Board Members

The National Patient Advocate Foundation is comprised of a network of research and community oncologists, attorneys, legislators, healthcare industry representatives, and advocates committed to the goal of offering support to cancer patients through legislative reform.

View the Past Presidents of the Executive Board of Directors
View the Finance Committee of the Board of Directors




Nancy Davenport-Ennis
Chief Executive Officer & President

Executive Board


Christian Downs, MHA, JD
Board President
Deputy Executive Director, Association of Community Cancer Centers
Rockville, MD


Leah Arnett
Board Secretary
Nursing Director, University Health Services
University of Texas at Austin

John L. Murphy
Chairman, Finance Committee
Saguenay Capital, LLC

Purchase, NY

Edward G. Connette, Esquire
Essex Richards, PA   
Charlotte, NC

Dr. Alan Balch
Vice President of the Preventive Health Partnership  
American Cancer Society (ACS), American Diabetes Association (ADA), and American Heart Association (AHA)


Rene S. Cabral-Daniels, JD, MPH
Vice President of Grant Programs
Williamsburg Community Health Foundation
Williamsburg, VA


Dennis A. Gastineau
Director, Human Cell Therapy Laboratory, Divisions of Transfusion Medicine & Hematology     Mayo Clinic
Rochester, MN

Venus Gines
Founder, Dia de la Mujer Latina, Inc.
Faculty, Chronic Disease Prevention and Control Research Center Vice President of Grant Programs
Baylor College of Medicine
Manvel, TX

Pearl Moore, RN, MN, FAAN
Chief Executive Officer (retired)
Oncology Nursing Society
Pittsburgh, PA

Roy J. Ramthun
President
HSA Consulting Services
Silver Spring, MD

Jonathan B. Perlin, MD, PhD, MSHA, FACP, FACMI
President, Clinical Services and Chief Medical Officer
HCA, Inc (Hospital Corporation of America)
Nashville, TN


Reed V. Tuckson, MD, FACP
Executive Vice President and Chief of Medical Affairs
UnitedHealth Group
Minnetonka, MN

Lovell Jones, PhD.
Director, Center for Research on Minority Health (CRMH)
Department of Health Disparities Research, The University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center
Houston, TX

RADM Deborah Parham Hopson, PhD, MSPH, RN
Associate Administrator for HIV/AIDS
Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Rockville, MD

Martha E. "Meg" Gaines, JD, LLM
Clinical Professor of Law
University of Wisconsin

Madison, WI


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Scientific Board

Lori Williams, PhD, RN, MSN, OCN, AOCN           
Instructor, Department of Symptom Research
University of Texas
MD Anderson Cancer Center
                      

Dr. David M. Brizel
Professor of Radiation Oncology
Associate Professor of Head and Neck Surgery
Duke University Medical Center

Robert M. Rifkin, MD, FACP
Chair, Scientific Board

Director, Rocky Mountain Blood & Marrow Transplant Program
Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers

F. Marc Stewart, MD
Medical Director, SCCA
Professor of Medicine
University of Washington
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
 

Pamela Becker, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Medicine/Hematology
Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine
University of Washington

 

Nicholas J. Petrelli, MD, FACS
Medical Director
Helen F. Graham Cancer Center
Newark, DE 
 

Al Benson III, MD, FACP
GI Medical Oncology (Professor of Medicine)
Feinberg School of Medicine
Northwestern University

 

Charles Balch, MD, PACS
Professor of Surgery and Oncology and Dermatology
Deputy Director, Johns Hopkins Institute for Clinical and Translational Research
Johns Hopkins
 

 



Honorary Board

The Honorable Mary T. Christian
Former member of Virginia House of Delegates
Hampton, VA

John H. Ennis
Co-Founder and Executive Vice President
Patient Advocate Foundation
Newport News, VA

Paula Trahan-Rieger
Director of International Affairs
American Society of Clinical Oncology
Alexandria, VA

Doris Simonson
Mother of Cheryl Grimmel
Monmouth, ME

Leo E. Sands
Executive Vice President & Chief Administrative Officer
US Oncology
Houston, TX

The Honorable Pat Dougherty                         Missouri State Senate (Retired)                               St. Louis, MO

Sheldon Weinhaus, Esquire                            Weinhaus & Potashnick                                   Creve Coeur, MO

Bruce Avery, MD                                          Hematology-Oncology Knoxville                      Knoxville, TN

 

Richard D. Carter, Esquire                              Richard D. Carter, PLLC                                  Alexandria, VA

 

 


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