Jenine is a scientist and healthcare executive with over three decades of experience spanning science, advocacy and diversity across extensive leadership roles in the pharmaceutical industry. Her expertise in R&D strategy and project management have been applied to multiple therapeutic areas including Cardiovascular, Central Nervous System, Ophthalmology, and Oncology; specifically in the Immuno-Oncology, Precision Medicine, Radiopharmaceuticals platforms. Jenine received her degree from Duquesne University’s School of Pharmacy in Pittsburgh, PA. She also completed her MBA from University of Connecticut. Jenine worked for 15 years at Pfizer in increasing responsibilities focusing on Cardiovascular and Oncology clinical research trials. In her role as a Clinical Scientist, she was to drive scientific leadership through the execution of an end-to-end cross-functional development process to ensure consistency of approach, conduct, monitoring, analysis, reporting, and oversight in clinical research programs. Jenine worked closely with physicians, program managers, and commercial to create development plans and strategy for research programs. After her departure from Pfizer, Jenine joined Bayer for 18 years to lead the Oncology Clinical Project Management group as a Vice President. Her global Oncology study and project management teams supported early to late-stage research development studies in Clinical Development and Clinical Operations. Jenine also led the creation of Bayer’s Oncology Clinical Trial Diversity strategy, process, training and tools to be implemented and ensure underrepresented cancer patients are considered for oncology research trials. She facilitated a core Oncology Patient Engagement team to shape and strengthen the patient’s voice in the planning and execution of Bayer’s oncology clinical trials by creating a Patient Council containing patient advocates to review and advise on our cancer research studies. Jenine sat on the Oncology Board for the Society of Clinical Research Sites for 14 years to increase Site Awareness and Facilitation in research sites. During her time at Bayer, Jenine was also nominated as Bayer’s Top Ten Women of the Women’s Leadership Initiative.

Dr. Makella S. Coudray is an infectious disease epidemiologist with the National Minority Quality Forum and a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Department of Population Health Sciences at the University of Central Florida. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, 2020) in Public Health with a concentration in Epidemiology from Florida International University, a Master of Public Health (MPH, 2016) in Epidemiology and a Bachelor of Science (BSc, 2015) in Biology from St. George’s University (Grenada). Dr. Coudray hails from the beautiful twin island republic of Trinidad and Tobago and has strong ties to Guyana (maternal heritage). Currently Dr. Coudray’s work investigates sexual health disparities among marginalized populations- especially transgender women, and cisgender women of color- using a bio-behavioral lens. Specifically, she uses quantitative methods to examine the social determinants of sexual health risk factors. Additionally, her work also explores the impact of social and structural determinants of health on COVID-19 outcomes. As the Principal Investigator of a recently awarded K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, she is examining the validation of self-collected specimens for STI testing among trans women and the differences in STI prevalence and socio-spatial STI risk factors between trans women with and without neovaginas using self-collected samples. Through this award Dr. Coudray will also receive training in mixed methods research, social epidemiology methods, and spatial epidemiology methods. Dr. Coudray is also a Fellow of the HIV, Infectious Disease, and Global Health Implementation Research Institute and a Fellow of Data Science for All | Empowerment by Correlation One. In her role at NMQF, Dr. Coudray is tasked with ensuring participant retention for the Minority and Rural Coronavirus Insights Study (MRCIS). In this capacity, she is responsible for the development and ongoing management of the MRCIS study Community Advisory Board (CAB), liaising with site research coordinators, assessing and adapting study instruments, overseeing the administration of the study survey via REDCap and training study personnel in REDCap use. Dr. Coudray is also involved in the preparation of manuscripts to present the study’s findings.

Christina Edwards began her academic career at Howard University, earning her Bachelor of Science. She later earned her Master of Health Administration from George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. A research coordinator position at an NYC research clinic would offset her career into the clinical research field. Years later she ventured into academic research at Weill Cornell Medicine, managing a multisite, NIH funded, pediatric study for children with Crohn’s disease. She later transitioned to the NewYork –Presbyterian Health System coordinating industry sponsored clinical trials for the Department of Medicine- Pulmonary and Critical Care. Now serving as the Clinical Trial Director for Center for Clinical and Social Research at NMQF, she aims to increase research trial participation among underserved and underrepresented populations.

As a Research Epidemiologist with the National Minority Quality Forum, Dr. Derrick J. Forney brings a wealth of experience, technical proficiency, and a steadfast commitment to improving health outcomes and addressing health disparities. Dr. Forney is an accomplished researcher with a distinguished career focused on health disparities, public health analytics, and modeling. With a strong background in public health research, Dr. Forney has consistently demonstrated his expertise in transforming data into research-grade insights, executing research proposals, and effectively communicating complex findings. He has a Ph.D. in Public Health with a focus on Health Disparities from Florida International University. Additionally, he holds a Master of Public Health (MPH) and a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Biology from Michigan State University, which further strengthen his academic background in the field. Throughout his career, Dr. Forney has held various roles in prestigious institutions such as the University of Miami, where he previously served as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate in the Department of Public Health Sciences. In this capacity, he has been instrumental in formulating publications and leveraging statistical programming tools such as SAS, R, and SQL to perform regression analysis and develop machine learning models. His research efforts have been extensive, covering diverse topics, including HIV care, mental health, and social determinants of health. With a keen focus on continuous learning and professional development, Dr. Forney has pursued additional training in machine learning and data science. His expertise in data management, statistical analysis, and program evaluation reflects his commitment to staying at the forefront of emerging methodologies and technologies. His publication record further highlights Dr. Forney's career accomplishments, comprising peer-reviewed journal articles and abstracts presented at national and international conferences. His research has contributed significantly to advancing our understanding of health disparities, HIV prevention and treatment, and social determinants of health among diverse populations.

Jennifer serves as Research Lead Epidemiologist at the National Minority Quality Institute (NMQF). She obtained her Bachelor's in Psychology with a Biology minor from The University of Houston and an MPH in Epidemiology from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health. Prior to joining NMQF, Jennifer worked as a research associate in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine for several years. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Epidemiology with minors in Biostatistics and Data Science. Throughout her career, Jennifer has engaged in diverse research projects encompassing maternal and child health, substance abuse, and infectious diseases. At NMQF, Jennifer's work revolves around analyzing Medicare and Medicaid Claims Data to highlight and understand healthcare disparities.

Liou Xu serves as the Senior Principal Statistician and Vice President for Center for Clinical and Social Research at NMQF, where she conducts research and data analysis related to health and medical care delivery systems. She earned her PhD degree in Statistics from the University of Kentucky. After graduation she moved to Northern Virginia and joined the team in April 2011. She has worked on a variety of projects in health care research with application of real-world evidence and observational research data in all major therapeutic areas, providing statistical solutions to measure health status in small geographic areas and to identify care gaps across specific patient populations.

Shantia is an experienced project manager, excelling at providing feedback and assistance on projects allowing individuals to successfully complete their educational and personal goals. With a passion for research and education, Shantia has coordinated and managed various projects for upper management and students by identifying current issues and developing solutions to overcome them. Shantia has previously served as a Research Project Manager in the Center of Excellence at the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine. Here, she guided students of color toward success in the master’s program while leading multiple research projects through to completion, managed departmental budgeting, and performed research on topics relating to morbidity and mortality, including infectious diseases, marginalized groups, and pharmaceuticals. In addition, Shantia has experience in pharmaceutical sales and consumer engagement, where she helped to increase customer satisfaction and improve processes. Now serving as the Program Coordinator for the Center of Sustainable Health Care Quality and Equity at the National Minority Quality Forum, she aims to address the need to increase diversity in clinical trials and refine clinical trial processes to ensure optimally performed trials. Shantia earned a Bachelor of Science in Health Professions with a minor in Healthcare Management from Temple University and a Master of Biomedical Sciences from Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine.