Christopher Friese named associate director for cancer control and population sciences at U-M Rogel Cancer Center

The University of Michigan Rogel Cancer has named two new associate directors.

Bhramar Mukherjee, Ph.D., will be the associate director for quantitative data sciences, and Christopher Friese, Ph.D., R.N., was named associate director for cancer control and population sciences.

Mukherjee, chair and John D. Kalbfleisch Collegiate Professor of Biostatistics at the U-M School of Public Health, previously led cancer control and population sciences at the Rogel Cancer Center. She is stepping down from that position to take over leadership around quantitative data science efforts within cancer research. This is a new position that recognizes the expanding role of data science in cancer research.

Friese, Elizabeth Tone Hosmer Professor of Nursing at the U-M School of Nursing, will lead the center’s efforts around cancer screening, detection and prevention, as well as research on cancer outcomes, disparities and new models of cancer care delivery.

“Dr. Mukherjee and Dr. Friese are both outstanding scientists and leaders in their fields. Our members already have tremendous strength in quantitative data sciences and cancer control and population sciences,” says Eric R. Fearon, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Rogel Cancer Center.

“With the vision of our new leaders, I look forward to further innovation and impact in cancer control and population sciences and in quantitative data science, including new scientific insights and ultimately improved outcomes for people who have cancer or were treated for cancer.”

Friese is a national expert in the analyses of claims data to study care quality and has executed large surveys of ambulatory oncology nurses. He leads an interdisciplinary research program to study the quality of care delivered in understudied ambulatory oncology settings from the perspectives of patients and clinicians. In 2018, Friese was appointed to a six-year team on the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Board of Governors.

As associate director, he will provide strategic direction for the center’s two cancer control and population sciences research programs, which focus on cancer epidemiology and health outcome and behaviors.

The appointments were effective Jan. 1, 2020. Read more from Rogel Cancer Center.