Kenneth Olden, Ph.D., Sc.D., L.H.D., Chairman
Kenneth Olden, Ph.D., Sc.D., L.H.D., serves as the Chair of the Avon Foundation Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Olden retired in March 2005 from his position as the director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), a role held since 1991. He is the first African-American to become director of one of the 18 institutes of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Olden is a cell biologist and biochemist by training, and has been active in research into the properties of cell surface molecules and their possible roles in cancer for more than two decades. As a result of Dr. Olden's outstanding contributions, he was elected to the President’s Cancer Advisory Panel in 1991, for membership in the Institute of Medicine in 1994 and he won the City of Medicine Award in 1996. More recently, he was inducted into the Academy of Toxicological Sciences and was honored at the Jubilation Concert 2000 by the Children's Health Environment Coalition for Leadership Role in Children's Environmental Health Research.

Renee Bernett
Renee Bernett is a breast cancer survivor with extensive experience serving as a patient-advocate and lay reviewer for the Department of Defense (DoD) Breast Cancer Research Program Peer Review Panel as well as for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International, Lay Review Committee. She has served as a member of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Kidney Disease Education Program Steering Committee and the NIH Celiac Consensus Conference. She is presently a board member of the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness and serves as a member of the Advisory Board for the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University. Mrs. Bernett has received numerous awards and honors including the 2003 Living Beyond Breast Cancer Honoree and was an invited speaker to the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine. She holds a masters degree from Villanova University and was employed as a school teacher for 15 years in Pennsylvania. Since 1999, she has devoted most of her time to volunteering in patient-advocacy and grant making organizations. She is active in juvenile diabetes and celiac’s disease initiatives because her daughter suffers from these autoimmune disorders. Most recently, Mrs. Bernett became involved with the DoD Breast Cancer Review Panel and has served from 2002-2004, and as an ad-hoc member in 2005.

Matthew J. Ellis, M.B., Ph.D., F.R.C.P.
Matthew James Ellis is Associate Professor of Medical Oncology in the Siteman Cancer Center, Department of Medicine at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, USA. After obtaining his medical degree at Cambridge University and PhD at the University of London, Dr Ellis completed his professional training at hospitals in the UK and USA. He has received American Board of Internal Medicine certification in Medical Oncology. Dr Ellis’ primary research interests include the identification of genes that affect responses and resistance to endocrine therapy in patients with breast cancer. Using gene microarray analysis, gene sequencing and array comparative genomic hybridization, Dr Ellis is currently investigating the regulation of genes before and after neoadjuvant aromatase inhibitor therapy in patients with ER+ breast cancer. He is also principal investigator for the breast cancer project in the Specialized Program to Evaluate Cancer Signatures from the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, which aims to develop a qPCR assay for biological classification of breast cancer. Dr Ellis is an elected Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in London; he is Vice Chair for Correlative Science for the Cancer and Leukemia Group B Breast Cancer Committee and holds the Anheuser Busch Chair in Medical Oncology at Barnes Jewish Hospital. In addition, Dr Ellis is a member of several National Cancer Institute review panels, journal editorial committees and advisory boards, and has published over 60 papers in peer-reviewed journals, as well as authoring over 20 book chapters and review articles in oncology.

Julius W. Few, M.D.
Dr. Julius Few is a plastic surgeon at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Surgery. He specializes in complex breast and facial reconstructive surgery. Dr. Few has published and presented numerous papers on the subject of plastic surgery. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, with surgical training at the University of Michigan. He trained in Plastic Surgery at Northwestern, with added facial and eyelid surgery training in Hawaii, Atlanta, and New York. Dr. Few has received numerous awards and honors, including Crain’s Chicago Business “40 Under 40”, for contributions in Plastic Surgery. Julius Few, MD, is a frequent medical advisor for Good Morning America, CNN, and NBC News. He serves on Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation Board of directors and numerous committees in the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. Dr. Few is an active member in the Chicago community and is dedicated to improving care in Plastic Surgery

Carrie P. Hunter, M.D., M.P.H.
Carrie P. Hunter is President and CEO of Oncology Consulting International, a cancer care management, research, and education and training consultancy company. Primary areas of focus include breast and colorectal cancer, women’s health, cancer in the elderly, and partnership initiatives directed toward improving cancer care both nationally and internationally. Dr. Hunter has expertise on issues that contribute to cancer health disparities and that impact cancer health outcomes of minority and underserved populations in developed and developing countries. She is a member of the Executive Council of the African Organization for Research and Training in Cancer, Inc. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the African Cancer Center, Inc. that is scheduled to open in Lagos, Nigeria, in 2008. Dr. Hunter was co-editor of a book entitled Cancer in the Elderly published by Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, in 2000. Recently, she co-edited a second book entitled Treatment and Management of Cancer in the Elderly published by Taylor & Francis Group, New York, in 2006. She is well published in peer-reviewed journals and is the recipient of numerous honors and awards. In 2006, Dr. Hunter became a member of the Board of Governors of the New York University School of Medicine Alumni Association. Dr. Hunter formerly served as program director for the Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP), Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, National Cancer Institute (NCI) where she spearheaded the development of the Minority-Based CCOPs. She served as clinical coordinator of the NCI Black/White Cancer Survival Study. Following these appointments, she served as a program director and project officer for the National Institutes of Health Women’s Health Initiative.

Elizabeth Morris, M.D.
Elizabeth Morris, M.D., is Associate Radiologist and Director of Breast Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) at the renowned Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. Dr. Morris is clinically trained in breast imaging (MRI, Digital Mammography and Ultrasound). Her research interests involve using MRI for the detection of breast cancer, and she has also studied the use of MRI for staging breast cancer and for screening women at high risk of the disease. Dr. Morris is developing methods to perform needle biopsies under MRI guidance and, in addition, she helps train and supervise residents and fellows in interventional breast procedures as well as image interpretation.

Christine Norton
Christine Norton was diagnosed with breast cancer in September 1990 at age 44. In July 1991 Ms. Norton launched her breast cancer advocacy career when she served as Minnesota state captain for the National Breast Cancer Coalition’s “Do The Write Thing Letter Writing Campaign,” which sought increased funding for breast cancer research. The success of this effort spurred Chris Norton and Cher Johnson to found the Minnesota Breast Cancer Coalition (MBCC) in October that year. In addition to serving as president of the MBCC, Ms. Norton is on the Board of Directors of the National Breast Cancer Coalition and serves as Minnesota’s Lead Field Coordinator for NBCC. She is a 1995 graduate of NBCC’s Project LEAD, as well as a graduate of the Clinical Trials LEAD and the Quality Care LEAD. Ms. Norton has been on the steering committee for the Komen Race for the Cure/Twin Cities since its inception in 1993, has been on numerous American Cancer Society and Minnesota Department of Health committees, and has served as a peer reviewer for breast cancer grants for the Department of Defense, NCI, and the University of Minnesota. In her “non-volunteer” life, Ms. Norton is an English teacher at Park High School in Cottage Grove.

Amelie G. Ramirez, Dr. P.H., M.P.H.
Amelie G. Ramirez, Dr.P.H., is a Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatics and Director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA). She is also the Dielmann Chair in Health Disparities Research and Community Outreach at UTHSCSA and Director of Outreach and Health Care Disparities at the Cancer Therapy and Research Center. Over the past 25 years, Dr. Ramirez has directed numerous state-, Federal-, and privately funded research programs focusing on human and organizational communication to reduce chronic disease and cancer health disparities affecting Hispanics/Latinos and other populations. She has authored more than 60 peer-reviewed articles and is the recipient of state and national awards in the area of health disparities research and the advancement of Hispanics/Latinos in the medical, public health, and behavioral sciences professions across the United States. Dr. Ramirez is a recognized spokesperson for cancer disparities reduction and is a member of various national and regional advisory groups and coalitions. Her most recent appointments include membership on the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Advisory Board, National Cancer Advisory Board, Behavior Change Expert Panel for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy's National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, National Cancer Policy Board of the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine and Commission of Life Sciences, Lance Armstrong Foundation Board of Directors, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation National Health Advisory Council, and the Advisory Board of the National Child Health Study. She is the recipient of national and state awards in public health. Dr. Ramirez received a B.S. from the University of Houston and M.P.H. and Dr. P.H. degrees from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health.

Marc Hurlbert, Ph.D.
Marc Hurlbert serves as the Executive Secretary to the Avon Foundation Scientific Advisory Board. He is a pharmacologist by training and has extensive experience in managing medical research programs and grants administration in the voluntary health agency and patient-advocacy arena. Dr. Hurlbert holds an adjunct faculty appointment at the New School University. He received his undergraduate degree in biochemistry from the University of Kansas and his doctorate in pharmacology from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. He completed his training with a fellowship at New York University Medical Center, Skirball Institute for Biomolecular Medicine. Dr. Hurlbert serves as the Senior Consultant for Grants and Partnerships for the research and access-to-care programs of the Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Crusade.