Group 4B: HER2-low & HER2-zero Breast Cancer; Brain Metastasis; Underserved Populations



Thursday, June 15
10:00 am – 11:30 am Eastern Time (US/New York)



Mentor: Joan Mancuso

Joan Mancuso has been living with metastatic breast cancer since 2007. She was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer in 2003. For over a decade Joan has been involved in many breast cancer projects. She was an advocate member of the Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium with Abramson Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania. The TBCRC conducts high-impact clinical trials. Joan was also a member of the planning committee for the Metastatic Breast Cancer Research Conference’s annual meeting, working to develop the meeting’s advocate program. Through SHARE Cancer Support Joan was interviewed on talk radio to raise awareness of MBC during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. She facilitated a SHARE telephone support group for people living with MBC and wrote news stories about cancer conference sessions for an MBC newsletter, among many other projects over the years. Joan also participated as an advocate in the AACR’s Scientist<->Survivor Program. Joan is currently a volunteer in ASCO’s TAPUR Publications Group. She contributed to the section on patient education and access to the 2023 ASCO update on the use of biosimilars in oncology, published in JCO Oncology Practice. Joan was a consumer reviewer for the DOD Breast Cancer Research Program for several years and an advocate on scientific grant proposals and clinical trial protocols at major cancer centers. She is a former special reports editor on a news desk for financial news.

Twitter: @2020VisionGirl

Scientist: Dionisia Quiroga, Ph.D.

Dr. Dionisia Quiroga is currently a breast medical oncology fellow and NIH T32 post-doctoral research fellow at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center (OSUCCC). She was recently hired to start as a breast medical oncologist and assistant professor in the Division of Medical Oncology at OSUCCC in August 2022.

Dionisia grew up in the mid-Michigan area and attended Michigan State University for her undergraduate, medical school, and graduate school education. She focused on general cancer vaccine development for her Ph.D dissertation research, but became specifically motivated to pursue breast cancer research after her cousin was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. Dionisia’s current research focuses on understanding how breast cancer can change and evade our natural immune response in order to develop new immunotherapeutic strategies for treating it. She also studies complications that may arise from breast cancer treatment (e.g. lymphedema) and how this may dysregulate the human immune response.

During her free time, she loves to spend time with her husband and son, go for long runs, and explore the culinary scene of Columbus, OH.

Twitter: @quirogad