The SoCa Team

The mission of the Center for Social Capital (SoCa) is to reduce cancer health inequities in persistent poverty census tracts throughout NYC by promoting multi-generational health and increasing workforce diversity through educational programs for youth and training programs for fellows, research coordinators, and faculty. More specifically, SoCa will test, disseminate, and sustain interventions that incorporate multiple levels of influence from an individual, interpersonal, community, and societal approaches in PPAs prioritized in the South Bronx, Washington Heights, North-Central Brooklyn, and Western Queens. Our Projects are directly responsive to community priorities and have been identified through strong collaborations between our research teams and community stakeholders. The Center unites a large NYC based health system (the New York Presbyterian Hospital System (NYP) which has two medical centers with cancer centers– Cornell University (CU) and Columbia University Medical Center (CUIMC), Downstate Health Sciences University (Downstate), Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), representatives from the NYC Departments of Education and Health, the NYP Dalio Center for Health Justice, Cornell Cooperative Extension, and numerous community-based organizations.

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SOCA CENTER

Multiple Principal Investigators

  • Dr. Rulla Tamimi, ScD, MS

    Dr. Tamimi’s research focuses on breast cancer risk and prognosis. As a principal investigator on numerous NIH-funded grants and author of over 200 peer-reviewed publications, she has identified a number of genetic, molecular and lifestyle predictors of breast cancer risk. Her foundational work includes studies on early life and environmental exposures’ link to breast disease, molecular characterization of breast tumors, and mammographic density as a predictor of breast cancer.

    Dr. Tamimi received her bachelor’s degree from Tufts University and her master’s degree and doctorate in epidemiology from the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. Previously, she was an associate professor in epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and the co-lead of the Breast Cancer Program at the Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center.

  • Dr. Erica Phillips, MD, MS

    Dr. Phillips is the Jack Fishman Associate Professor of Cancer Prevention in the Division of General Internal Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine. She is also the Associate Director of Community Outreach and Engagement for the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center. Over the past 20 years at WCM her research efforts have focused on translating basic social and behavioral science theories into effective community-based interventions to address health inequities in high-risk populations. As part of the SoCa center she is the lead investigator for the Cancer Risk Education in Schools for Youth and Families (CARES4YOU)a study.

  • Dr. Mary Beth Terry, PhD

    Mary Beth Terry, PhD is a Professor in epidemiology and directs the Community Outreach and Engagement Office as well as co-leads the Cancer Population Science research program at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center of Columbia University. Her office has a long history of educational programs related to cancer environmental risk factors, targeted to adolescents in local high schools. Dr Terry’s team has been involved in the development of a curriculum which focuses on five lifestyle risk factors: HPV vaccination, avoiding tobacco products including alternative tobacco products, increasing physical activity, avoiding or reducing alcohol consumption, and eating a balanced diet.

  • Dr. Phoenix Matthews, PhD, MS

    Dr. Phoenix A. Matthews is nationally and internationally known for their health disparities research with underserved populations. They are a Professor and clinical psychologist with more than 25 years of experience in examining determinants of cancer-related health disparities with a focus on racial/ethnic minorities and other underserved populations. Phoenix's recent research focuses on the use of community-based and culturally targeted health promotion interventions to reduce risk factors associated with cancer disparities including smoking cessation treatments. Phoenix has served as the PI of five NIH funded grants and co-investigator for several others and is the author of over 140 peer-reviewed publications.