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Sharon M. Bigelow, RN MSN ANP-BC AOCNP
A veteran oncology professional, Bigelow founded the NavigateCancer Foundation as a way to further empower cancer patients to understand and find quality cancer care. As cancer care gaps widened, she identified the need for new niche services and co-founded a national organization to reduce these gaps by providing easily accessible navigation services to all cancer patients.
As Executive Director of the NavigateCancer Foundation, Bigelow is responsible for translating the mission, vision and values of the foundation into the development and implementation of cancer navigation services for the national cancer community.
Prior to forming the NavigateCancer Foundation, Bigelow’s broad depth of experience in cancer care includes more than 25 years working in medical oncology, radiation oncology and bone marrow transplantation specialties. Her career includes the entire spectrum of cancer care; in hospital settings, outpatient clinics and hospice care.
Bigelow worked at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, Baylor University Medical Center, Duke University Medical Center and the University of North Carolina Hospital. She was most recently employed at Regional Cancer Care in Durham, North Carolina as a Nurse Practitioner and the Director of Clinical Services.
She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from Mount St. Mary’s College, a Masters of Science degree in nursing from Texas Woman’s University and a Nurse Practitioner Post-Master’s Certification from Duke University.
She has earned the highest credentials in her field with an ANCC Adult Nurse Practitioner Certification and an ONCC Advanced Oncology Nurse Practitioner Certification. Bigelow is currently an adjunct professor at Campbell University in North Carolina.
Throughout her career, Bigelow has been an advocate of quality cancer care and is dedicated to continuing to champion this cause through the mission of the NavigateCancer Foundation.
Paul A. Godley, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.P.
Dr. Paul Godley is a Professor in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the UNC School of Public Health, a member of Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, and a Senior Fellow at the Sheps Center for Health Services Research. In 2001, Dr. Godley became Director of the Program on Ethnicity, Culture and Health Outcomes (ECHO), a University initiative to advance understanding and elimination of racial health disparities through multidisciplinary research, education and training, and community partnerships. He directs The Carolina-Shaw Partnership for the Elimination of Health Disparities, and innovative health disparities research center based at the Sheps Center.
Dr. Godley sits on the Prostate Committee of the CALGB. He is also the Chairman of the Data Safety Monitoring Committee for the NCI-sponsored SELECT prevention trial. He is a clinically active medical oncologist and epidemiologist who conducts a wide spectrum of population-based investigations of prostate cancer and racial/ethnic health disparities.
Dr. Godley concurrently earned his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and a Master of Public Policy degree from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He also earned a Ph.D. in Epidemiology at UNC Chapel Hill.
Kimo Kong
Currently heads up World Wide Sales for AddressDoctor, an Informatica company, which specializes in international address verification and data quality services. Kimo has over 25 years of diverse and extensive technology experience in executive sales and general management capacities. Previous positions include Vice President, Sales and Service at IMN, President/CEO, Noverant, Inc., Vice President of International Operations of Oculan, Inc., Founder and EVP of Avesair, Inc., Vice President/General Manager of Engage, Inc. where he was responsible for the technologies division. and Vice President of Sales at Accipiter, Inc. He also held sales management positions with Integral, a provider of back office applications and Q+E/Intersolv, a provider of database middleware and business analysis tools. Kimo received a B.S. degree from University of Nevada at Las Vegas.
Angela Hampton
Angela Hampton is an Emmy award winning journalist who joined the ABC Eyewitness News Team in January 2002. Angela Co-anchors Eyewitness News at 6 o'clock with Larry Stogner and Eyewitness News at 11 o'clock with Steve Daniels.
Angela grew up in the Triangle and considers it a privilege to report the news in her "hometown". Her favorite assignments for Eyewitness News include reporting on Pope Benedict XIV's historic trip to America in 2008, going backstage with the cast and crew of "The Lion King" for a documentary in 2006, and covering the UNC Men's Basketball Team's NCAA Championship in St. Louis in 2005. Angela was the "Eye on Health" Reporter for 3 years and is a big supporter of the V Foundation for Cancer Research founded by the late Jim Valvano.
Angela left the "Heart of Carolina" for 7 years to Anchor the 6 & 11pm News at WTEN-TV in Albany, New York and later, the 10pm News at KMSP-TV in Minneapolis, MN where she won an Emmy for a Documentary on Breast Cancer.
Angela began her television news career as a reporter at the CBS Affiliate in Raleigh, but she got her true start in broadcast journalism as a news anchor and reporter at WCHL-AM Radio in Chapel Hill, where she worked while attending UNC-Chapel Hill. She is an honors graduate of the Journalism School. She counts among her mentors the late CBS Newsman Charles Kuralt, with whom she spent a semester on a fund-raiser campaign for the University.
Angela attended Sacred Heart Cathedral and Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh. She and her husband live in North Raleigh with their 5 year old daughter and two German Shepherds.
Suzan Rayfield Maddox
Suzan Rayfield Maddox is an entrepreneur, advocate and a breast cancer survivor. She has been President of Maddox Oncology Products Inc. since 1998 which develops and wholesales cancer care products to 165 locations throughout the United States.
Prior to this, her educational background and work experience was in finance. Maddox received her undergraduate degree from Mercer University. Her education continued at North Carolina State University where she received a Master’s in Accounting and from Campbell University where she graduated with a MBA. She is a Licensed Certified Public Accountant.
Being diagnosed with breast cancer changed her life as she became a passionate advocate for quality cancer care. Maddox was appointed to the North Carolina Governor’s Cancer Control Coalition in 1999 and continues to serve today. She is a on the Board of Directors of the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) Center for Excellence at the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill. She is a founding member of Free 2 Breathe NC a lung cancer advocacy group started in 2006.
She is founder and president Quilts are Love, an organization dedicated to manufacturing and distributing Prayer Quits to patients and families in need. She continues her advocacy through public speaking on cancer prevention, lymphedema, wellness and cancer survivorship throughout the country. She has authored a monthly column for the US Pharmacist and has contributed articles on quality of life during cancer treatment to many publications. She developed a CD, “Keys to Surviving Cancer- You Can Do It!” designed to help newly diagnosed cancer patients cope with disease and all profits were donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer Research. Maddox has been a volunteer and advocate for all causes related to cancer and her contribution to improve cancer survivorship was featured in the LAF newsletter.
Maddox has worked tirelessly both on the legislative level and through grass roots organizations to focus attention on the needs of cancer patients and survivors.
J. Scott Merrell
Scott Merrell serves as Of Counsel to Hutchison Law Group in Raleigh, North Carolina. He represents corporate clients as a member of the firm’s Corporate Practice Group. In this role, he also serves as counsel to the CEO and Board of Governors of RTI International. Scott also holds an appointment as a senior lecturing fellow at Duke University School of Law.
Prior to joining Hutchison Law Group, Scott served as Senior Vice President, Secretary and Chief Legal Officer at RTI International. He was responsible for the legal oversight of all RTI operations, including corporate governance, government contracting, commercial transactions, intellectual property protection and commercialization, tax, regulatory compliance, internal audit, the ethics and compliance program and other corporate matters. Scott was a member of RTI’s Executive Leadership Team, Strategic Investment Committee and Enterprise Risk Management Committee. As a corporate officer and member of RTI’s executive leadership team, Scott also served as a director or observer on the boards of several of RTI’s affiliate companies and had extensive involvement in the creation and funding of RTI’s technology spin-out companies. During a career spanning over 20 years at RTI, he also held positions as Vice President and Counsel of Corporate Ventures, Counsel to the President, and Senior Director and Counsel for the Office of Commercialization and Intellectual Property. Prior to his career at RTI, Scott was engaged in the private practice of law and focused on general corporate matters.
Scott received his J.D. from Wake Forest University and his A.B., magna cum laude, from Duke University. He is admitted to practice law before the Courts of the State of North Carolina, the U.S. District Court (E.D.N.C.), the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Tax Court.
Beth Roach
Beth Roach is the Chief Financial and Operating Officer for the NavigateCancer Foundation. In this capacity, she is responsible for transforming the vision of the foundation into operations that deliver patient services. Key areas of oversight include financial growth, business development, marketing and public relations.
Prior to co-founding the NavigateCancer Foundation, Beth Roach was the vice president of sales and delivery for All Kinds of Minds from 2005 to 2008. She initially joined in a financial capacity, but was quickly asked to assume responsibilities across the organization. Roach had previously led groups in customer service, training, consulting, finance, administration, product management, documentation, HR, legal, and marketing. Her cross-functional talents establish her as a key member of the leadership team and able to play a key role in the sales and delivery functions.
Prior to All Kinds of Minds, Roach was the vice president of finance & administration of Ziptronix, Inc., a pioneer in 3D semiconductor integration, located in Research Triangle Park, NC, where she was instrumental in orchestrating multi-million dollar debt and equity financing totaling over $20M. Roach also held the position of vice president of finance and operations Avesair, Inc., a company she co-founded. She was a driving force behind the company’s Series A & B financing rounds, totaling 17.25 MM. Roach also held the position of vice president of operations with Engage, Inc., where she ultimately was a key player in the company’s initial public offering on the NASDAQ.
She holds a Masters of Accounting and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Accounting both from North Carolina State University, Raleigh. Prior to becoming a mother, Roach selflessly lent her time over a 10 year period as a division/group manager in the Jimmy V Celebrity Golf Classic for Cancer Research. Roach also sits on the Board of Directors for the Entrepreneurs Partnership for the Triangle Community Foundation. Most recently, she spends her time on the executive board on the PTA of her children’s school.
Jim Ruth
Jim Ruth comes to us from North Carolina State University where he is currently the Director of the Friends of the Library and Annual Giving at the NCSU Libraries. He has been successful in establishing and expanding annual giving efforts at NCSU Libraries and has helped stabilize and develop the Libraries fundraising efforts for both annual giving and major gifts. Jim has strong roots in this community as well as strong ties to our cause. He received his undergraduate degree in Engineering from Duke University and Masters Degree in Library Science from UNC-Chapel Hill. Jim met his wife Lisa while she was still in treatment for breast cancer. They are passionate about staying positive throughout the struggle against cancer. Lisa is a currently a six year survivor and the couple will welcome their second child later this year.
Heidi Schecodnic, M.D.
Dr. Heidi Schecodnic is an Internal Medicine Physician within the Primary Care division of the Duke Health Care system. She has been a primary care physician in Raleigh for three years. She has also served as the Lab Director for two of the Duke Outpatient clinics during this time. She serves as the Patient Satisfaction and Performance Improvement Committee chair for the practice on Creedmoor Road. She is responsible for researching and implementing ways to improve overall patient care, including improving outcomes in the management of Diabetes, Hypertension, and Anticoagulation. She is currently collaborating with the Patient Satisfaction Committee to focus on the patient’s overall satisfaction with their health care team.
Prior to joining Duke Medicine, she was a member of an Internal Medicine clinic in Ashland, Ohio for over six years. She provided care for patients both in the inpatient and outpatient settings. She was involved in numerous hospital committees while an active staff physician at The Samaritan Regional Health System. Through these committees she was able to implement policies and programs to help improve the outcomes for patients while in the inpatient setting. Her passion though was in public health and public education. She provided lectures to the public through the hospital’s education department. She truly believes that all people should have the knowledge they need to live longer, healthier, and happier lives.
Dr. Schecodnic’s passion for helping people began at a young age. Her earliest memories are of helping people through her church, volunteering at the local hospital, and volunteering within the community. She attended college at the University of Toledo, where she continued her philanthropic ways by organizing fund raisers for various charities. She then studied medicine and did her residency at the Medical College of Ohio. Her first personal experience with cancer was when her grandfather was diagnosed with and later died from prostate cancer. Experiencing firsthand how confusing and overwhelming illnesses can be for patients and their families, she vowed to never leave a patient feeling this way in her own practice.
Dr. Schecodnic, a native of Ohio, now lives with her husband and their two daughters in Wake Forest. They are active volunteers through their church, and you can find them lending a helping hand at their daughters’ school or on the local soccer field.
Lee Gravatt Wilke, M.D.
Dr Wilke is an Assistant Professor of Surgery with the Duke University Breast Cancer Program. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Duke University in 1989 with a degree in Neurosciences. In 1993, she completed her Medical Degree at Duke, graduating AOA. During her medical school years she also received a Howard Hughes Research Fellowship. From 1993 to 2000, Dr Wilke attended the University of Michigan for her surgical residency. During her 2 research years she received an American College of Surgeons Resident Research Scholarship which was used to study a chimeric receptor for the breast cancer HER-2/neu gene. In 2000, Dr Wilke returned to Duke University as an Assistant Surgical Professor. From 2001 to 2004 she served as the Medical Officer for the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group (ACOSOG) and assisted in the completion of its largest trial to date, ACOSOG Z0010. Several articles in peer-reviewed journals have been published in the past 3 years from her work with ACOSOG. Currently, Dr Wilke serves on the Executive Committee for ACOSOG as the Chair of the Peer Review and Prioritization committee. Dr Wilke has recently been elected to the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer for a 3 year term. She also serves on the American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBS) research and publications committees and has co-authored several consensus statements on breast cancer topics from the ASBS. Dr Wilke’s current clinical research focuses on the development of a novel optical device for breast cancer tumor detection during breast conservation and pre-surgical chemotherapy. This work is performed in collaboration with a nationally recognized biophotonics engineering team and has recently been featured on ABC World New tonight. She collaborates with several other prominent researchers at Duke to further characterize and understand the mechanisms of breast cancer. In addition to caring for over 200 new breast cancer patients each year, Dr Wilke enjoys spending time with her husband and 2 sons David (age 11) and Steven (age 6).
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Kent C.
Lymphoma Survivor, North Carolina
"My nurse consultant provided me with confidence to beat my disease. She was there for me throughout my journey to answer questions and help me ask the right questions to my doctors. She was the best information source and explained everything in very clear layman's language. The service is invaluable. I cannot express in words what NavigateCancer has meant to me and my family."
- Don F.
Lymphoma Survivor, North Carolina
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