Board of Directors

Karleen R. Habin, RN, BCCS, MPHC

President, Chair and Co-Founder

Karleen has more than 25 years of nursing experience, ranging from Critical Care, Women's Health Administration and Oncology Clinical Research. Karleen currently holds the position as Nursing Supervisor/Research Nurse Specialist at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Karleen has published extensively and was the co-author of the first state wide Breast Cancer Resource Guide of Massachusetts. Karleen has won several prestigious awards including the American Cancer Society Lane Adams Award and the Massachusetts General Hospital "The 100" Award. Karleen is a 20 year breast cancer survivor — and through her personal and professional experiences she strives to improve the quality of patients and families lives during the diagnosis, treatment and "living with" cancer experience.

Mary Lou Woodford, RN, MBA, CCM

Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder

Mary Lou brings more than 30 years of clinical and public health experience to the foundation. After 15 years as the Director of Women's Health at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Ms Woodford partnered with Ms Habin to form the Cancer Resource Foundation. She received her Bachelor's Degree in Nursing from the University of Connecticut and her Master's Degree in Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts. She is a CCM certified case manager who began working in public health after 10 years in the hospital setting.

As a nurse, case manager and experienced public health professional working with underserved diverse populations, she witnessed the extraordinary challenges that individuals face trying to coordinate their healthcare needs. It is this reason that she has devoted her career to helping others gain access to the many products and services that they need to reach a healthy active life. The Cancer Resource Foundation is an organization committed to making a difference in the lives of cancer patients, families and caregivers by providing access to patient assistance programs and services most need to successful move along the cancer journey. Ms Woodford is also an instructor at the Northeastern University School of School of Healthcare Management.

Ann G. Forcier, LMHC, PTR, CAGS

Vice President, Founding Board Member

Ann is a writer, psychotherapist, and educator. In the late 1990s, with Karleen, she co-authored the first state-wide Breast Cancer Resource Guide of Massachusetts. She is currently in private practice and at a community health center where she sees the direct effects of poverty and low-income on people's psychosocial well-being. She is also writing a novel about the experiences of French-Quebecois-Acadian-Franco women.

Ann received her BA in biology in 1977 from Holy Cross College (Worcester MA) where she was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. She earned her MS in counseling in 2000 from Fitchburg State College, and a CAGS in multidisciplinary studies with a focus on poetry therapy in 2005 from Vermont College of the Union Institute. She is a registered poetry therapist (PTR). Ann is also an adjunct faculty member at COPACE, a division of Clark University (Worcester MA) where she teaches courses in writing, writing therapeutically, and the history of the Quabbin Reservoir.

Ann started Forcier Services in 1985. She continues as a freelance writer and editor, with a specialty in medical writing. She earned a multidisciplinary certificate in medical writing from the American Medical Writers Association in 1992.

Ann's interest in cancer and its psychosocial effects on individuals and families originates in childhood during which cancer was an almost palpable presence. Her maternal relatives and eventually her mother succumbed to this disease. She is a firm believer in that knowledge is power and is committed to CRF's efforts to empower people through information and services.

Debra Manning Lundquist, RN, MSN, CS

Secretary, Founding Board Member

Debra has more than 25 years of nursing experience in Oncology. She has worked as an oncology clinical nurse specialist and was one of the initial oncology nurse practitioners at a time when most nurse practitioners worked in the primary care setting. She has also been a clinical instructor in graduate nursing programs. She is a graduate of Boston College and Yale University. Her research focused on the role of hope in persons living with cancer. Her clinical focus has been caring for women with breast cancer and their families and includes a variety of other cancers and hospice care. She is an advocate for those in the community seeking information, resources and support for those living with a cancer.

Susan Bauer-Wu, PhD, RN, FAAN

Founding Board Member

Dr. Bauer-Wu, is a researcher, educator, and clinician. She is currently an associate professor of nursing at Emory's Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, as well as a Georgia Cancer Center Coalition Distinguished Scholar. Dr. Bauer-Wu was named an Academy of Nursing Fellow.

She is also author of the book, "Leaves Falling Gently: Living Fully with Serious and Life-limiting Illness through Mindfulness, Compassion and Connectedness."

From 2001 to 2007, Bauer-Wu was an instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and research center director at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA, where she led research efforts aimed to improve the quality of life and quality of care for cancer patients. She has been a faculty member for the University of Massachusetts Medical School's Center for Mindfulness training programs and the Upaya Zen Center's educational programs.

Bauer-Wu has a productive program of research funded by the National Institutes of Health and prominent foundations. Her research focuses on the effects of chronic stress and the benefits of mindfulness and compassion practices in the face of debilitating and potentially life-limiting illness. Additionally, she has studied methods to ease caregiver stress. Bauer-Wu facilitates healing and resiliency retreats and workshops as well as meditation training programs for health care professionals and people with serious illnesses and their families.