Meet The Team

Principal Investigator, Duke University

Dr. Tomi Akinyemiju, MS, PHD

Dr. Akinyemiju is a social and molecular cancer epidemiologist who studies how social factors like healthcare access and biological factors like metabolic dysregulation affect cancer risk, tumor aggressiveness, and survival. She specializes in understanding cancer disparities among women of African descent in the US and sub-Saharan Africa, who face significantly higher risks of aggressive cancer subtypes. Learn more

Medical Instructor, Duke University

Dr. April Deveaux - looks neater with upper and lower case

April Deveaux | Duke Department of Population Health Sciences. Please incorporate text from current webpage (shorten it) and then add link using some icon. Maybe something like to know more, and then a link (without spelling out everyone's names and Pop Health, etc)

Research Program Leader

Ashwini Joshi, MPH

Ms. Joshi holds a Masters in Public Health with a major in Epidemiology from University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and specializes in developing programs to improve healthcare quality, accessibility, and affordability. She joined Duke's Department of Population Health Sciences in 2020 as a Research Program Leader for the REGAL Program, where she conducts health disparities research and manages all program operations using her expertise in research protocols, data analysis, and grant writing.

Postdoctoral Associate

Jovita Byemerwa, PHD

Dr. Byemerwa is a post-doctoral associate in Dr. Tomi Akinyemiju's lab investigating biological and societal risk factors contributing to breast cancer outcomes among women of African descent, bringing extensive knowledge from her dissertation on how reproductive hormones modulate the immune microenvironment during breast cancer metastasis. She earned her bachelor's degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Brown University and her PhD in Pharmacology and Cancer Biology from Duke University.

Postdoctoral Associate

Hugo G. Quezada-Pinedo, MD, MSc, PhD

Dr. Quezada completed his medical studies and specialization in health administration at Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Peru, followed by his master's and PhD in clinical epidemiology at Erasmus University Rotterdam in The Netherlands. His research focuses on cancer epidemiology, health disparities in the U.S. context, social determinants of health, and big data analytics.

Clinical Research Coordinator

Veronica Duck

Veronica is a clinical research coordinator who joined Duke in 2021, previously working in the Cancer Control and Population Sciences Department before joining the REGAL team, and holds a Bachelor of Science in Natural Science from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Science in Public Health from Capella University. She is currently pursuing her Doctor of Public Health to advance her research and public service work on a macro level, with a commitment to studying cancer disparities affecting diverse and underserved communities.

Assistant Professor

Oyomoare Osazuwa-Peters, MD, PHD

Dr. Oyomoare Osazuwa-Peters completed her PhD in Biology (2015) and MS in Genetic Epidemiology (2018), and her research focuses on the intersection of biology, molecular cancer epidemiology, and social epidemiology, specifically investigating how biological characteristics and social factors drive cancer-related disparities using "multi-omics" approaches. She is passionate about applying quantitative skills to advance knowledge that informs interventions to mitigate health disparities, with the long-term goal of contributing to scientific understanding of molecular heterogeneity underlying differential cancer outcomes at the population health level.

Senior Program Coordinator

Rose Volponi

Rose Volponi joined the Duke Department of Population Health Sciences in 2024 as Senior Program Coordinator for the REGAL research group, bringing nearly two decades of experience in early childhood education and nonprofit management, including over 14 years of leadership and administrative expertise. Having led a nonprofit through all phases from startup to dissolution while working with Duke professors, students, and international families, she is passionate about supporting REGAL's work in addressing global cancer research disparities and ensuring smooth operations.

Biostatician

Drew Neish

Drew is a biostatistician who graduated with a Bachelors in Mathematics from the University of Waterloo and an M.Sc. in Statistics from the University of Guelph. He spent six years in the pharmaceutical industry as a statistical consultant and machine learning researcher before joining Duke in 2023. He is currently applying his expertise in statistics and machine learning in oncology with the REGAL team and the Duke Cancer Institute.

PhD Student

Andrea Thoumi

Andrea is a PhD student in the Department of Population Health Sciences at Duke University School of Medicine and a PhD student researcher with REGAL, passionate about improving Latine health equity in the US and globally as a bilingual and bicultural researcher. Her work aims to reduce health inequities by generating and translating community-engaged evidence to change policy and clinical practice while centering community perspectives, and she holds a Master in Public Policy from Georgetown University, an MSc in Health Policy from the London School of Economics and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and a BA in Community Health and International Relations from Tufts University.

Product Manager

Alissa Rose

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Product Manager

Alissa Rose

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Product Manager

Alissa Rose

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Product Manager

Alissa Rose

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