Health Inequity and Cancer in Rhode Island
Lynn Basilio, MS
Lynn Basilio has worked as a public health professional for more than 25 years. Lynn joined the American Cancer Society in 2005 and has worked in various positions focused on cancer prevention, education, access to care, health equity, and survivorship. Currently, Lynn is Senior Director, State Partnerships for the Northeast Region of the American Cancer Society, which includes 13 states and Washington, DC. Together with her team, Lynn works with state departments of health, state Medicaid department, state professional associations, state coalitions, roundtables, and health plans to promote health equity and access to cancer prevention, screening, and care. Lynn and her team engage partners to drive system policies and practices to improve the lives of patients with cancer and their families.
Before joining ACS, she worked at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA promoting community outreach and education. Lynn earned a Master of Science degree in Maternal and Child Health from the Harvard Chan School of Public Health and a Bachelors degree from Stanford University in psychology with an emphasis on health and human development. Lynn enjoys spending time with her family outdoors, traveling, and cheering at sporting events. She enjoys running and playing tennis and badminton.
Andrew Saal, MD, MPH
Job title or function
Dr. Andrew Saal attended the University of Cincinnati College Of Medicine, and completed his residency at the University of Pittsburgh. He earned an MPH degree in health policy from Loma Linda University. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians, and board-certified in Clinical Informatics.
Andrew served with the US Indian Health Service on the Hopi Reservation in Arizona. He joined a community health center in Flagstaff in 2000, helping it grow from 3 to 13 clinical sites including Grand Canyon National Park. Dr. Saal pioneered co-located behavioral health models in primary care in collaboration with several regional behavioral health organizations.
Dr. Saal is currently the Chief Medical Officer of the Providence Community Health Centers in Rhode Island. He oversaw the agency’s transformation to value-based care contracting. Dr. Saal has led the health center’s participation in Medicare and Medicaid Accountable Care Organizations since 2014. With a strong focus on population health, he helped launch the organization’s first Integrated Behavioral Health program, as well as nurse care management, community health workers, clinical informatics, primary care psychiatry, clinical pharmacy program, and a residency for family nurse practitioners.
Andrew has held numerous faculty positions with medical schools in Arizona and Vermont. He is currently a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University, and serves as the co-chair for the Clinical Strategy Committee of the RI Care Transformation Collaborative. He clinical interests include infectious diseases, redesigning primary care delivery systems, and helping train the next generation of healthcare providers.
Rochelle Strenger, MD
Job title or function
Dr. Rochelle Strenger is Clinical Director of Women’s Medical Oncology of The Miriam Hospital, Lifespan Cancer Institute, and Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
A graduate of Barnard College with a master’s degree from Columbia University, Dr. Strenger received her medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. She went on to complete her internal medicine residency at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, where she was also a research/clinical fellow in the hospital’s division of hematology/oncology and a Kaiser Fellow in General Internal Medicine.