Meet Our Leaders

As CEO of SCRI, Dee Anna Smith leads the organization’s overall mission and vision to make a global impact on the next generation of cancer care.

Under her leadership, SCRI formed a joint venture with US Oncology Research in 2022, bringing together physicians who are actively accruing patients to clinical trials at more than 250 locations in 24 states across the U.S.

Prior to creating the SCRI joint venture, she served as CEO for Sarah Cannon, the Cancer Institute of HCA Healthcare. During her tenure, the company experienced exponential growth across its care network, and conducted pivotal clinical research that led to the majority of newly-approved cancer therapies now available to patients.

As an entrepreneur, Smith founded two companies focused on clinical trial services; the first startup, SiteWorks Solutions, was acquired by Oracle and the second, Summit Research Solutions, was acquired by HCA Healthcare to become a part of SCRI. Smith began her career as an auditor and Certified Public Accountant (CPA) with KPMG, after receiving a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Pepperdine University.

She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. She is the chair of the Pepperdine University Board of Regents, and also serves on the board of directors for the Nashville Health Care Council.

Dr. Burris leads clinical strategy and drug development for SCRI’s clinical research network. In 1997, he established the first community-based phase 1 drug development program in Nashville, which became SCRI. Among his many accomplishments, he led the first-in-human studies for many now-approved drugs that have changed the standard of care for several types of cancers, and, more recently has been instrumental in initiating research with novel therapies including mRNA personalized vaccines for the treatment of a variety of cancers. He has authored more than 420 publications and 640 abstracts, and SCRI has initiated nearly 700 first-in-human trials to date under his leadership.

Dr. Burris served as ASCO^® president for the 2019-2020 term and has continued to hold several leadership positions on behalf of the ASCO^® community, including the Board of Governors, Audit Committee, and as chair of the ASCO^® Nominating Committee. Currently, he is chair of the Board for the Conquer Cancer Foundation.

He received his undergraduate degree at West Point, his medical degree from the University of South Alabama, and performed his residency and fellowship in hematology/oncology at Brooke Army Medical Center. While there, he was director of clinical research at the Institute for Drug Development of The Cancer Therapy and Research Center, and an associate professor at The University of Texas Health Science Center.

Dr. Spigel joined SCRI in 2003, and, as chief scientific officer, he oversees all scientific aspects of SCRI’s clinical trial program, working with the research physician leaders to ensure the best new agents and studies are available to our patients. He serves as a primary contact for the Pharma and biotech partners as well as the strategic site physicians with whom SCRI conducts cancer research.

Dr. Spigel received his bachelor’s degree from Tulane University in New Orleans in 1992 and medical degree from The University of Tennessee in Memphis, Tenn. in 1996. After completing an internal medicine and chief residency at Indiana University Medical Center, he completed a fellowship in hematology and oncology at The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. He is board certified in medical oncology.

Vivek Subbiah, MD, joined Sarah Cannon Research Institute (SCRI) in 2023, and serves as chief, Early-Phase Drug Development. In his role, Dr. Subbiah oversees SCRI’s nine drug development units and leads the expansion of early-phase capabilities and programs across SCRI’s growing research network. Dr. Vivek Subbiah comes to SCRI from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center where he was an associate professor in the Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics. During his near 15-year tenure there, Dr. Vivek Subbiah held several leadership roles including executive director, Medical Oncology Research, MD Anderson Cancer Network as well as clinical medical director, Division of Cancer Medicine where he oversaw both the outpatient and inpatient clinical care delivery operations for the Phase I program.

Dr. Vivek Subbiah has served as the principal investigator in over 100 phase I/II trials and co-investigator in over 200 clinical trials and is known for his leadership in several first-in-human and practice-changing studies that directly led to approvals from the FDA, European Medicines Agency, and other agencies across the world. He has authored over 350 peer-reviewed publications in several high-impact journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine, Nature Medicine, Journal of Clinical Oncology, JAMA Oncology, Cancer Discovery, Lancet Oncology, Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology, Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, and Clinical Cancer Research.

After finishing his medical education in India, Dr. Vivek Subbiah completed a combined residency program in internal medicine and pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University, MetroHealth, Cleveland, Ohio. He received board-certifications in both internal medicine and pediatrics and completed fellowships in both adult and pediatric oncology at MD Anderson.

Amber Woodward-Smith serves as chief financial officer (CFO) for SCRI. She joined SCRI in 2019 and is responsible for operational and financial leadership of the company. In 2022, Amber successfully led the company through a joint venture with US Oncology Research and continues to lead many of SCRI’s integration efforts. In her current role, Amber helps shape new processes and operations across SCRI’s network and oversees several of the company’s enabling corporate functions.

Previously, Amber served as CFO for HCA Healthcare’s Physician Services Group – Urgent Care. Amber was recruited to HCA Healthcare to lead 24 CareNow clinics, which were added to the Urgent Care portfolio in 2014. In 2015, her leadership expanded to support all urgent care operations across the enterprise. With her oversight, Amber advanced several key acquisitions and developments to better serve patients in the urgent care setting.

Amber has worked in a variety of financial leadership areas for several nationally-recognized healthcare organizations. By blending her entrepreneurial spirit with her ability to enhance business operations, she has helped to scale several start-ups in Nashville and beyond.

Paul Ashley serves as SCRI’s Chief Information Officer (CIO). He is responsible for driving the organization’s technology strategy and providing innovative solutions to advance the organization’s reputation and brand as a leader in clinical and outcomes research. Paul joined SCRI in 2013 as the assistant vice president of Application Services prior to becoming CIO in 2020.

With more than 28 years of experience in Information Technology and Product Development, Paul has held leadership positions within HCA Healthcare’s Information Technology Group in support of HR/Payroll systems, Enterprise Business Intelligence, and Shared Services. He holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Tennessee Tech University and a master’s degree in information systems from Middle Tennessee State University.

Paul also serves on the board for The Salvus Center, a non-profit organization offering primary healthcare to the uninsured living and working in Sumner County, Tenn.

David Adler serves as vice president of Business Development for SCRI, and previously served in the same capacity for US Oncology Research prior to the joint venture between the two organizations. In his role, David leads the business development efforts across the organization, working closely with SCRI’s industry partners to support research opportunities across the network.

Prior to joining US Oncology Research in 2009, David spent the first half of his career working within the pharmaceutical industry serving in a number of leadership roles.

David holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in speech communications from California State University, Northridge.

Jennifer Cole is the vice president of Research Operations for SCRI. She has been in the research industry for more than 20 years, and with SCRI since 2005. Jennifer started her career as an intensive care nurse after graduating Summa Cum Laude from the Loewenberg School of Nursing at the University of Memphis in 1998. 

From the beginning of her professional career, Jennifer has been passionate about the ability to advance therapies for patients and help ensure they are receiving the best possible treatment options. With the transition from bedside nursing to research operations, Jennifer continues to influence and play a part in both. Not only does she have the joy of working with SCRI research sites, colleagues, and physicians who directly impact our patients, but she also oversees and leads the centralized services department as part of our SMO, who are critical in supporting our sites, ensuring they have what they need to serve our patients in clinical trials.

Mick Correll is the president of Genospace, the leading information platform for applied precision medicine and the precision medicine platform of SCRI. In his role, he focuses on company strategy, business development and team leadership.

As co-founder and CEO, Mick led Genospace to a successful merger with Sarah Cannon in January of 2017. Over his career, Mick has held leadership positions in academia and industry and has developed informatics solutions for pharma/biotech, ag bio, and academic, government and community healthcare providers. Prior to launching Genospace, he was the associate director of the Center for Cancer Computational Biology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Mick began his career at Lion Bioscience Research Inc. and UK-based informatics provider InforSense. Mick earned a Bachelor of Science in computer science and Bachelor of Arts in molecular biology from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Dr. McKenzie joined SCRI in 2015 and serves as the vice president of its Personalized Medicine Program. He also serves as the scientific director for Genospace, SCRI's fully-integrated personalized medicine engine.

Dr. McKenzie has more than 10 years of basic science and translational research experience in oncology. In his role, Dr. McKenzie is responsible for providing scientific and operational oversight for implementing SCRI’s personalized medicine strategy. He and the personalized medicine program provide scientific, consultative and programmatic services to clinical research investigators, study sponsors, research personnel and other healthcare providers to advance SCRI’s molecular profiling efforts. As scientific director at Genospace, Dr. McKenzie is responsible for providing scientific and strategic guidance to data science and product development activities.

Prior to joining SCRI, Dr. McKenzie was a research fellow in the cancer biology department at Vanderbilt University's Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center where he investigated extracellular vesicle trafficking and translational cell biology research. He earned a Bachelor of Science from Shorter College and a Doctor of Philosophy in pharmacology from The University of Vermont where he investigated extracellular matrix remodeling and cell motility.

Pamela Paul-McNeill serves as vice president of Quality Assurance for Sarah Cannon Research Institute (SCRI). In her role, she leads the optimization and standardization of Quality Assurance Programs across the organization to enhance research and care delivery for our patients and partners.

Prior to joining SCRI, Pamela served in numerous roles at Johnson & Johnson. Most recently, she was senior director of Strategy & Operations for Janssen Quality, where she oversaw the development of quality and compliance strategies and introduced data-driven, standardized processes to deliver on the company’s business initiatives.

Pamela holds a Bachelor of Science degree in microbiology from Howard University.

Sridhar Nuthi serves as vice president of Engineering for Genospace. In his role, Sridhar leads the Engineering and Technology function to advance clinical trial matching and health analytics through SCRI’s precision medicine platform. Sridhar is responsible for leading the software engineering program and platform operations, and facilitating collaboration between product, UX design, data science, and clinical/business teams.

Prior to joining Genospace, Sridhar served as the senior director for Data and Analytics at GE Healthcare, Digital Services Team. A thought leader and inventor, Sridhar has 23 years of professional experience, and has received various chief technology officer and chief information officers awards throughout his career in addition to his 20 patents, trade secrets, and more.

He received a Bachelor of Engineering from Osmania University, two master’s degrees in mechanical engineering and computer science from University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and a Master of Business Administration from Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management.

Ishwaria Subbiah, MD, joined Sarah Cannon Research Institute (SCRI) in 2023, and serves as executive director, Cancer Care Equity & Professional Wellness. In her role, Dr. Subbiah focuses on reducing cancer outcomes disparities and diversifying clinical trial participation across SCRI’s network. Dr. Subbiah also oversees SCRI’s healthcare professional well-being program to support multidisciplinary oncology research professionals across sites. Dr. Subbiah works in concert with SCRI’s SMO and CRO to advance unmet needs that both trial sponsors and physicians are seeking to address for patients.

Dr. Subbiah is recognized for her work geriatric oncology, symptom management, palliative care, and healthcare professional well-being. She previously was an associate professor in the Division of Cancer Medicine at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Dr. Subbiah contributes to the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) clinical practice guidelines update in geriatric oncology, new ASCO guidelines on medical cannabis and cannabinoids, and serves on the Older Adult Oncology guidelines committee of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN). She holds several peer-reviewed grants and serves in editorial leadership roles for the American Cancer Society (ACS) journal Cancer, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI), JNCI Cancer Spectrum, and the Journal of Geriatric Oncology. She is the Chair for the ASCO Women in Oncology working group and the ASCO State of Cancer Care in America initiative shaping organizational and system-level strategies to ensure a sustainable and thriving oncology workforce.

Dr. Subbiah received her bachelor’s degree in molecular & cellular biology and master’s degree in biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University, and medical degree from St. George’s University. After completing residency in internal medicine at University of Texas Health Science Center, she completed fellowships in investigational cancer therapeutics, medical oncology and hospice & palliative medicine at University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Marcy Vallone SCRI in 2011 and serves as the vice president of Development Innovations, SCRI’s full-service contract research organization (CRO). She also oversees business development for SCRI, including alliance and strategic partnerships and business development activities for the research institute.

Marcy has nearly 20 years in clinical research experience primarily focused in early phase oncology. Prior to joining SCRI, she conducted research for several pharmaceutical companies including Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Proteolix Inc., and Onyx Pharmaceuticals, an Amgen subsidiary where she served as a key member of the Kyprolis clinical development team. She graduated from Washington State University with a Bachelor of Science in microbiology and has been a co-author on seven publications and 29 abstracts.