AACE Executive Council

Officers

(ending year of term noted in parentheses)

President: John "Juan" Luque, PhD, MPH (2024)

John (Juan) Luque, PhD, MPH is Professor in the Institute of Public Health in the College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Florida. Dr. Luque earned his MPH (epidemiology), and PhD (medical anthropology) from the University of South Florida, and postdoctoral training in behavioral oncology at Moffitt Cancer Center. He previously held faculty positions at the Medical University of South Carolina and Georgia Southern University, where he was a tenured Associate Professor. Dr. Luque’s research interests include community-based cancer education interventions to impact health disparities in medically underserved or racial/ethnic minority populations, knowledge and beliefs around cancer screening and prevention, and occupational safety practices among Hispanic farmworkers. This research has been supported by NIH and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. With Levi Ross, he co-edited a special issue on cancer prevention and control and African Americans for the Journal of Cancer Education. Dr. Luque has served on NIH review panels and has published over 85 scientific papers in anthropology, medicine, and public health. He is a Fellow for the Society for Applied Anthropology and a former Executive Board Member of the Society for Medical Anthropology. Additional Information (personal website).

Disclosure Statement:
No relevant financial relationships to disclose

President-Elect: Melissa Thomas, PhD, MSPH, MSA, MCHES (2024)

Dr. Thomas’s career has always centered on addressing the health needs of communities by designing, implementing and evaluating community-led health education and promotion initiatives, especially around cancer health disparities.  After combining undergraduate degrees in political science, Spanish, and psychology and a graduate degree in administration with a PhD in public health, Melissa has been able to lay the foundation of a diverse education experience that has truly strengthened her commitment to developing interventions aimed at improving the health of communities through changing behavior and systems.  Her true research passion centers on efforts to address the burden of disease in rural and Appalachia Ohio. Dr. Thomas established a community-led nonprofit organization, called the Center for Appalachia Research in Cancer Education (CARE), to provide a framework to guide her research initiatives.  The Amish and Mennonite Breast Health Project she founded, called Project Hoffnung ("Hope" in German), has served over 7,500 Amish and Mennonite women over a period of 24 years with women’s health care services in some of the most resourced-starved sections of the state and is now a multi-state initiative that continues to reach two of the world’s largest Amish settlements.  Dr. Thomas has successfully trained and continues to hire Amish and Mennonite Community Health Workers throughout Ohio who serve as direct links to the communities they serve. She also was the first to estimate breast cancer incidence and mortality rates among Amish women in Ohio.  In her former role as Founding Director of the Office of Health Equity at one of the largest healthcare providers in the state, Dr. Thomas led a statewide study testing the effectiveness of culturally competent education and healthcare services among Appalachian, Lesbian, Latinx, African American, Amish and Mennonite communities.  Her grant-funding experience has brought over $2 million in research and outreach dollars all dedicated to health disparities initiatives, mostly related to Amish and Mennonite community-led public health programs.

Current research projects include community-engaged cancer research initiatives in Appalachia Ohio and in Amish Country, identifying health outcomes and coping strategies among food insecure individuals in Appalachia, training and utilizing Community Health Workers in improving population health, improving medical education and health care resources for the LGBTQ+ community, and addressing the social determinants of health in rural communities.  

Disclosure Statement:
No relevant financial relationships to disclose

Vice President: James Hamilton, MD (2024)

Dr. James Hamilton is an assistant professor with the department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. He received his medical degree from the Jefferson Medical College and completed his otolaryngology residency at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. He continued training with a fellowship in Head and Neck Oncology and Reconstruction at Emory University. His interests focus on the comprehensive management of benign and malignant lesions of the head and neck, minimally invasive and robotic surgery, and restoration of cosmesis and function through microvascular reconstruction.

Disclosure Statement:
No relevant financial relationships to disclose

Secretary: Angela Adjetey Appiah, PhD, DNP, MPH, RN, COA, FAACM (2024)

Dr. Appiah is a Fulbright Specialist serving countries globally and an executive administrator for healthcare systems. Her career spans over 25 years. Her expertise is in health systems and services management consulting, program development, accreditation, undergraduate and graduate education, executive administrator for primary care, oncology service line acute and ambulatory, heart failure services, disease prevention/detection, health promotion, navigation, palliative care, and supportive programs such as navigation. As an expert in clinical, operations, research, and evidence-based practice, she focuses on program development, sustainment, implementing science/translational research, and global population health. Dr. Appiah is an Associate Chief Nursing Officer for the Ambulatory Care Network at James J. Peters Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center and an Adjunct Associate Professor at Pace University College of Health Professions-Health Science & Lienhard School of Nursing Programs. Angela is also an Independent Consultant for Global Pediatric Medicine for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (St. Jude Global), Founder and CEO of Global Population Health Consulting, LLC.

She has worked with diverse countries' ministries of health, non-profit and profit organizations, and programs globally to build capacity and develop and sustain health systems. She has developed and participated in numerous mentoring and coaching programs for diverse organizations. She recently co-authored a chapter on Mentoring and coaching in the book 21st Century Nursing Leadership, edited by Dr. Mary Gullatte. In addition, she has presented and honored to be a keynote speaker numerous times at conferences, events locally, nationally, and globally. Dr. Appiah seeks to reduce the burden of preventable disease and people development among ethically diverse populations globally through evidence-based quality improvement, community-engaged research, and implementation science. She serves on numerous boards globally.

Angela feels her purpose is to transform global health systems, especially those in low-resource areas, and contribute to building healthier communities by promoting healthcare through capacity building, people development, improving disease prevention, program development and sustainment, health promotion, mentoring, coaching, and sponsoring diverse professionals. She is committed to engaging health care delivery services, establishing public health policy, management, regulations, and legislative initiatives, and developing strategies to reduce health disparities to promote health equity globally.

Disclosure Statement:
No relevant financial relationships to disclose

Treasurer: Katie Cueva, ScD, MAT, MPH (2024)

Disclosure Statement:
No relevant financial relationships to disclose

Members at Large

(ending year of term noted in parentheses)

Kayoll Galbraith Gyan, PhD, RN (2025)

Disclosure Statement:
No relevant financial relationships to disclose

Bret Hassel, PhD (2024)

Dr. Hassel received his PhD in Biochemistry from the Johns Hopkins University and completed postdoctoral studies at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He is currently a Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Dr. Hassel’s mentoring and teaching experience as a PI investigating the innate immune and tumor suppressor functions of RNase-L for over over 20 years led to leadership roles in training, education, and outreach programs that comprise the major components of his current professional activities. He served as Director of the Molecular Microbiology and Immunology graduate program from 2015-22, has taught in sixteen graduate and medical school courses and was named Teacher of the Year in 2013. Dr. Hassel has served on the thesis committees of over 100 students and directly mentored 33 postdoctoral, graduate and undergraduate trainees. Most recently, in his role as UMGCCC Assistant Director of Training and Education he has developed and serve as PI or co-I on six NIH-funded programs. These serve middle/high school (UMB CURE, CURE Connections), undergraduate (Nathan Schnaper Intern Program, BUILDII ASCEND), post-baccalaureate (STAR-PREP) and Masters degree (Bridges to the Doctorate) students to form a STEM education pipeline. An overarching goal of these programs is to inspire students from under-represented groups to pursue careers in research and healthcare and increase diversity in the biomedical workforce. He has received three awards recognizing this work in the areas of diversity, inclusion and mentoring and is committed to training the next generation of researchers and healthcare providers.

Disclosure Statement:
No relevant financial relationships to disclose

John Kim, EdD, MPH (2026)

John Kim is the Education Director for the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center Affiliate Network. In this role, he provides leadership and management for educational initiatives directed at nineteen affiliate cancer programs across Kentucky. Previous experience includes serving as the Associate Director for the Office of Child Development at the University of Pittsburgh School of Education, and as the Associate Director of Communications for Partners for Education at Berea College. He received his Doctorate in Education from Northern Kentucky University, Masters in Public Health from the University of Kentucky, and Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of Louisville. He enjoys golf, soccer, cooking healthy dog food, and hiking with his dog Max.

Disclosure Statement:
No relevant financial relationships to disclose

Tina Papadakos, MA(Ed) (2025)

Disclosure Statement:
No relevant financial relationships to disclose

Michael Preston, PhD, MPH (2026)

Dr. Michael A. Preston is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Behavior and Policy in the School of Population Health and serves as the Co-Director for the Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Health Equity and Disparities Research Shared Resource at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). He is the inaugural Wright Faculty Scholar for Health Disparities and his expertise includes the development of health initiatives that provide roadmaps for engaging communities that tend to be underrepresented, rural, and underresourced. His research agenda includes examining components of health care reform and how provisions of the Affordable Care Act address cancer health disparities among low-income, minorities, and underserved communities. Since arriving at VCU, he launched the Reaching the Underserved, Rural, and Low-Income (RURaL) Lab for Dissemination and Implementation Research in Cancer Disparities to facilitate his research activities.

Disclosure Statement:
No relevant financial relationships to disclose

Saima Saleem, PhD (2024)

Disclosure Statement:
No relevant financial relationships to disclose

Chair, Advisory Committee (Immediate Past President)

Michelle S. Williams, PhD, MSPH, MPH, MCHES (2024)

Dr. Williams earned a bachelor of science degree and a master's of public health at Florida A&M University. She earned a PhD in health behavior at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Public Health. She completed her postdoctoral training in the UAB-VA Health Services, Outcomes, and Effectiveness Research training program, during which she also earned a master of science of public health in health outcomes.

Dr. Williams’ research is focused on developing population-specific health behavior interventions for cancer prevention and control that will lead to a reduction in cancer disparities. Since 2009, Dr. Williams has been conducting research in Ghana, West Africa, that is focused on cervical cancer prevention. Dr. Williams is also currently working on a study that is aimed at investigating the nutrition environments of breast cancer survivors in the Deep South. She looks forward to collaborating with investigators and students across campus on research aimed at improving health outcomes and reducing health disparities.

Disclosure Statement:
No relevant financial relationships to disclose

EACE President

Filipe Santos Silva, PhD

Filipe Santos Silva holds a PhD in Human Biology and a Master’s in Oncobiology from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto. He is a researcher at i3S – Institute for Research and Innovation in Health and leads the Public Awareness of Cancer Unit at IPATIMUP. As an affiliate Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of Porto, he mentored post-doctoral, graduate, and undergraduate trainees. As a guest researcher professor at Fred and Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, he developed projects for cancer prevention education in Omaha schools. Reviewer of several scientific journals and recently nominated Associate Editor of the Journal of Cancer Education. LEGO Serious Play certified facilitator and consultant for innovation units and health start-ups. Member of national and international evaluation panels (MEDEA, ISEF) on health and science promotion. Successfully led an extensive portfolio of cancer prevention education projects, creating the innovative concept of training teachers to deliver impactful cancer prevention campaigns in schools and local communities. Current interests are focused on developing new cancer education models based on innovative methodologies that address the communication gap between health professionals and cancer patients.

Disclosure Statement:
No relevant financial relationships to disclose

Ex-Officio Members

Erika Ginsburg, MA, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD

Disclosure Statement:
No relevant financial relationships to disclose

Nastaran Zahir, PhD, National Cancer Institute, Rockville, MD

Disclosure Statement:
No relevant financial relationships to disclose