Nyasha Chambwe, PhD

Assistant Professor, Institute of Molecular Medicine, Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research

Nyasha Chambwe, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Institute for Molecular Medicine at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. In 2014, she received her PhD in computational biology from Weill Cornell Medicine in New York. She then went on to complete her postdoctoral training at the Institute for Systems Biology in 2019 with Dr. Ilya Shmulevich in cancer integrative genomic analysis and biomarker discovery. Dr. Chambwe analyzes patient-derived datasets in order to understand the risk for cancer development and progression, how tumors respond to treatment and how to better predict effective treatment regimens to improve cancer outcomes. A particular focus of her work is in understanding the biological basis for cancer health disparities experienced by understudied populations, particularly those of African descent, with an eye toward informing better interventions that will lead to equitable health outcome.

Dr. Chambwe’s research focuses on identifying the genetic and molecular features of cancers that differ across racial and ethnic groups, and the extent to which these differences reveal or explain race and ethnicity-based cancer health disparities. She performs systematic characterization of genetic and molecular states in human-derived patient samples with an emphasis on understanding how genetic variation influences molecular traits, and how this relates to clinical phenotypes. The long-term goal of this work is to better understand molecular factors driving population differences in cancer and to improve clinically relevant predictions that close the gap in differential outcomes according to population of origin.

Kristina M. Deligiannidis, M.D.

Director, Women’s Behavioral Health, Zucker Hillside Hospital

Kristina Deligiannidis, MD, completed her undergraduate degrees in biology and psychology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. As a recipient of predoctoral intramural research training awards, she trained in molecular neuroendocrinology research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Deligiannidis completed additional research training at the NIH during medical school and residency in behavioral endocrinology and experimental therapeutics at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). She received her medical degree from and completed her psychiatry residency and chief residency in psychopharmacology research at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. After residency, she completed a visiting fellowship and further training in multimodal neuroimaging at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging.

Dr. Deligiannidis joined faculty at Zucker Hillside Hospital, the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research and the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell in September 2016. She is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and currently serves as the director of women’s behavioral health at Zucker Hillside Hospital. As a reproductive psychiatrist, she has expertise in treating women with mood and anxiety disorders linked to the menstrual cycle, pregnancy/postpartum and perimenopause.

Over the past 12 years, Dr. Deligiannidis has become a national leader in the field of perinatal depression and novel therapeutics research. Her research program includes a focus in psychoneuroendocrinology, particularly neurosteroids and hormones, and neuroimaging in women’s behavioral health. She has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed articles plus several textbook chapters and has given more than 170 oral/scientific presentations. Dr. Deligiannidis has received federal, foundation and industry research funding, including prestigious NIH K23 and R01 grants. Her research has earned awards and been covered by major media outlets including CNN, the Associated Press, National Public Radio, Boston Globe, Boston ABC News, Boston CBS News, CBS-New York, ABC-New York, Newsday and others.

Christine Metz, PhD

Professor, Institute of Molecular Medicine, Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research

Christine N. Metz, PhD, is head of the laboratory of medicinal biochemistry and a professor in the Institute of Molecular Medicine at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. She is the director for OB/GYN research for the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship at North Shore University Hospital and Long Island Jewish Medical Center. Dr. Metz and Peter K. Gregersen, MD, received the 2018 Northwell Health Innovation Award for their research on developing a novel non-invasive diagnostic test for endometriosis.

Dr. Metz is the author of more than 150 peer-reviewed scientific research papers and more than a dozen review articles and book chapters. Recently, she was recognized as one of the top 100,000 scientists in the world (among 7 million) based on her productivity and the impact of her work (PLoS Biology, 2019). In addition, she served as the first president of Advancing Women in Science and Medicine (AWSM) at the Feinstein Institutes.

Dr. Metz is committed to performing research that will advance women’s health. She investigates conditions of pregnancy, including gestational diabetes, preterm labor and pre-eclampsia, as well as how maternal health affects fetal/neonatal health outcomes. In addition, she studies endometriosis, a potentially debilitating condition affecting 5-10% of women, which is characterized by chronic pelvic pain and can lead to infertility when left untreated.

Lillie D Shockney, RN., BS., MAS, HON- ONN-CG

University Distinguished Service Professor of Breast Cancer, Professor of Surgery , Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

A two-time breast cancer survivor, originally diagnosed in her 30s, Lillie has worked tirelessly to improve the care of breast cancer patients around the world. She has worked at Johns Hopkins since 1983. Lillie takes great pride in the Academy of Oncology Nurse & Patient Navigators (AONN+) which has more than 9,000 members. She has served as a consultant for breast cancer for national ABC News and Good Morning America, and has been also consulted regularly by the Today Show and CNN. Lillie serves on 28 medical advisory boards currently.

Her name is well known in the cancer field, especially in navigation, survivorship, patient centered care, preservation of quality of life, end of life planning and care, improving the cancer patient’s experience, breast cancer and clinical outcomes. She clinically specializes in breast cancer care. Her public speaking, literary work, and notable roles she has held over the last 40+ years are well known to many.

She has authored 30 books and more than 350 articles on breast cancer, oncology navigation, survivorship, patient advocacy, communicating bad news, end of life, and most recently, chronic illness and complex care. She has received 61 awards—55 national awards and 6 state awards including being inducted into the Maryland Women Hall of Fame, Women in Business Healthcare Trailblazer Award, Johnson & Johnson’s Most Amazing Nurse in America award, National Komen for the Cure’s Professor of Survivorship award, and several national life time achievement awards. Her research area of focus is preservation of quality of life for patients with metastatic breast cancer.