Cancer Internal Advisory Board

The Cancer Internal Advisory Board (IAB) provides strategic guidance for the Henry Ford + MSU Cancer Center, ensuring alignment with institutional goals and supporting progress toward NCI designation. The IAB also serves as a consultative body, offering insight to strengthen the cancer center’s research, clinical and community engagement initiatives.

Christine Neslund-Dudas, Ph.D.

Co-Chair | Henry Ford Health

Christine Neslund-Dudas, Ph.D., is an associate scientist in the Department of Public Health Sciences at Henry Ford Health and co-leader of the Cancer Epidemiology, Prevention and Control Program at the Henry Ford Cancer Institute. Her research focuses on reducing disparities in cancer and cancer care. For the past ten years, her work has primarily been in lung cancer screening. She was the Henry Ford Site-PI for the NCI-funded Population-based Research to Optimize the Screening Process (PROSPR) Consortium. She is currently an MPI of the Henry Ford + MSU recruitment hub for the NCI Cancer Screening Research Network, which conducts randomized controlled trials of new cancer screening technologies.

Charles Hong, M.D., Ph.D.

Co-Chair | Michigan State University

Charles Hong, M.D., Ph.D., is chair of the Department of Medicine and a foundation professor at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. He is a pioneer in the field of chemical genetics of embryonic development. Hong elucidated the roles of PI3K in vein formation. His invention of dorsomorphin, the first small-molecule inhibitor of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling, has reshaped our understanding of this pathway in embryonic development and disease processes. Hong’s small molecules are now cornerstones of protocols for generating human neural tissues from pluripotent stem cells, driving advances in neurologic disease modeling. His latest work on the first extracellular proton-sensing receptor inhibitors has revealed a novel cancer survival pathway tied to the Warburg Effect, offering a promising strategy to selectively induce ferroptosis in glioblastoma and other cancers.

Angela Chia-Chen Chen, Ph.D.

Michigan State University

Angela Chia-Chen Chen, Ph.D., is a professor and the McLaren Greater Lansing Endowed chair for Behavioral Mental Health Nursing in Michigan State University’s College of Nursing. Her research focuses on developing and implementing technology-based interventions to address behaviors related to HPV vaccination for cancer prevention, as well as HIV/STI, substance abuse, and mental health issues among vulnerable populations, including ethnic minority and immigrant youth and young adults. She is also a board-certified psychiatric/mental health nurse practitioner and provides direct care to individuals with mental health and substance use concerns at MSU Health Care Family Medicine.

Dhananjay Chitale, M.D.

Henry Ford Health

Dhananjay (Dan) Chitale, M.D., is the system vice-chair of the Anatomic Pathology and Pathology Academic Program, division head of Molecular Pathology and Genomic Medicine, and medical director of the HFCI Tissue Biorepository & Immunohistochemistry Research Core at Henry Ford Health. He also serves as a clinical professor at Michigan State University and an associate clinical professor at Wayne State University. His research focuses on breast and prostate cancer, including epigenetic alterations and molecular diagnostics.

Howard Crawford, Ph.D.

Henry Ford Health

Howard Crawford, Ph.D., is a senior scientist in the Department of Pancreatic Cancer at Henry Ford Health. His expertise is in cellular plasticity in pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer using cutting-edge technologies, including single-cell sequencing, spatial transcriptomics, and spatial proteomics, applied to patient samples and genetically engineered mouse models.