About Our
Speakers
Ann Hernick
Community Outreach & Translation Core, Cincinnati BCERC
An active advocate with the Cincinnati
BCERC since it was proposed in 2002, Ms. Hernick is
Chair of the Center’s COTC Education Committee, which
plans the annual Looking Upstream public forum.
A breast cancer survivor, she is a past president and
current member of the board of the Breast Cancer
Alliance of Greater Cincinnati, and a member of the
National Breast Cancer Coalition. She is a frequent
speaker locally, regionally and nationally on advocates’
role in the BCERC research and dissemination of results.
Scott Belcher, PhD
Associate
Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Cell
Biophysics, University of Cincinnati
Dr. Belcher’s research interests include
the molecular and physiological actions of estrogens
which originate in the body or are present in the
environment, and the changes brought about by
endocrine-disrupting chemicals. His research has found
that the chemical bisphenol A (BPA), widely used in
consumer plastics, can disrupt important effects of
estrogen in the developing brain and the female heart at
very low doses. Dr. Belcher received his PhD in
Molecular Genetics from the University of Texas
Southwestern in 1993, and completed postdoctoral
training in Neuronal Ion Channels at Yale University in
1997.
Robert Bornschein, PhD
Director, Cincinnati Breast Cancer & the Environment
Research Center
Dr. Bornschein is Professor Emeritus and immediate past
Chair of the Department of Environmental Health,
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. His
research interests have focused on sources, prevention
and developmental consequences of childhood lead
exposure, and evaluation of chelation therapy. As
Director of the Cincinnati BCERC, his interests have
focused on environmental exposures linked to endocrine
metabolism, obesity, puberty, and breast cancer. Dr.
Bornschein received his PhD in Psychopharmacology from
the University of Louisville in 1974.
M. Kathryn Brown, MS, PhD
Research Assistant Professor, Department of
Environmental Health, University of Cincinnati
Dr. Brown is Director of the Community Outreach and
Translation Core (COTC) of the Cincinnati Breast Cancer
and the Environment Research Center (BCERC). She
collaborates with researchers and advocates in the
design and conduct of training programs that address the
research methods used to study exposure-disease pathways
so that advocates are prepared to help develop future
research studies and communicate BCERC findings to the
public. Dr. Brown’s background includes working with
African-American and urban Appalachian neighborhoods on
environmental justice issues. She received her masters
and doctoral degrees in Environmental Epidemiology from
the University of Cincinnati.
Mary Justice, RN, MSN
Associate Professor of Nursing, Raymond Walters
College, University of Cincinnati
Ms.
Justice is an active and committed member of the breast
cancer advocacy community in Cincinnati. A breast cancer
survivor, she serves on the Cincinnati BCERC Community
Outreach and Translation Core (COTC) Education
Committee, which plans the annual Looking Upstream
public forum and other outreach efforts. She is a member
of the Oncology Nursing Society, and has served as a
consumer reviewer for the US Department of Defense
Breast Cancer Research Program and as a member of the
Breast Cancer Alliance of Greater Cincinnati Board of
Directors.
Frank Biro, MD
Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati
Children’s Hospital Medical Center
Dr. Biro is the Director of Adolescent Medicine at
Cincinnati Children’s and an expert in the field of
puberty. Dr. Biro graduated from Harvard Medical School
and completed a combined residency in Internal Medicine
and Pediatrics at the University of Rochester. He
returned to Harvard for a fellowship in Adolescent
Medicine, and subsequently joined the staff of
Cincinnati Children’s in 1984. Dr. Biro is immediate
past president of the North American Society for
Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology (NASPAG), and is a
member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of
Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology. His research
interests include the antecedents of pubertal maturation
and the impact of pubertal development on adult
morbidity and mortality. He is principal investigator of
the Growing Up Female epidemiologic study of the
Cincinnati Breast Cancer & the Environment Research
Center (BCERC).
Banita Bailey, RN, BSN, CCM
Pink Ribbon Girls
Ms. Bailey received her Bachelor of Science
in Nursing from the College of Mt. St. Joseph in 1991.
She has been a Certified Case Manager (CCM) since 2001,
and is a Registered Nurse in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.
A breast cancer survivor for over 10 years, she has been
an active member of the Pink Ribbon Girls survivors’
advocacy organization (www.pinkribbongirls.org) since
2002, serving as treasurer since 2005. She is also a
member of the Breast Cancer Alliance of Greater
Cincinnati and is a volunteer Study Helper with the
Cincinnati Breast Cancer & the Environment Research
Center (BCERC) Growing Up Female study.
Jennifer Manders, MD, FACS
Breast surgeon, Cincinnati Onco-Plastic Surgery
Center
Dr. Manders is medical director of
oncoplastic surgery at Christ Hospital, and co-founder
of the Cincinnati Onco-Plastic Surgery Center. From
2005-2007, she was an Assistant Professor in the
Division of Surgical Oncology at the University of
Cincinnati College of Medicine. Dr. Manders collaborates
on breast cancer studies with basic science researchers
at the University of Cincinnati, and is a frequent
speaker on breast cancer for professional and lay
audiences. She also established and continues to
organize a support group for young women with breast
cancer, which meets monthly.
Erin Miller, MS, CGC
Certified Genetic Counselor, Cincinnati Children’s
Hospital Medical Center
Ms. Miller joined
Cincinnati Children’s in 2005, where she has served as a
genetic counselor with the Hereditary Cancer Program,
General Genetics Clinic, Diagnostic Cardiomyopathy
Clinic, and Huntington’s Disease clinic. Board-certified
by the American Board of Genetic Counselors, she is a
member of the National Society of Genetic Counselors
Cancer Special Interest Group. She is a volunteer
faculty instructor in genetic counseling and cancer with
the University of Cincinnati. Ms. Miller is also a guest
lecturer on medical ethics in clinical practice and on
the genetics of cancer with the Institute for Learning
in Retirement.
Meg Zeller, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics,
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
Dr. Zeller is a pediatric psychologist by training
and is both a practicing clinician and researcher in the
Division of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology
at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
(CCHMC). She has a solid track record of research
funding from both CCHMC and the National Institutes of
Health (NIH). While Dr. Zeller’s primary focus is on
understanding the psychosocial factors associated with
the development and persistence of overweight and
obesity in children and adolescents, her broader
interests focus on quality of life and family
functioning as it relates to pediatric chronic illness.
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