100 Influential Women in Oncology: Key Opinion Leaders to follow on Social Media in 2023: Part 8

Once again, it’s Saturday, and we continue OncoDaily’s series, ‘100 Influential Women in Oncology: Key Opinion Leaders to Follow on Social Media in 2023.’ As promised, each week we will spotlight 10 remarkable women leaders from around the globe who are advancing the field of oncology.

You can view the profiles of the nominees from the last four weeks by checking out the links below:

100 Influential Women in Oncology: Key Opinion Leaders to Follow on Social Media in 2023 (1-10)

100 Influential Women in Oncology: Key Opinion Leaders to Follow on Social Media in 2023 (11-20)

100 Influential Women in Oncology: Key Opinion Leaders to Follow on Social Media in 2023 (21-30)

100 Influential Women in Oncology: Key Opinion Leaders to Follow on Social Media in 2023 (31-40)

100 Influential Women in Oncology: Key Opinion Leaders to Follow on Social Media in 2023 (41-50)

100 Influential Women in Oncology: Key Opinion Leaders to Follow on Social Media in 2023 (51-60)

100 Influential Women in Oncology: Key Opinion Leaders to Follow on Social Media in 2023 (61-70)

Below, we present the eighth part of our list featuring 100 Women Leaders in Oncology. You can follow them on Twitter (X) and/or LinkedIn. We are eager to hear your recommendations for individuals who should be highlighted in our forthcoming features.

Dr. Karen 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. 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. She is a member of the ASCO Board. She is a recipient of The One Hundred Award from the Massachusetts General Hospital, Women Leaning the Way to Wellness Award from the American Cancer Society and Health Hero Award for Advocacy.

Follow Dr. Winkfield on X (Twitter) and LinkedIn.

Penilla Gunther is a member of the EU Cancer Mission and Former Member of Swedish Parliament. She is an experienced policy maker as former Member of Swedish Parliament, the Nordic Council and chair of the Welfare Committee, and also from local and regional councils. She is the founder of FOKUS Patient, a digital and physical meeting place for life science & healthcare with a patient perspective, President of the European Patient Safety Foundation and appointed by the European Commission as an Expert in the Cancer Mission Board. Penilla is a life-long patient as being heart transplanted 15 years ago and cancer survivor twice. Penilla Gunther co-chaired the European Cancer Organization’s SmartCARE steering committee, a landmark initiative of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan under the EU4Health Programme, digital tool to reduce the communication gap between survivors and health and social-care providers.

Follow Penilla Gunther on X (Twitter) and LinkedIn.

Dr. Eleonora Teplinsky is a medical oncologist specializing in breast and gynecologic oncology. She is the head of breast and gynecological medical oncology at Valley-Mount Sinai Comprehensive Cancer Care in Paramus, New Jersey, and a clinical assistant professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. Her clinical and research interests focus on young women with breast cancer, survivorship, exercise oncology, and the use of social media in oncology. She is passionate about oncology education and advocacy on social media and is the host of the INTERLUDE Podcast, where she shares the stories and experiences of those who have been affected by cancer. Dr. Teplinsky is the co-lead of the The Collaboration for Outcomes using Social Media in Oncology (COSMO) – a social media lab working to provide a venue for social media research in oncology.

Follow Dr. Teplinsky on X (Twitter) and LinkedIn.

Dr. Maria Kavallaris is Founding Director of the Australian Centre for NanoMedicine at the University of New South Wales, Head of the Translational Cancer Nanomedicine Theme at the Children’s Cancer Institute and a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator. Maria is recognised for her innovation in driving multidisciplinary research in cancer nanomedicine. Maria is Chair of the Australian Institute for Policy and Science, and a Life Member and past-President of the Australian Society for Medical Research. The impact of her research has been recognised many times, including via receipt of the Australian Museum Eureka Prize, as well as being named by the NHMRC as an Australian ‘high achiever’ in health and medical research. She is an elected Fellow of both the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences and the Royal Society of New South Wales.  Maria was named the 2020 NSW Premier’s Woman of the Year.  In 2019, Professor Kavallaris was appointed a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia for her significant service to medicine, and to medical research, in the field of childhood and adult cancers. Maria received the 2022 Presidential Medal for Outstanding Contributions, Republic of Cyprus.

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Dr. Elizabeth McKenna is the Executive Director of Cancer Discovery at the American Association for Cancer Research. Elizabeth earned her PhD from Harvard University and trained with Dr. Charles Roberts at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Her research was among the first to show that pediatric tumors characterized by mutations in chromatin remodelers are genomically stable and instead driven by epigenetic deregulation of key target genes. She joined Cancer Discovery shortly after its launch as its founding Science Writer and became an editor in 2014, rising through the editorial ranks to become the journal’s Executive Editor in 2019. She is a member of the 40 Under 40 in Cancer Class of 2021.

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Emily K. Drake is a cancer researcher, co-founder of #AYACSM and adolescent & young adult cancer advocate. A social innovator, Emily co-founded Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Societal Movement (#AYACSM) in 2013. This active, multi-disciplinary Twitter community, continues to grow and is changing the way stakeholders interact and share information regarding adolescents and young adults living with cancer on multiple social media channels. Emily currently lives in Halifax where she runs her own consulting business (EmilyDrake.ca) and is a PhD in Health candidate at Dalhousie University. She is a Killam Laureate, a Healthy Populations Institute scholar and a Beatrice Hunter Cancer Research Institute Cancer Research Training Program trainee. Prior to this she was working with Hope & Cope at the Jewish General Hospital/McGill University as the Director of their young adult cancer support program, which offered in person and digital support services.

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Dr. Cathy Eng is a Professor of Medicine, Hematology and Oncology, and is the Co-Director of GI Oncology and Co-Leader of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Research Program at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. She also holds the David H. Johnson Endowed Chair of Surgical and Medical Oncology. Dr. Eng was previously a Professor of Medical Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Her primary clinical research interests include clinical trials involving innovative drugs for the treatment of colorectal, anal, and appendiceal cancers. She has a specific interest in young colorectal cancer patients as well as the role of immunotherapy in HPV-associated cancers. Nationally, Dr. Eng has served in multiple leadership roles for ASCO, ASCO GI, ECOG, and the NCI Rectal/Anal Task Force. She has most recently been chosen to serve as the Vice-Chair for the SWOG GI Committee and the NCI GI Steering Committee.

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Dr. Teresa Amaral is a Consultant Medical Oncologist and the Head of Skin Cancer Clinical Trials Center at the Tuebingen University Hospital in Germany. Dr Amaral obtained her MD degree from Lisbon University in 2006, concurrent with her degree in Aeronautic Medicine from the Portuguese Air Force. Following her graduation, she pursued her general internship at CHLN and Hospital Pulido Valente in Lisbon in 2007, followed by Medical Oncology Internship in 2008. She is a board-certified Specialist in Medical Oncology since 2014. Between 2020 and 2022, Dr Amaral served as the Chair of the ESMO (European Society for Medical Oncology) Young Oncologists Committee. Currently, she is member of the ESMO Melanoma and Other Skin Tumours Faculty and subject editor for melanoma and other skin cancers guidelines. Since January 2023 she is Chair of the ESMO Leadership Development Committee and serves as an ESMO Council Member.

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Janice Cowden is a former nurse, cancer patient and advocate. She was diagnosed with stage I triple-negative early-stage breast cancer in 2011; later, Janice was diagnosed with metastatic disease in 2016. She became a Living Beyond Breast Cancer Hear My Voice (HMV) Advocate in 2017 and continues to serve as a Helpline Volunteer. Janice works with several patient-founded and -led organizations including PCDI, GRASP, and Project Life MBC. As a trained peer support volunteer, she is founder of an international online peer support group for patients newly diagnosed with MBC.  She serves on the Board of Directors for METAvivor Research and Support, Inc., and is an Advisory Board member for Project Life MBC. In 2022, she attended ASCO as a patient advocate scholarship recipient. In October 2022, she was invited to serve as a lead patient advocate, representing PCDI, on a research study with ASCO.

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Dr. Nirmala Bhoo-Pathy is as a Professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, and practices as a public health physician in Universiti Malaya Medical Centre, Malaysia. She is also a visiting scholar at Queen’s University Belfast, United Kingdom since 2014. Dr Bhoo Pathy’s career is focused on optimizing life after cancer in resource-limited settings through research and advocacy. Dr Bhoo Pathy was the principal investigator of phase III of the ASEAN CosTs In ONcology (ACTION) study, comprising close to 10,000 cancer patients from eight low-and middle-income member countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). She currently serves in two Lancet Commissions: the Lancet Commission on Women and Cancer and the Lancet Commission on Cancer and Health Systems. As the founder and scientific lead of a solution-oriented research group ‘Well with Cancer in Malaysia (WeCan@MY) https://spm.um.edu.my/wecan@my/ in the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Nirmala Bhoo-Pathy currently oversees a wide range of studies on cancer care, cancer control and cancer policy, locally and globally.

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