Meet the Study Team
Our research team is made up of researchers, clinicians, and volunteers from Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston Medical Center in Boston, MA. Read more about our team below:
Erica Warner, ScD MPH
Principal Investigator
Dr. Warner is an Assistant Professor in the Department Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an Assistant Investigator at Massachusetts General Hospital where she conducts epidemiological research on cancer in the Mongan Institute’s Clinical Translational Epidemiology Unit. Dr. Warner has a bachelor's degree from Duke University and a master's in public health degree (MPH) from Yale School of Public Health. Dr. Warner completed her doctorate, and the Alonzo Smythe Yerby Postdoctoral Fellowship, both in Epidemiology, at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her research studies how lifestyle, behavioral, and genetic factors affect cancer screening, and intermediate markers of cancer risk, cancer risk and survival, with an interest in molecular subtypes and racial/ethnic and socioeconomic health disparities. Dr. Warner is a member of the steering committee of the Boston Breast Cancer Equity Coalition, Research Director for the Boston Mammography Cohort Study, and Project Director for the National Consortium on Psychosocial Stress, Spirituality, and Health. She is a 2018 winner of the Deans Community Service Award from the Office for Diversity Inclusion and Community Partnership at Harvard Medical School, and was named a 2019 Diversity Scholar by the Nutrition Obesity Research Center at Harvard, and received the MGH Physician/Scientist Development Award.
Naomi Ko, MD
Principal Investigator
Dr. Ko is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and a medical oncologist at Boston Medical Center (BMC) who has a lifelong passion for social justice. After college, Dr. Ko participated in Teach For America followed by volunteer service at the Berkeley Free Clinic in the Bay Area. She went on to Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and School of Public Health to complete her MD MPH with a focus on health outcomes research for vulnerable populations. After internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital she arrived for fellowship in hematology/oncology at BUSM/BMC, which allowed Dr. Ko to conduct research in the context of caring for an underserved population within a large safety net institution. She has sought out meaningful projects that are a culmination of her passion for oncology, service to the underserved, and academic research. Her research has a translational focus that has been directed to understanding the disconnect between scientific discoveries in cancer treatment and delivery of evidence-based treatment to vulnerable, racial/ethnic minority women with breast cancer. She is actively investigating how tumor biology, poverty, communication and treatment influence breast cancer outcomes in diverse breast cancer populations.
Emily Restrepo
Clinical Research Coordinator
Emily Restrepo is the clinical research coordinator at Massachusetts General Hospital. She received her Bachelor’s of Science in Exercise and Health Sciences with a minor in Psychology from UMass Boston in 2019. She is currently a student at the MGH Institute of Health Professions in the Direct-Entry Master of Science in Nursing Program. Her goals are to become a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner and continue conducting research on women’s and children’s health, health disparities, and health promotion; especially within the Latinx community.
Rebecca Nelleke
Volunteer
Rebecca Nelleke is an undergraduate student at Brandeis University majoring in Biology and Health: Science, Society, and Policy. Her clinical and research interests are in oncology, women’s health, and improving healthcare disparities, and she plans to attend graduate school to become a nurse practitioner after her graduation this Fall.