Chief Executive Officer As Chief Executive Officer, Shelley Fuld Nasso leads the public policy activities of NCCS at a time of rapid and fundamental health care system change. Shelley joined NCCS in December 2012 and was named CEO in October 2013.
Prior to joining NCCS, Shelley served in leadership roles at Susan G. Komen, where she leveraged Komen’s grassroots network in Washington, D.C., and in state capitals. There she built relationships with policymakers and partner organizations and led a team of staff and volunteer leaders to influence state budgets and legislation. Under her leadership, Komen successfully secured $80 million in state funding for cancer screening and treatment for uninsured and under-insured women. She and her team also expanded the Komen grassroots advocacy program from a pilot of seven affiliates to more than 100 affiliates across the country engaged in federal and state advocacy efforts. Shelley has also served as Director of Community Philanthropy at The Dallas Foundation and held management positions at communications and technology enterprises. She is a graduate of Rice University and holds a Master of Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School.
Shelley’s commitment to the work of NCCS is strongly tied to the experiences in the cancer care system of her dear friend, Dr. Brent Whitworth, a beloved physician who was diagnosed with stage IV cancer days before his 42nd birthday and who passed away 19 months later. Through Brent’s experiences, Shelley witnessed the strengths and flaws of the cancer care system and embraces the notion that policy change can make cancer care better for patients and caregivers.
Shelley and her husband Michael live in Maryland and are the parents of three young boys.
Elena Jeannotte
Vice President, External Relations
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Elena Jeannotte
Vice President, External Relations
Elena Jeannotte joined NCCS in the summer of 2015 and currently serves as the Vice President of External Relations. She is responsible for developing and guiding the overall strategy and implementation of development, communications, and marketing for the organization. Elena has nearly 20 years of experience in fundraising, constituent engagement, program building, and partnerships in the health care field. Prior to joining NCCS, she worked for Georgetown University Medical Center as Senior Director of Constituent Relations and Events and was responsible for a fundraising and engagement program for Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. Elena also founded and served as president of a small non-profit organization focused on supporting esophageal cancer research at Johns Hopkins.
Elena’s passion for working in the field of cancer research and advocacy stems from serving as a caregiver to her parents, both of whom battled cancer. Their experiences as patients inspired Elena to start her career in the cancer field. She considers her role at NCCS, and her drive to support cancer survivors, as a way to keep the memory of her parents alive each and every day.
Woulita Seyoum
Senior Director of Finance and Operations
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Woulita Seyoum
Senior Director of Finance and Operations
Woulita Seyoum joined NCCS in 2007 and serves as Senior Director of Finance and Operations.
Prior to joining NCCS, Woulita served as Director of Finance at Point-Of-Purchase Advertising International (POPAI), a trade association for the point of purchase advertising industry. She too has a very personal connection to cancer with her father’s diagnosis, treatment, and end-of-life journey. Woulita is a graduate of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, and lives with her husband and two teenagers in Maryland.
Debbie Lewis
Director of Development
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Debbie Lewis
Director of Development Debbie joined NCCS in the summer of 2021 and serves as the Director of Development. Her responsibilities include expanding and leading the individual giving program. She has nearly 10 years of professional experience developing and executing dynamic fundraising strategies in progressive and highly visible leadership roles while at University Hospitals Health System and as an Executive Consultant for Raising Results LLC.
Debbie’s passion for working in the field of cancer research and advocacy stems from serving as a caregiver to her daughter, who battled cancer, and her own personal journey with cancer. Her experience as a caregiver inspired Debbie to start her professional career in the philanthropy field. She considers her role at NCCS, and her drive to support cancer survivors, as a way to keep the memory of her daughter alive each and every day.
Debbie also founded and served as president of a small non-profit organization focused on supporting pediatric cancer research at her local children’s hospital. She is also involved with several other non-profits that support children and adolescents’ health and community and leadership development.
Haley Smoot
Director of Public Policy
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Haley Smoot
Director of Public Policy Haley Smoot joined NCCS in the fall of 2021 and serves as the Director of Public Policy. She is responsible for representing cancer survivors on Capitol Hill and with federal agencies and state governments to advance NCCS’s policy priorities.
Prior to joining NCCS, she worked with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission where she led and implemented critical legislative initiatives, including projects centered on CHIP, Medicaid, and the implementation of the Affordable Care Act in Texas, and provided strategic guidance and support as the Senior Policy Advisor to more than 40 social services programs. Apart from her experience in state government, she worked with the American Heart Association and Leukemia & Lymphoma Society where she spearheaded policy, advocacy, and partnership efforts.
Haley’s passion for cancer policy and advocacy stems from her own personal connection. Her father battled cancer from 2015 to 2017, and her mother was later diagnosed with cancer in 2019. As her parents’ caregiver, she witnessed first-hand the challenges of the current health system and the importance of quality cancer care.
Haley holds a bachelor’s degree in History from Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee and a master’s degree in Material and Visual Cultures of the Past from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. She is currently pursuing a second master’s degree in Global Health Policy from the University of Edinburgh.
Veronika Panagiotou, PhD
Advocacy and Program Manager
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Veronika Panagiotou, PhD
Advocacy and Program Manager Veronika Panagiotou, PhD, joined NCCS in the Summer of 2021 and serves as the Advocacy and Program Manager. Her responsibilities include managing the Cancer Policy and Advocacy Team (CPAT), Survivorship Champions and various advocacy initiatives.
Dr. Panagiotou’s passion for working in survivorship and advocacy emerged after being diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma when she was 25 years old. As a young adult cancer survivor, she has witnessed firsthand the need for recognition of the financial toxicity of treatment, the creation of more supportive services, and the availability of survivorship care. Before joining NCCS as a staff member, Veronika was an active CPAT member. She has met with her representatives to share her story and to advocate for policies such as the Affordable Care Act that saved her life by giving her access to cancer treatment.
Dr. Panagiotou obtained her doctorate in Community Engagement at Point Park University in 2021. She defended her dissertation entitled, “Do Service-Learning Models Create an Opportunity to Cultivate Civic Engagement Outcomes at Point Park University? A Phenomenological Study of Students’ Perspectives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.” Dr. Panagiotou was awarded the “Student Award for Excellence in Community Engagement” for the academic year of 2017-2018 after creating the Pioneer Pantry which serves college students, faculty, and staff experiencing food insecurity on campus.
Kirstyn A. Flood
Communications and Marketing Manager
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Kirstyn A. Flood
Communications and Marketing Manager
Kirstyn A. Flood joined NCCS in the fall of 2021 and currently serves as the Communications & Marketing Manager. She is responsible for helping develop and execute the strategy of development, communications, and marketing for the organization. Kirstyn has years of experience in digital content, media relations, and marketing for the nonprofit and public sectors. Prior to joining NCCS, she worked on Capitol Hill as a Press Secretary & Digital Director and at the Economic Policy Institute as a Communications Coordinator.
Kirstyn’s passion for supporting cancer survivorship stems from the passing of her grandmother – a 20-year breast cancer survivor whose end-of-life journey, after receiving a diagnosis for an even more aggressive form of cancer in the spring of 2021, changed Kirstyn’s life forever.
Kirstyn received bachelor’s degrees in Multiplatform Journalism and Government & Politics from the University of Maryland, College Park, and her master’s degree in Public Administration and Policy from American University. She is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
Board of Directors
Samira K. Beckwith
Past Board Chair Read more
Samira K. Beckwith
Past Board Chair
Samira K. Beckwith, a two-time cancer survivor, has over 30 years experience in professional healthcare and social services. Samira previously served NCCS as Acting Board Chair and continues to serve on the board. She has served as President and CEO of Hope HealthCare Services, based in Fort Myers, Florida, since 1991.
Under her leadership, Hope has created a unique array of services for the frail elderly and children and today serves nearly 3,000 people and their families in a 10,000 square-mile area throughout southwest and mid-Florida.
In 2010, Samira was appointed as a Team Leader on Florida Governor-elect Rick Scott’s Health and Human Services Transition Team. Former Governor Jeb Bush described her as a visionary who provides leadership on a local and national level – “passionate about ensuring the highest quality” of service in her role as President of Hope. With that in mind, he appointed Samira to the state’s Long-Term Care Policy Council, focused on providing the most cost-effective, community-based services for Florida’s elderly. She has testified before a US House Judiciary subcommittee on the need for legislation to enable better care and comfort for those at the end of life.
Samira currently maintains leadership roles in multiple national, state, and community organizations, including the Board of Directors of the Hospice Action Network and Florida Hospices and Palliative Care Association. She served previously on the Board of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization and the Ohio State University Alumni Association. Samira is the Founding President of the Florida PACE Association – the Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly.
Awards and honors bestowed upon Samira include the prestigious Ellis Island Medal of Honor, presented to distinguished Americans who “represent the very essence of the American way of life.” She has twice been honored by the National Association of Social Workers, as a Community Action Hero and a Social Work Pioneer. She has received the Ohio State University Alumni Association’s Medalist Award, and has been inducted into the Ohio State University College of Social Work Hall of Fame.
Otis W. Brawley, MD
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Otis W. Brawley, MD
Otis W. Brawley, MD is a globally recognized expert in cancer prevention and control. He has worked to reduce over-screening of medical conditions, which has revolutionized patient treatment by increasing quality of life and reducing health disparities.
Dr. Brawley’s research focuses on developing cancer screening strategies and ensuring their effectiveness. He has championed efforts to decrease smoking and implement other lifestyle risk reduction programs, as well as to provide critical support to cancer patients and concentrate cancer control efforts in areas where they could be most effective. Dr. Brawley currently leads a broad interdisciplinary research effort on cancer health disparities at the Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, striving to close racial, economic, and social disparities in the prevention, detection, and treatment of cancer in the United States and worldwide. He also directs community outreach programs for underserved populations throughout Maryland.
Dr. Brawley joined Johns Hopkins University as a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor in 2019 from the American Cancer Society and Emory University.
Philip Dufour
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Philip Dufour
As President of The Dufour Collaborative, one of the nation’s premier experience design firms, Philip Dufour brings his signature style to every event. With formal training in graphic design and professional experience spanning government affairs, corporate relations, and event production, Philip marries strategic and diplomatic sensibilities with a finely-tuned design aesthetic to create experiences that move, delight, and unite people.
Prior to creating Dufour & Co, Philip co-founded the J Street Group, LLC in 2005. This followed his tenure as Director of Development and Events for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, where he led a 10+ person staff in creating, planning, and managing high-visibility development events, raising more than $8 million annually, attracting major celebrities, and garnering extensive media coverage.
Taylor Ferrell
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Taylor Ferrell
Taylor Ferrell joined the NCCS Board of Directors in 2019. Taylor was appointed to serve on the NCCS Board Finance Committee in 2022.
He is an environmental attorney with the Department of Justice. He formerly worked in the Pentagon and in the White House under President Obama. A cancer survivor, he lives in Washington, DC with his wife and daughter.
Ben Fishman
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Ben Fishman
Ben Fishman joined the board of NCCS in 2017. He is a foreign policy and national security specialist who served at the White House from 2009-2013.
Laurie Isenberg
Board Chair Read more
Laurie Isenberg
Board Chair
Laurie Isenberg joined the NCCS Board in 2016 and has served as Board Chair since 2022. As a two-time breast cancer survivor, Laurie was inspired by Ellen Stovall, her husband’s cousin, to work as a patient advocate. She has worked with the UCSF Center of Excellence for Breast Cancer Care, where she served in a marketing advisory capacity at BreastCancerTrials.org, a matching clinical trial service for anyone touched by breast cancer. She is currently working with a team at the UCSF Cancer Center who are building integrated survivorship care resources across various cancer programs.
Laurie is a strategic marketing and branding consultant helping both social enterprises and for-profit companies with their launch, branding and repositioning plans. She began her career in acquisitions and strategy for the Dun & Bradstreet Corporation in NYC and was the Director of Strategic Planning for D&B’s subsidiary, ACNielsen Worldwide. She subsequently co-founded SPINS, a marketing research firm for the natural consumer products industry. Laurie has worked with Prophet Brand Strategy and other consulting firms; her work includes developing a brand strategy for Breast Cancer Prevention Partners (formally The Breast Cancer Fund), a research and policy organization that works to remove cancer-correlated toxics from consumer products.
Laurie earned her B.A. in Economics at the University of Colorado and her M.B.A. at The Wharton School of Business.
Michael L. Kappel
Finance Committee Chair Read more
Michael L. Kappel
Finance Committee Chair
Michael L. Kappel served NCCS as the acting President & CEO and continues to serve the organization as a board member and Chair of the Board Finance Committee, representing NCCS at conferences and other meetings ensuring the voice of the survivor remains at the center of health policy reform and quality improvement. He retired in 2011 as the Senior Vice President, Government & Industry Relations for McKesson Technology Solutions. He served as an advocate for healthcare policies that enable improved care through the use of information technology. He was responsible for developing McKesson Technology Solutions’ responses to emerging legislation and regulatory initiatives. He previously served as Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning where he was responsible for product direction and long-range strategic planning.
Kappel is active in a number of the healthcare industry’s information technology organizations. He was elected a Commissioner for the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology where he previously served as co-chair of the Network Certification Workgroup, the Certification Process Workgroup and the Advisory panel. He is past chair of the Policy Committee of the National Alliance for Healthcare Information Technology and currently serves as a member of the Leadership Council of the eHealth Initiative and the steering committee of Connecting for Health. He currently is a member of HIMSS Electronic Health Record Association which he helped to found in 2004 and where he has served as a past member of the Executive Committee.
Kappel brings to this position more than thirty years of experience in healthcare information technology development, strategic planning and business development. During his career, Kappel has served in numerous positions in private industry. Prior to rejoining McKesson in 2002, he was executive vice-president of ProVation Medical Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota. Prior to joining ProVation Medical Inc., Kappel was chief executive officer of MedSpecialists, Inc., a start-up company that was acquired by ProVation in 2001. Kappel also held numerous leadership positions over 16 years with McKessonHBOC and HBO & Company.
Kappel earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the College of William and Mary and a master of business administration degree in finance and healthcare administration from Cornell University.
Ana Maria López, MD
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Ana Maria López, MD
Ana Maria López, MD, MPH, FACP, is Professor and Vice Chair of Medical Oncology at Sidney Kimmel Medical College and Chief of Cancer Services at Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center – Jefferson Health – New Jersey. Dr. López has served as an NCCS Board Member since 2021.
Dr. López joined Jefferson in 2018 from the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City, UT, where she was Director of Cancer Health Equality and Inclusion and served as Associate Vice President of Health Equality and Inclusion at the University of Utah Health. A board-certified Medical Oncologist, Dr. López’s clinical expertise is in women’s malignancies, integrative medicine and oncology, and telehealth.
Dr. López is President-Emeritus of the American College of Physicians, the largest medical specialty organization in the United States. Her strong commitment to health equity is reflected in her work with the American Society of Clinical Oncology as former Chair of the Health Equity Committee, and with the Association of American Medical Colleges where she serves as Member of the Steering Committee of the Group of Women in Medicine and Science. Her areas of expertise and research focus include cancer prevention, integrative oncology, and innovations in healthcare.
Lisa D. T. Rice, S.M.
Vice Chair Read more
Lisa D. T. Rice, S.M.
Vice Chair
Lisa D. T. Rice is an influential advocate for multiple causes—including quality cancer care, women’s health and empowerment, and palliative and hospice care. She is a political strategist and social media activist, driven by the principles of accountability, transparency, and ethical behavior.
Lisa first connected with Shelley and NCCS in 2015, the year after two dear friends died of metastatic cancer. Those tragic, premature deaths drove Lisa’s search for a meaningful policy role in the cancer advocacy community. Due to her mother’s advanced Alzheimer’s, Lisa was already responsible for all medical decisions when, in 2014, her mother received a cancer diagnosis – her second in 31 years. With Shelley’s encouragement, Lisa wrote her first post for the Cancer Policy Matters blog in 2016. Read about the very tough decisions faced and bold actions taken on her mother’s behalf here. Later that year, Lisa wrote a second post for the NCCS blog, her tribute to a childhood friend killed by metastatic breast cancer.
A sought-after communications expert and recent cancer survivor, Lisa has represented the caregiver’s perspective on Cancer Care Planning (2018 NCCS CPAT symposium) and Overtreatment & Overdiagnosis (2018 NCCS Cancer Policy Roundtable) panels. Lisa supports other survivors and advocates with one-on-one coaching, teaching them how to deliver succinct, compelling stories to policymakers about cancer’s personal impact. She also accompanies survivors on constituent visits to their members of Congress. She has actively advocated for NCCS policy efforts on Capitol Hill in both the U.S. House and Senate since 2016.
Lisa serves on the boards of directors of Unite America (investing in the infrastructure of political reform) and the Newcomb Alumnae Association. A fourth-generation quilter, she is dedicated to preserving this art form and teaching the next generation of makers.
Lisa holds a B.A. degree in American Studies from Newcomb College of Tulane University and an M.S. degree in Management from the MIT Sloan School. A native Washingtonian, Lisa lives in the District with her husband, Tom Thompson.
Julia H. Rowland, PhD
Secretary of the Board Read more
Julia H. Rowland, PhD
Secretary of the Board
Julia H. Rowland, PhD is a long-time clinician, researcher and teacher in the area of psychosocial aspects of cancer. Dr. Rowland re-joined the NCCS Board of Directors in 2017, having previously served on the board before joining the federal government. She has worked with and conducted competitively funded research among both pediatric and adult cancer survivors, and published broadly in psycho-oncology, including co-editing with the late Dr. Jimmie Holland the ground-breaking text, Handbook of Psychooncology.
Dr. Rowland received her PhD in Developmental Psychology from Columbia University and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in psychosocial oncology. While at MSKCC, where she held joint appointments in pediatrics and neurology, Dr. Rowland helped to develop and was the first Director of the Post-Treatment Resource Program, an innovative resource designed to provide a full range of non-medical services to patients and their families after the end of treatment. In 1990 Dr. Rowland moved to Washington, DC to become founding Director of the Psycho-Oncology Program at Georgetown University and the Lombardi Cancer Center.
Nine years later, in September of 1999, at the urging of Ellen Stovall, she was recruited to the National Cancer Institute to become the first, full-time Director of the Office of Cancer Survivorship (OCS). As OCS Director Dr. Rowland helped build the visibility of the Office and created numerous governmental and non-profit partnerships to advance public awareness about and funding for research addressing the health care and quality of life needs of the growing population of cancer survivors of all ages, and their families. After 18 years in this role, Dr. Rowland retired from service at the NCI in September 2017 and assumed the role of Senior Strategic Advisor at Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, a small non-profit organization that has been providing integrative support services to cancer patients and their families in the heart of Washington, DC, for over twenty years.
Eleanor Winter
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Eleanor Winter
Eleanor Winter has been a part of the cable television industry for twenty five years. She presently serves as Senior Vice President at the National Cable and Telecommunications Association. Prior to joining NCTA, Eleanor worked for two United States Senators, Senator John Stennis from Mississippi and Senator Paul Simon, from Illinois. She then moved into the public relations world at the firm, Cribben, Miller and Moses.
In 2015, she was inducted into the Cable Television Hall of Fame. She currently serves on the Board of the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship and the Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation. She also serves as a mentor for young men and women in the cable industry through the WICT mentorship program.
Eleanor was born and raised in Mississippi and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Ole Miss.
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Harmar Brereton, MD
Founder
Northeast Regional Cancer Institute
“Perhaps one of the most impactful collaborations in Dr. Brereton’s extraordinary career remains his early work and long friendship with Ellen Stovall. Through him, and in turn through the thousands of lives he has touched, Ellen’s work continues, and her mission lives on.”
—Karen M. Saunders
President, Northeast Regional Cancer Institute
