Dr. Gaurav Kumar is a physician-scientist and public health researcher currently serving as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Health Promotion Research Center at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. With an MBBS from India, an MPH in Epidemiology from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and a PhD in Health Promotion from the University of Nebraska Medical Center at Omaha, his work focuses on cancer prevention and survivorship, health disparities, and technology-assisted interventions such as mHealth apps, serious games, and Just-in-Time Adaptive Interventions (JITAIs). Dr. Kumar has led and contributed to several projects targeting underserved populations, particularly Black prostate cancer survivors, and has published several manuscripts on health disparities. His research integrates community-based participatory approaches to develop culturally responsive, evidence-based solutions aimed at improving health equity and quality of life across the cancer care continuum.

Dr. Priyanka Chaudhary received a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from Amity University, Noida, India, in 2017; a Master of Public Health in Health Promotion from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in 2020; and a PhD in Biomechanics and Kinesiology: Physical Activity Concentration from the University of Nebraska Omaha in 2024. She is now a postdoctoral researcher at the Pediatric Obesity and Health Behavior Lab, Pennington Biomedical Research Center. Her research explores the intersection of physical activity, maternal and child health, and health disparities, with a special interest in community-centered approaches to promoting well-being. She is particularly passionate about advancing health outcomes through innovative interventions and collaborative research efforts.

Dr. Apar Kishor Ganti is a physician–scientist who completed his medical training and a residency in clinical pharmacology in Pune, India. He subsequently completed an internal medicine residency, a medical oncology fellowship, and a master’s program in clinical and translational research. Dr. Apar Kishor Ganti is the Associate Director of Clinical Research at the UNMC Fred and Pamela Buffett Cancer Center. He is a member of the Respiratory Committee of the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology. He is the Chair of the Small Cell Lung Cancer Committee of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network and the VA Clinical Science Research & Development Centralized Data Monitoring Committee. His research interests focus on developing novel treatment approaches for patients not candidates for standard therapies. His laboratory focuses on identifying novel prognostic and predictive biomarkers for these malignancies. He has mentored medical students, residents and fellows, and junior faculty in research projects that have been either presented at national or international meetings and/or published in peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Jungyoon Kim received a BHSM and an MHSM in Health Services Management from KyungHee University in 2004 and 2006, respectively, and a Ph.D. in Health Policy and Administration from The Pennsylvania State University in 2011. Dr. Jungyoon Kim is an associate professor in the Department of Health Services Research & Administration of the UNMC College of Public Health. She is also a full member of the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center and serves as the research liaison of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program. Her research interests include the adoption and implementation of evidence-based practice, cancer screening in rural and urban underserved populations, long-term care organizational characteristics and change outcomes, geriatric education and workforce enhancement, and delivery system innovation in primary care to improve patient outcomes.

Dr. Lynette M. Smith received a BS in Mathematics from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, in 1998, an MS in Biostatistics from the University of Minnesota in 2000, and a PhD in Statistics from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, in 2015. Dr. Lynette M. Smith is an associate professor for the Department of Biostatistics at the UNMC College of Public Health. She is also co-director of the Biostatistics Shared Resource of the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, where she is also a full member. She is the director of the Graduate Medical Education Patient Safety/Quality Improvement/Disparities Collaborative. Dr. Lynette M. Smith joined UNMC in 2008 and previously served as associate director of the Center for Collaboration on Research Design and Analysis in the College of Public Health. Her research is focused on biomarker development in cancer. She is also interested in replication research, spatial prediction of disease incidence and mortality, clinical trial design, high-dimensional data analysis, and statistics education. She actively collaborates with scientists in the fields of cancer, diabetes, and nutrition, with a focus on pancreatic, ovarian, and lung cancer and lymphoma.

Prof. Dejun Su received a B.A. in Sociology and an M.A. in Demography from Peking University, China, in 1996 and 1999, respectively, and a PhD in Sociology from the University of Chicago in 2006. He is a professor in the Department of Health Promotion at the College of Public Health, UNMC. From 2012 to 2022, he served as the Director of the Center for Reducing Health Disparities at the College of Public Health, UNMC. His leadership at the center was recognized by the University of Nebraska System President’s Excellence Award in Innovation, Development, and Engagement that Dr. Su received in 2023. Before joining UNMC in 2012, he was an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Texas–Pan American, where he also served as the Director of the South Texas Border Health Disparities Center. His research centers on the economic, social, cultural, and technological factors underlying disparities in health and healthcare access, as indicated by his many peer-reviewed publications on these topics. Part of his work focuses on developing a community health workforce to address health disparities, as indicated by his receiving a grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration to train 240 community health workers across Nebraska. Prof. Dejun Su received the Distinguished Scientist Award from the UNMC Chancellor in 2022.