Assistant Professor Lily Gutnik, M.D., has been named associate scientist for the Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Center (MHRC) and the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB in the Cancer Control and Population Science program.
Mona Fouad, M.D., MPH, director of the MHRC notes that they value Gutnik’s “participation in helping fulfill MHRC's mission of eliminating health disparities locally, regionally, and nationally,” and that they believe her new role will support her “projects aimed at eliminating health disparities, and will facilitate collaborations with other researchers at UAB and throughout the nation.”
The MHRC was established in 2002, and has maintained its status as a university-wide interdisciplinary research center, as well as a center of excellence (P60) funded by the National Institutes of Health. The MHRC supports three goals–research, training, and outreach–that align with UAB’s broad strategic goals and make it an enabling platform for UAB’s research, teaching, and service missions.
As associate scientist in the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB Cancer Control and Population Science program (CCPS), Gutnik will work closely with the program leaders Beth Brown, Ph.D., MPH, and Laura Rogers, M.D., MPH, FACP, FACSM.
According to the cancer center, the goals of the CCPS Program are to reduce the burden of cancer through hypothesis-driven observational and interventional research that spans the bench-to-bedside-to-community at large and targets all stages of neoplasia, from primary, secondary and tertiary prevention, through to end-of-life care.
Gutnik joined the UAB Division of Breast and Endocrine Surgery in November 2021. She also supports the General Surgery Residency Program as assistant program director for global surgery.
Gutnik was previously a Fulbright and Fogarty Fellow in Lilongwe, Malawi where she established and evaluated the efficacy of Malawi’s first breast cancer screening initiative by activating laywomen to become trained breast health workers. In addition, she serves in an advisory board member for two international NGOs.
Finally, Gutnik is a committee member of PreTac—a franchise of Discovering Hands in Geneva, Switzerland. She is currently collaborating on various breast cancer projects and initiatives in Tanzania, Malawi, and Nigeria, and with the WHO Global Breast Cancer Initiative. She is also co-supervisor of a PhD student in Moshi, Tanzania whose thesis is on understanding factors contributing to late-stage breast cancer diagnosis.