American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network Welcomes Three New Members to the National Board of Directors

WASHINGTON, D.C.— The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) announces three new members – Dr. Roy Jensen, Susan Penfield and Dr. Karen M. Winkfield – alongside newly-elected leadership officers to the Board of Directors, with terms beginning on January 1, 2023. The Board provides leadership and guidance for ACS CAN, which supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to end cancer as we know it, for everyone.

"ACS CAN is proud to welcome these distinguished, passionate and effective leaders to our Board of Directors," said Lisa Lacasse, president of ACS CAN. "Our mission to reduce the cancer burden through public policy advocacy will be bolstered by the extensive cancer research, health care technology and health equity-related knowledge and expertise these advocates bring with them.”

Roy Jensen, MD, Kansas City, KS – Dr. Jensen is the Vice Chancellor and Director of The University of Kansas Cancer Center, as well as Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Professor of Cancer Biology, and the William R. Jewell, M.D. Distinguished Kansas Masonic Professor at the University of Kansas Medical Center. With his guidance and a broad-based university, community and regional effort, The University of Kansas Cancer Center achieved National Cancer Institute comprehensive designation in July 2022, the NCI’s most elite level of designation. Prior to his appointment at KU Cancer Center in 2004, Jensen was a member of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center and a faculty member in Pathology, Cell Biology, and Cancer Biology for 13 years.

Susan Penfield, Washington, D.C. – Ms. Penfield is Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton. During her 28-year tenure at Booz Allen, Ms. Penfield has led strategic innovation initiatives and the firm’s billion-dollar digital business spanning the defense, national security, civilian and health sectors. A passionate advocate for women in technology, Ms. Penfield was recognized as a 2021 Woman Who Means Business by the Washington Business Journal. She also received the 2020 WashingtonExec Lifetime Achievement Award for her pioneering work driving technology innovation in government and her commitment to cultivating the next generation of women in STEM.

Karen M Winkfield, MD, PhD, Nashville, TN/Winston-Salem, NC—Dr. Winkfield is a Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Ingram Professor of Cancer Research at Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center, and Professor of Medicine at Meharry Medical College. She is the Executive Director of the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance, a strategic partnership between Meharry Medical College and Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and is a national expert on design and implementation of programing to reduce sociocultural and economic barriers that contribute to disparate health outcomes. A radiation oncologist, she specializes in the treatment of hematologic malignancies and breast cancer Dr. Winkfield was appointed by President Joe Biden to the National Cancer Advisory Board in 2021, where she will serve a six-year term and help guide federal initiatives that focus on cancer.

"It is an honor to welcome these esteemed leaders to serve on the ACS CAN Board of Directors,” said Maureen Mann, Chair of the Board and Vice President at Lynn Cancer Institute, part of Baptist Health in Boca Raton, Florida. “I am confident their unique perspectives and experiences will accelerate our work to influence public policy to better the lives of millions of patients with cancer, survivors and their families. We are eager to welcome them to the ACS CAN family and get to work on our ever-important mission.”

The ACS CAN Board of Directors consists of 19 members, including five officers and 14 at-large directors, who lead ACS CAN in partnership with ACS CAN and American Cancer Society CEO Dr. Karen E. Knudsen and ACS CAN President Lisa Lacasse.

The complete 2023 ACS CAN Board of Directors is as follows:

Officers

•  Maureen G. Mann, MS, MBA, FACHE (Chair)
•  Kimberly L. Jeffries Leonard, PhD (Vice Chair)
•  John J. Manna, Jr., Esq. (Secretary)
•  Bernard Jackvony, JD (Treasurer)
•  Sandra Cassese, MSN, RN, CNS (Immediate Past Chair of the Board)

At-Large Directors

•  P. Kay Coleman, MS, MBA
•  David Ford
•  David O. Garcia, PhD, FACSM
•  Roy Jensen, MD
•  Brian Marlow (Chair, American Cancer Society Board)
•  Scarlott K. Mueller, MPH, RN, FAAN
•  Philip R. O’Brien
•  Susan Penfield
•  Marcus Plescia, MD, MPH
•  Omar M. Rashid, MD, JD, FACS, FSSO, DABS
•  Jose R. Ramos, Jr.
•  William P. Underriner
•  Bruce D. Waldholtz, MD
•  Karen Winkfield, MD, PhD