The Speakers
Dr. Margaret Briehl
Dr. Briehl serves as co-Director of the department’s Basic Mechanisms of Human Disease course. This graduate-level course has lecture and laboratory sessions and is aimed at students in Master’s and Doctoral programs. Dr. Briehl promotes advancements in biomedical research through a deep commitment to training the next generation of scientists. She is Principal Investigator for a post baccalaureate research education program (PREP@UAZ) that prepares students from underserved backgrounds for PhD programs in the biomedical sciences. Dr. Briehl is a Principal Investigator on a U54 grant, the Partnership for Native American Cancer Prevention. The partnership focuses on addressing cancer health disparities faced by Native Americans in Arizona. As an Associate Director in the University of Arizona Cancer Center, Dr. Briehl facilitates cancer research training at all educational levels.
Dr. Purnima Madhivavan
Purnima Madhivanan is an Associate Professor in Health Promotion Sciences at the Mel & Enid College of Public Health at University of Arizona. A physician by training from Government Medical College in Mysore, she has a MPH and PhD in Epidemiology from the University of California, Berkeley, USA. She completed her post-doctoral training in 2010. She is the Director of Public Health Research Institute of India (PHRII) and is also the Director of the Global Health Equity Scholars (GHES) Training Program in collaboration with Stanford, Yale and University of California, Berkeley.
For the past 20 years, her work has focused on disadvantaged populations, elucidating the dynamics of poverty, gender, and the environmental determinants of health, in particular the impact on women and children living in rural communities. She established a clinic in Mysore, India in 2005 while completing her PhD dissertation. For over a decade, the PHRII/Prerana Women’s Health Initiative has delivered low-cost, high-quality reproductive health services to 24,000 low-income women living in Mysore District. Offering a full-service clinic, molecular laboratory and active affiliations with several major tertiary care hospitals, the site is recognized as a research and training site for Global Health. The Saving Children Improving Lives Program focused on increasing integrated antenatal care and HIV testing services for women in rural and tribal communities using mobile clinics with the help of women’s self-help groups to mobilize and follow-up women. This program model was then adapted to provide cervical cancer screening services in the community in India, which is the only community based cervical cancer screening program in India.
Dr. Madhivanan serves as an advisor to a number of state departments of Public Health, non-profit as well as governmental research organizations. In 2007, she received the prestigious International Leadership Award from the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation for her work on HIV prevention. Dr. Madhivanan’s global health credentials and clinical service has brought unique opportunities for collaboration; most recently benefiting students and faculty interested in learning about Global Health and service in a developing world setting.
Loriana Hernandez-Aldama
Emmy award-winning journalist, international speaker, two-time cancer survivor and author of Becoming the Story: The Power of PREhab, Loriana Hernandez-Aldama is a powerhouse motivational speaker and gifted storyteller who inspires audiences and compels action with her 3P protocol to be possible.
Bold, transparent and honest, Loriana has become a game-changer in the healthcare and wellness space by sharing what she discovered when the script was flipped and she went from network medical reporter to the other side of healthcare after a diagnosis of AML Leukemia in 2014.
Loriana’s made national headlines as she went from telling everyone’s story to “Becoming the Story” during that traumatic one year near-fatal battle with leukemia. The fight ripped her away from her then 2-year-old son, her high-level successful career unraveled and she suffered complications and loss at every turn...down to her own DNA. What Loriana gained were insights and a discovery of the most compelling story of her career: PREhabiliation matters.
On the 5th anniversary of surviving AML Leukemia and a life-saving bone marrow transplant, Loriana received the most unexpected gift — breast cancer.
Once again, Loriana didn’t just beat the odds. She changed them.
Today, as the founder of the non-profit, ArmorUp for LIFE, Loriana leverages her 20+ years of on-air experience and her personal journey overcoming two cancers to coach executives about the importance of prioritizing their own well-being. Additionally, she inspires others to reach their state of possible.
Loriana is a sought-after speaker who has addressed the FDA, served as keynote Mass BIO’s Hallmark Conference and inspired global sales teams at Fortune 500 companies like Pfizer to ArmorUp for Life. She has moderated panels with C-Suite executives on clinical trial diversity and co-authored several abstracts with researchers in the cancer space.
Above all, Loriana knows there’s no time like the present to Prepare, Present and Prevail® — her new book Becoming the Story: The Power of PREhab will inspire and empower you to do just that.
Shelley Hawthorne
Dr. Shelley Hawthorne Smith is an Assistant Professor of Practice who serves as the Associate Director of the Graduate Writing Lab and Graduate Center Office of Fellowships. Committed to supporting graduate students’ development as writers, she created and runs the Fellowship Application Development Programs for students applying for graduate level funding. She also supports graduate writers in Writing Efficiency Sessions and other programs. Dr. Hawthorne Smith earned an MFA in Creative Writing and a PhD in Rhetoric, Composition, and the Teaching of English at the University of Arizona. She has taught community college courses and served as a volunteer in Peace Corps South Africa. When not at work, she enjoys riding bikes and playing games with her family, but she is also continually on the hunt for a quiet corner where she can eat dark chocolate or read a novel.
Carol Carpenter
Carol Carpenter is the Principal Research Administrator/Grant Writer within Cancer Research Training and Education Coordination (CRTEC), where she works with graduate students and early-stage faculty to write and win research grants. She coordinates the Fellowship Award Readiness program offering year-long support to predoctoral researchers submitting their first nationally competitive grant to the National Institute of Health (NIH). Carol has more than 30 years of experience as a professional grant writer – primarily in the non-profit sector – and has raised more than $500 million over her career.
Celia Valenzuela
Celia Valenzuela, MD, completed medical school and residency training in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson. Afterward, she joined a private practice group, proving care to underserved populations in Tucson — but a desire to contribute toward equity in academic medicine brought her back to COM-T in 2009.
Dr. Valenzuela is driven by a personal understanding of the obstacles encountered by underrepresented minorities entering medicine and advancing their careers. In support of COM-T’s mission to increase diversity in medicine, Dr. Valenzuela is serving as interim vice dean for diversity, equity and inclusion, and represents COM-T in the University of Arizona Health Sciences Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Collaborative, as well as the University of Arizona Diversity Coalition. She has spearheaded initiatives to increase the diversity of her department and has served as the Faculty Diversity Advisory Committee co-chair with a mission of advising the dean and informing college-level DEI efforts. Collaborating with another program director, she recently worked with COM-T leadership on the creation of a Visiting Student Elective Scholarship to encourage underrepresented students to consider residency at COM-T. She serves as a faculty advisor for the First-Generation Low-income Club, and serves on the AOA Antiracism in Medicine Committee, which was formed to address the lack of diversity among students elected to this national medical honor society.
Dr. Valenzuela has held several leadership roles within her department, including that of medical director of the largest outpatient clinic for OG/GYN at Banner University Medical Center Tucson, interim director of the Division of General Obstetrics and Gynecology, associate residency program director and residency program director. With a commitment to improving her leadership skills, she participated in the Learn to Lead Program at COM-T and is currently participating in the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics (APGO) Academic Scholars and Leaders (ASL) Program, a highly competitive national program designed to equip ob-gyn faculty with the knowledge and skills needed to be outstanding teachers and leaders.