TRAC Team

The TRAC Team

Just as we "translate research" across communities, we use the same approach when it comes to rounding up the best team we can on your behalf. Skillsets, personalities, chemistry, and personal style are important parts of the "get it done well" formula.

PAULA KIM

Paula Kim, Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Translating Research Across Communities (TRAC) brings more than 28 years of executive and entrepreneurial experience in business and not-for profit ventures.

Paula is recognized on the grassroots, national, and international levels for her consumer-focused leadership and innovation in business, healthcare and advocacy strategies. She is often sought out for her ability to bridge the gap between sectors and those with whom they must collaborate to accomplish their respective goals.

Paula combines her expertise and passion for working with people and across sectors to help advance research for patient benefit.

Some of Paula's research and patient focused activities in the United States include helping to develop the first Virtual Tissue Bank for Mesothelioma and pursuing the development of virtual banks for other diseases in need. Co-chairing the development of the National Biospecimen Network Blueprint and providing leadership and service to C-Change in the development of the Clinical Trials Guidance Documents.

She created the concept and spearheaded the development of the Pancreatic Cancer Research Map www.cancermap.org A first of its kind disease specific resource supported by the National Cancer Institute. The map is a resource tool to track and follow public and private funded research in real time in relation to the scientific priorities as outlined by the research and advocacy communities.

Prior to her work in healthcare, Paula focused on raising her family, and worked many years in construction and real estate development. Her commitment to advocacy and advancing research came from personal reasons – her dad’s pancreatic cancer diagnosis in 1998 and untimely death only seventy-five days later.

Despite no prior experience in national advocacy, patient programs, or public policy, she jumped headfirst into a major transition from building homes to leading volunteers and building hope and programs for patients and researchers. In 1999, Paula co-founded the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) with Pam Acosta Marqhardt and Terry Lierman, the first national patient advocacy organization for pancreatic cancer; and served as Founding Chairman of the Board, then Chief Executive Officer and President. In 2004, she resigned from the organization and moved forward to establish TRAC and Paula Kim Consulting.

Paula Kim’s team-building style led PanCAN’s growth from a handful of online chat volunteers into a national resource for the pancreatic cancer research and patient communities, with pioneering programs for clinical trials matching, PALS-patient services, patient education symposia, survivor-caregiver networks, grassroots development, research mapping, and career development research grant funding. She also led PanCAN’s policy efforts, which yielded then, an unprecedented increase of over 350% in federal government investments in pancreatic cancer research.

In addition to her professional work, Paula Kim maintains longstanding commitments to service with the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, and the Food and Drug Administration, as well as with many patients, researchers, academic institutions, and organizations around the world.

SELECTED CURRENT AND PAST COMMUNITY SERVICE & APPOINTMENTS

National Cancer Institute

- Biospecimen Coordinating Committee

- Board of Scientific Advisors

- GI Clinical Trials Steering Committee/Pancreas Task Force

- Patient Advocacy Steering Committee

- Directors Consumer Liaison Group Advocacy Research Working Group

- Cancer Bioinformatics Grid-CaBIG

- American College of Radiology Imaging Network

Food and Drug Administration- Patient Consultant

External Advisory Board Member for Research Programs & Executive Leadership

- Harvard/Dana Farber

- H. Lee Moffitt Comprehensive Cancer Center

- Mayo Clinic

- National Comprehensive Cancer Network

- Northwestern Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center

- TGen-University of Arizona

- University of California Cancer Centers

- University of Nebraska Eppley Comprehensive Cancer Center

- University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute

- University of Texas MD Anderson

Board of Directors - Executive Board

- C-Change/National Dialogue on Cancer

- Friends of Cancer Research

- National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers

- National Coalition for Cancer Research

- National Pancreas Foundation

HONORS & AWARDS

2004 American Society for Clinical Oncology Partners in Progress Award

2004 American Association for Cancer Research Public Service Award

2006 Society of Surgical Oncology James Ewing Award

2006 National Institutes of Health Group Merit Award for Work in Biorepositories

2007 Hope Funds for Cancer Research Award for Advocacy

TRAC Program and Administrative Team

ERIN MILLIKEN, PhD

Erin earned her PhD in Pharmacology from Case Western Reserve University, where she studied the hormonal basis of breast cancer using transgenic mouse models. Upon completion of her dissertation, Erin was awarded a National Cancer Institute Health Communications Internship. While at the NCI, she worked with the President’s Cancer Panel, a Presidential advisory board charged with monitoring the National Cancer Program. Erin has also served as a science writer for a number of NCI Centers and initiatives, including the Center for Cancer Research, the Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities, and the Translational Research Working Group.

Her desire to enhance communication amongst stakeholders in cancer research from varied backgrounds and knowledge, along with a personal interest in helping others led Erin to join Paula Kim and TRAC in 2006.

In her role as a Research Project Specialist, Erin brings the best of all worlds as she combines her leadership capability with her strengths in science, communication, and writing. As senior staff, she interfaces with researchers, community members, advocates, and others to facilitate productive interactions that will ultimately lead to advancements in science that will benefit patients.

In her spare time, Erin enjoys reading about early American history, fixing up her “new” house, and playing soccer.

PATTI DIAZ

Patti credits her homeschooling education for nurturing her joy of learning and also developing in her the character qualities of responsibility and self-discipline. Homeschooling, with its flexible schedule and fundamental objective of bringing education to practical life experience, has provided Patti with many outlets she would not otherwise have had. It was through a high school volleyball team that Patti first connected with a local non-profit charity and had the opportunity to discover her love of numbers in a bookkeeping job. Patti has traveled to China on two separate occasions to participate in an orphan ministry with the same non-profit charity. It was also homeschooling that allowed her to graduate high school in the spring of 2008 one year ahead of her class and transition smoothly into the working world beginning her job with TRAC in June 2008. In her job with TRAC, Patti enjoys being part of a dynamic team of individuals that effectively manages to work together for a common purpose despite geographical separation. In the future, Patti hopes to combine her love of writing and of numbers into a job perhaps in the field of forensic accounting.

MATT HOLLIS

Matt joined TRAC after he was introduced to the non-profit sector by his first job - a position with the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. He recently graduated from the University of California, Irvine with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and was happy to continue his work with healthcare and cancer-related initiatives as part of the TRAC team. Matt’s responsibilities with TRAC are primarily focused on project management and IT, including the Cancer Education Awareness Calendar Project, Cancer Hub website and the National Melanoma Alliance. In his spare time, Matt enjoys playing and watching sports, collecting movies, and is currently writing a screenplay. In the future, he hopes to move into the film industry and make movies that deal with philosophical and moral issues in society.

JENNIFER SMITH, MSW

Resulting from her longstanding interests in cancer research, advocacy, and patient care, Jennifer recently joined the TRAC team to assist Paula with various projects and programs. Jennifer brings with her a passion to improve the lives of those affected by cancer and a rich background in the cancer field. Previous to joining TRAC, she served as the local site Project Manager for the NCI Community Cancer Centers Program (NCCCP) at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis. The NCCCP pilot has an overarching goal of bringing more Americans into a system of high-quality cancer care. Additionally, Jennifer had a fantastic time in Bethesda, MD working for the National Cancer Institute’s Office of Advocacy Affairs first as a Health Communications Intern and was later promoted to serve on staff as the NCI Listens & Learns Program Coordinator. Jennifer earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and in Spanish from Miami University in Oxford, OH, as well as her Master of Social Work from The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She enjoys spending time with her husband, Luke, trying to improve her golf game, and playing with her little niece and nephews.