion of the Asian-American population in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area, she has established an important collaboration with other Asian-American researchers and community-based organizations who have worked for Chinese, Vietnamese and Asian Indians. Currently, Dr. Juon is working on an Asian Indian Breast Cancer Project funded by the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation to examine the nature of breast cancer screening behaviors and to identify barriers and health care resources for Asian-Indian women in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Areas.

Patrice C. Malena, MS, FNP
Family Nurse Practitioner/Clinical Research Coordinator

Patrice C. Malena, MS, FNP, is a family nurse practitioner and clinical research coordinator for Stewart Wetchler, MD, and Mary Kay Dineen, MD, at their gynecology office in Newport News, VA. Ms. Malena is a retired childbirth educator, having taught childbirth classes for over 20 years. Ms. Malena received her bachelor of science degree in nursing from Old Dominion University, Norfolk, and her master of science in the Family Nurse Practitioner Program at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond.

Ms. Malena has served as a research investigator and coordinator for numerous women's health projects and has presented on such topics as menopausal hormone therapy, cervical and endometrial cancer, and obstetrics and gynecology for acupuncture students. Most recently, she was interviewed on a television newscast on the topic of prenatal care and education. In addition, she presents on the Speaker's Bureau for Barr/Duramed Pharmaceuticals.

Ms. Malena has served as Chair of the Legislative Committee for the Tidewater Chapter of the Virginia Council of Nurse Practitioners and is currently running for the office of President-Elect of the Peninsula Chapter. She was a member of the Institutional Review Board for the Office of Research at Eastern Virginia Medical School for two years. She is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses, the National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Woman's Health, the Sigma Theta Tau Nursing Honor Society and Phi Kappa Phi.

Mary Jane Minkin, MD
Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Yale University School of Medicine

Mary Jane Minkin, MD, is a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology, at Yale University School of Medicine. She has had a private practice since 1979. She is an attending physician at Yale-New Haven Hospital and Hospital of St. Raphael.

Dr. Minkin has been active in the education of women's health issues since 1979. Dr. Minkin is a recipient of the Irving Friedman Award, given by the Yale University School of Medicine's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology for excellence in clinical abilities and patient care, and has twice been awarded the Excellence in Teaching Award, presented by the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics to one faculty member from each member teaching institution who has demonstrated excellence in teaching. In addition to serving on the medical advisory board at Prevention Magazine she has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals such as Obstetrics and Gynecology as well as the Journal of Reproductive Medicine. Dr. Minkin is the co-author of A Woman's Guide to Menopause and Perimenopause and A Woman's Guide to Sexual Health, both published by Yale University Press.

Dr. Minkin received a Bachelor of Science from Brown University in Rhode Island. She received her medical degree from Yale University School of Medicine and completed her residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and two children.

Amy Niles
President and CEO
National Women's Health Resource Center

Amy Niles is president and CEO of the National Women's Health Resource Center, (NWHRC), the nation's leading independent organization dedicated to providing health information and resources to women. In her role as president, Ms. Niles develops national public education initiatives and forms partnerships with other organizations, corporations and the media to advance women's health.

During her 13-year tenure, NWHRC's national campaigns have elevated awareness about important health issues for women throughout the country. Recent initiatives have focused on heart health (Take 10 for Your Heart), colorectal cancer (Dare to be Aware), depression (Support Partners) and female sexuality (Nurture your Nature). Under her leadership, www.healthywomen.org has become a key destination for women's health information on the Internet. Important partnerships have been forged with leading Web portals such as iVillage and DiscoveryHealth. An array of published materials are offered to women, including the National Women's Health Report, Fast Facts, and the new email newsletter, HealthyWomen Take 10.

Ms. Niles is a nationally recognized spokesperson for women's health, appearing often on television and radio broadcasts. She has been quoted in numerous women's health publications and magazines and speaks routinely at leading consumer and professional conferences.

Prior to serving as president and CEO, Ms. Niles has held senior level positions in hospital administration, planning/marketing and consulting. She received her MBA in health care administration from Baruch College, City University of New York, and her undergraduate BS degree from the University of Rochester in New York.

Ana E. Núñez, MD
Director, the Women's Health Education Program
Drexel University College of Medicine

Ana Núñez, MD is the director of the Center of Excellence, director of the Women's Health Education Program, assistant dean for Generalism and associate professor of medicine at Drexel University College of Medicine formerly MCP Hahnemann School of Medicine.
Dr. Núñez is a nationally recognized medical educator and health disparity researcher in women's health, curricular reform and cultural competency. She has served as the principal investigator in a number of educational and health services research grants in women's health and culturally effective health care. She has received funding by the U.S. Department of Education Fund for Improvement of Post-Secondary Education Grant for disseminating proven reforms for her work in Women's Health education. She has developed and implemented novel curriculum for all levels of medical training -- from first through fourth year students, as well as residents, faculty and for other health professional disciplines.

Her expertise in cross-cultural health care includes her nationally replicated workshop that is part of her cross cultural seminar series for health care professionals, a core component in the physician's assistant program curricula. She is an invited member of a national expert panel for developing tools to measuring cultural competence, a program supported by the Commonwealth Fund and spearheaded by the AAMC. Her research interests are in girls and women's health, minority women's health and culturally effective care. Dr. Núñez has developed a curriculum for mothers and daughters to explore healthy lifestyle choices. She has also created curriculum for health care providers to be better able to address the needs of minority women living with HIV/AIDs.

Dr. Núñez is a practicing general internist and has served as a Board Member of Congreso de Latinos Unidos. She is a member of the American Medical Association, Society for General Internal Medicine, American Medical Women's Association and the National Academy on Women's Health Education.

Moderator
Susan Dentzer
Health Correspondent
The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

Susan Dentzer is an on-air correspondent with The NewsHour, where she leads a unit dedicated to providing in-depth coverage of health care, health policy and Social Security. The health unit was awarded the 2000 Robinson Electronic Media Award by the American Psychiatric Association for its report on schizophrenia, and a 2003 Gabriel Award from the Catholic Academy for Communication Arts Professionals for coverage of the "Eden Alternative" approach to nursing home reform. The unit, begun in 1998, is funded by a grant from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.


Prior to joining The NewsHour in July 1998, Dentzer was chief economics correspondent and economics columnist for U.S. News & World Report, where she served from 1987 to 1997. In a series of columns and stories for U.S. News, she reported extensively on the debate over reforming and partially "privatizing" Social Security and over such health policy issues as regulation of managed care. Before joining U.S. News, Dentzer was at Newsweek, where she was senior writer covering business news until 1987.


Ms. Dentzer's work in television has included appearances as a regular analyst or commentator on ABC's Nightline, CNN's News Night with Aaron Brown, The McLaughlin Group and C-SPAN. Ms. Dentzer's writing has also earned her several fellowships. A Nieman Fellow at Harvard University for the 1986-87 academic year, she studied health economics and other disciplines.