Meet the team

Olveen Carrasquillo, MD, MPH is the Director of the BCSR and Professor and Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine. Carrasquillo’s research interests and expertise are in minority health, health disparities, community-based participatory research, and access to care. He has over 15 years of experience leading several NIH grants and large randomized trials in cancer prevention with noted expertise in training and utilizing Community Health Workers for participant recruitment and retention.

Natasha Schaefer Solle PhD, RN is the Assistant Director of the BCSR and Research Assistant Professor of Medicine. Her research expertise is in qualitative methodology and community-based participatory research, with a focus on addressing cancer-related disparities within vulnerable occupational groups and medically underserved communities. 

Neysarí Arana, MPH is Co-Manager of the BCSR providing oversight of clinic-based and psychosocial oncology research endeavors as well as translation services. A Puerto Rican native and long-time resident of Miami’s Hispanic community, she has over 12 years of experience working with a diverse patient population and cancer survivors as a bilingual assessor, interventionist, and project manager. She has extensive experience conducting research in both clinical and community settings.
 
Peggy Gonzalez, M.S.Ed. is Co-Manager of the BCSR, she oversees community-engaged studies and assists with oversight of psychosocial oncology research. A native of Miami’s Hispanic community, Peggy has been providing engagement services on behalf of the University for over 15 years. She has broad experience working with diverse patient populations and has experience implementing a wide range of recruitment, retention and community engagement strategies.

BCSR Staff: The BCSR is supported by ten other highly experienced, trained personnel who represent the cultural and linguistic diversity of South Florida. Collectively, they have decades of experience in cancer research and repeatedly receive high investigator satisfaction ratings on user evaluations.