The Leptomeningeal Cancer Foundation’s Board of Directors advises the organization to help advance the mission, establish plans and policies and ensure the strength of the organization’s future.
Helaine Bader
MPH
Board President
Founder & President
Leptomeningeal Cancer Foundation
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Helaine Bader is a passionate public health advocate and the Vice President of Education for HealthyWomen. She has spent the last 30 years in the fields of health education, health communications and advocacy – helping people understand how to stay healthy and prevent disease; working with grassroots organizations to address health disparities; and bringing multidisciplinary organizations, experts and institutions together to tackle issues through collective action. Earlier in her career, Helaine conducted epidemiological research in the perinatology department at a hospital and worked as a fellow in the breast cancer division of the National Cancer Institute. She later managed the global communications strategy for a Center of Excellence in Drug Discovery at GlaxoSmithKline and worked for Digene (later QIAGEN), directing global advocacy efforts in cervical cancer. She has consulted with numerous organizations over the years, helping create and implement culturally appropriate educational and awareness campaigns to address disparities in health. Helaine is also co-author of New Dimensions in Women’s Health, now in its 9th edition. Helaine has a Bachelor of Art degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master in Public Health degree from the University of Pittsburgh.
Most importantly, Helaine is the mom of Theo Skinner, an amazing kid who died from leptomeningeal cancer at 17 years old. Throughout his illness, he stayed hopeful while we searched for answers. This work is Theo’s legacy.
Heather Davis
BA
Board Member
Vice President, Clinical Operations US
Lindus Health
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Heather Davis has more than 30 years of experience in the clinical operations, project management and executive leadership. As Chief Operations Officer of Highline Sciences, an oncology-focused CRO, she led the operational development across all functional service areas to ensure quality execution of clinical trials. Along with the Founder/CEO and the entire team, Heather helped transform a clinical trials consultancy into a full-service CRO within three years, ensuring exceptional CRO services to innovative oncology biotech clients conducting phase I-III clinical trials both domestically and globally. When Highline Sciences was acquired by Tempus AI, Heather played an integral role in the acquisition process, contributing to the due diligence and operational assessments, and oversaw the integration to Tempus Compass CRO, ensuring operational continuity and leadership through a three-year transition.
Heather is currently the VP of US Clinical Operations at Lindus Health where she is working to scale operational excellence and team capacity across the company’s expanding portfolio of U.S. studies.
Heather has a passion for oncology clinical research, having had personal experiences with losing both her mother and grandmother to cancer.
Alayna Effron
Ed.D., MSc, C.H.E.S.
Board Member
Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships and Development
HealthyWomen
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Alayna Effron, Ed.D., MSc, C.H.E.S., brings more than two decades of experience in public health and health promotion. Her career spans corporate, nonprofit, nongovernmental, hospital-based, and community settings across the globe, where she has worked to expand access to care through strengthened education, information, and partnerships.
Dr. Effron is deeply committed to advancing public health initiatives that elevate knowledge, build awareness, and address the complex health issues facing communities nationwide. She has led and supported the development, implementation, and long-term sustainability of health education programs and public health efforts that address inequities and disparities across a wide range of national health priorities.
Dr. Effron earned her doctorate in health education with a specialization in health equity from Columbia University, where her research explored the relationship between provider education and patient health outcomes, with additional focus in global health systems management and population health. She also holds a master’s degree in international health promotion and public health from Indiana University Bloomington, with concentrations in public policy and health communication. She has been a Certified Health Education Specialist through the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing since 2006.
Cori Goldberg
JD, MPH
Board Secretary
Partner, Life Sciences Health Industry Group
Reed Smith LLP
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Cori Annapolen Goldberg is a Partner at the law firm of Reed Smith LLP. She sits in the firm’s Life Sciences Health Industry Group, focusing her practice on FDA regulatory issues for the drug, biologic, HCT/P, medical device, and food industries across the supply chain, including companies investing in these industries. Recognized by Chambers USA for her work in the healthcare/life sciences space as well as in other FDA-regulated sectors, Cori assists clients with clinical research issues and clinical trial contracting considerations; bringing new and innovative products to market; product labeling, advertising, and promotion; government inspections and enforcement actions; adverse event handling and product recalls; and disputes. She also advises clients seeking specialized FDA support in connection with healthcare and life sciences transactions. Cori serves on the Life Sciences Advisory Board for Lexis Practical Guidance and as the NY Chairperson of Reed Smith’s Women’s Initiative Network. She earned her law degree and Certificate in Health Law from the University of Maryland School of Law, her Master of Public Health from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and her B.A. from Emory University.
Cancer prevention, treatment and research are important to Cori both professionally and personally. Her clients include manufacturers of cancer detection devices, drugs and gene-therapy treatments for various cancers and companies devoted to cancer research. Personally, Cori lost two cousins at very young ages to rare and complex cancers and her grandmother after a years-long battle with breast and ovarian cancer. In addition, Cori’s mother is a two-time breast cancer survivor.
Jeremy Lee
MPH, MNM
Board Member
Programs Director
One World Surgery
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Jeremy Lee is the Programs Director of One World Surgery Previously, he was the Director of Programming and Training for Peace Corps Peru. He is an experienced leader with significant experience in higher education, health care, and community development. He has directed domestic and international service programs focused on intercultural learning, global service, and building capacity of local communities and partners. He is skilled at organizational strategic planning and deployment and has years of experience coaching senior leaders and teams in process improvement and operational excellence in a large, integrated health care system.
Jeremy is deeply passionate about community development and global health. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Communications, a Master of Nonprofit Management, and a Master of Public Health with an emphasis on Health Care Systems, Management, and Policy. In his free time, Jeremy enjoys spending time with his wife and three children and skiing and biking in the mountains.
Tracy Morris
BA, MSW Candidate
Board Member
Healthcare Communications Consultant
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Tracy Morris is a senior healthcare communications executive with more than 30 years of experience shaping strategy and narrative for pioneering life sciences and cancer diagnostics organizations. Throughout her career, she has translated complex science into clear, meaningful messages that support earlier diagnosis, more personalized care, and better outcomes for patients and families.
Tracy most recently served as Vice President of Global Corporate Communications at Veracyte, where she led communications during a period of significant growth and transformation. Her work supported the adoption of diagnostic tests in thyroid, prostate, lung, and breast cancer, helping clinicians make more informed treatment decisions and sparing many patients from unnecessary procedures. Earlier in her career, she helped establish HPV testing as a new standard of care in cervical cancer diagnosis and screening.
Today, Tracy advises biotech companies and cancer-focused nonprofits and is pursuing a Master’s in Social Work at the University of Pittsburgh, reflecting her deep commitment to serving patients.
Seema Nagpal
MD
Board Member
Neuro-oncologist
Clinical professor of neurology & neurological sciences
Clinical professor (by courtesy) of neurosurgery
Stanford University School of Medicine
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Dr. Seema Nagpal is a board certified neuro-oncologist, clinical professor of neurology & neurological sciences, and clinical professor (by courtesy) of neurosurgery at Stanford University School of Medicine. She treats both primary brain tumors as well as metastatic disease to the brain and nervous system. Her research concentrates on clinical trials for patients with late-stage central nervous system cancer. She has a special interest in leptomeningeal disease, a devastating complication of lung and breast cancers.
Dr. Nagpal collaborates with Stanford scientists to detect this disease earlier, and collaborates with Stanford’s breast and lung oncologists to formulate treatments that improve quality of life and survival for her patients.
John Post
JD
Board Treasurer
Co-founder and CEO
Propulsion
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John Post is co-founder and CEO of Propulsion, a start-up engaged in building a national platform of managed service providers that provide IT and technology services to small to medium sized businesses. Prior to Propulsion, John held a series of executive roles at private equity backed and public cybersecurity companies, including CEO at Alert Logic, COO at Carbonite, and CFO at Webroot. John began his career in tax planning with roles at Ernst & Young, Deloitte Tax, MolsonCoors, and Dish network prior to expanding into finance and operations when he joined Webroot. In addition, he serves on the board of Avant Communications, a leading technology services distributor.
John has extensive experience with tax, treasury, accounting, finance, legal, and governance matters across a broad range of company sizes from small start-ups to large public companies. He earned a law degree from the University of Colorado, School of Law, and a B.A. in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.
John has a personal connection to the mission of the Leptomeningeal Cancer Foundation after meningeal cancer tragically cut short the life of Theo Skinner at the young age of 17. Theo was John’s youngest son’s best friend since kindergarten and an extension of his family.
Inna Smalley
PhD
Board Member
Associate Member
Moffitt Cancer Center
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Inna Smalley is an Associate Member at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa Florida. She has more than 18 years of experience studying cancer biology and 10 years of experience studying central nervous system (CNS) metastases. Dr. Smalley has extensive expertise in studying the role of the tumor microenvironment in tumor growth and drug resistance. She is a leading world expert on the basic science of leptomeningeal cancer.
Dr. Smalley has broad experience analyzing high-throughput proteomic, metabolomic, and transcriptomic datasets. She has optimized the application of several spatial transcriptomics and single-cell analysis techniques for analyzing patient tumor specimens and cerebrospinal fluid-circulating tumor cells. She has helped develop advanced bioinformatics techniques to model changes in signaling and metabolism with the goal of identifying unique vulnerabilities of subpopulations of cells.
Dr. Smalley’s research group has a great interest in exploring tumor microenvironments among different metastatic sites to elucidate what drives certain cells to certain metastatic sites, as well as the mechanisms supporting their survival on therapy and immune evasion in different microenvironments, with a special focus on tumor metabolism. Dr. Smalley is deeply committed to mentoring early career scientists, especially those from underrepresented race, gender, and ethnic groups. She has previously published under her maiden name: Inna V. Fedorenko.