23rd Annual MVTCP Symposium
“Leveraging the National Cancer Plan to Meet the Goals of Moonshot 2.0”
February 10, 2024, 8 A.M. to 4 P.M.
The Cal Turner Family Center for Student Education, Meharry Medical College
Special Address

Monica Baskin
Assistance Vice Chancellor for Community Health Equity
University of Pittsburgh
Dr. Monica L. Baskin is professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology and associate director of community outreach and engagement at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center. She also serves as associate director of health equity at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center and assistant vice chancellor for community health equity within the Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for the Health Sciences at Pitt.
On the Hillman leadership team, Dr. Baskin directs community outreach and engagement in the catchment area served by the cancer center. She also leads screening and prevention studies to quantify and overcome barriers to screening and early detection of cancer in under-represented minority and rural populations across the Hillman network.
Dr. Baskin joins Pitt Med and Hillman from the Heersink School of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), where she served as professor of preventive medicine and inaugural vice chair for culture and diversity in the Department of Medicine. She also served as inaugural associate director for community outreach and engagement at the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB.
For nearly 20 years, Dr. Baskin has led an extensive extramurally funded research program aimed at reducing health disparities in the Deep South. Most of her research has focused on community-based participatory methods that link academic partners to community- and faith-based networks to better understand and address factors associated with healthy eating, physical activity, obesity and cancer prevention and control.
Speakers

Anil Shanker, PhD
Meharry Medical College
Dr. Anil Shanker is a tenured Professor of Biochemistry, Cancer Biology, Neuroscience and Pharmacology in the School of Medicine at Meharry Medical College. An accomplished researcher and educator, he currently leads the research and innovation enterprise at Meharry. In addition, he provides strategic direction for developing institutional, state, federal, and corporate programs and partnerships to advance innovation, research, education, and intellectual property.
Maureen Sanderson, PhD
Meharry Medical College
Dr. Maureen Sanderson has a background in behavioral and social epidemiology, with expertise in breast and prostate cancer, cancer screening among persons with diabetes, human papillomavirus (HPV) knowledge and the HPV vaccine, and intimate partner violence, primarily in marginalized populations. As Co-Leader of the Meharry-Vanderbilt-Tennessee State University Cancer Partnership (MVTCP) Population Research and Clinical Trials in Cancer Equity Core, she is PI of an ongoing population-based case-only study of breast cancer conducted among Black women in Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina to examine reproductive factors and breast cancer.


Sonya Reid, MD, MPH
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Sonya Reid, MD, MPH, is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Medicine, at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and practices medicine at the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center. Her research primarily focuses on health disparities in breast cancer, young-onset breast cancer, and hereditary breast cancer. Specifically, she is investigating genomic differences that may be contributing to the racial survival disparity in breast cancer.
Dr. Ho-Jin Koh
Tennessee State University
Dr. Ho-Jin Koh is an associate professor of biological sciences at the College of Life & Physical Sciences, Tennessee State University. Dr. Kho studies energy metabolism and exercise physiology focusing on the role of TRB3 on white adipose tissue adaptation and beige fat formation during cold exposure and exercise training. He hopes to soon establish the novel function of TRB3 in energy metabolism. This vital link will result in the development of new therapies to prevent obesity and its related diseases, including type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer.
