Faculty and Staff

Lori F. Smith, M.B.A.
Administrative Director

Lori has been a part of MD Anderson for more than 20 years. Within 5 years of transitioning to the Department of Symptom Research as a financial analyst, she became the department's first operations manager. In that role, she continued handling postawards and financial budgets while taking on additional responsibilities for human resource activities, classified recruitment, visas and educational appointments. She also served as the department administrator ad interim for 14 months before moving into the administrative director position.

With her years of service to the department and her wealth of experience, Lori has steadily established herself as a cornerstone of the group’s financial core. She is an active participant in numerous department and division activities, including training, process improvement and event planning.

Darrick D. Jackson, M.B.A.
Office Manager

Darrick primarily handles departmental human resources activities for classified staff positions, manages computer equipment and supervises the faculty administrative support team. He received his B.S. in health administration and his M.B.A. from Texas Southern University. Simply put, Darrick continually strives to prove his competence to himself, and since joining MD Anderson in 2019, he has done just that: having begun as an administrative assistant, he quickly progressed to senior administrative assistant, executive assistant and now office manager.

"I'm here to make everyone's job a little easier."

Krista K. Cooley
Executive Assistant

Krista brings more than 10 years of experience to her position as executive assistant to the department chair. Besides providing administrative support to Dr. Peter Grace, chair ad interim, she coordinates faculty recruitment, evaluations, promotions and credentialing, and she coordinates special events.

Miracle O. Amaugwu, M.B.A.
Senior Administrative Assistant

Miracle provides administrative support for the labs, Dr. Lacourt, and the Pain Research Consortium. She coordinates the department's seminars and symposia and manages calendars, travel and meetings for the lab PIs. She is motivated by a desire to be a dependable member of the admin team and to learn new things every day. Miracle earned her M.B.A. in 2022 and is now pursuing a master's degree in healthcare administration.

"I'm just trying to live up to my name and make miracles happen."

Christopher J. Lopez, M.B.A.
Education Program Coordinator

Chris has more than a decade of experience in coordinating, advising and managing educational appointments for clinical and research trainees. He also oversees visa processes for department trainees and clinical staff, and he supports the department's financial management activities and contributes expertise in marketing, communications and wellness. Given education's pivotal role in combating cancer, Chris strives to aid trainees  in furthering their careers at MD Anderson, harnessing the talents of the best and brightest to advance the institution’s mission in today’s competitive landscape.

"Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself."

Nathan A. Goodwin, B.S.
Program Coordinator

Nathan is a certified clinical research professional with 10 years’ experience across multiple research areas, including behavioral science, oncology and neurology. He provides high-level support in research administration, business, and project management for the Patient-Centered Analytics Section within the department.

“Patient-centered analytics on the large scale will be a pinnacle of cancer research in the very near future. My goal is to help our faculty promote and grow that research for our institution and our patients.”

Angele K. Saleeba, Ph.D., M.A.
Senior Coordinator, Clinical Research Program and Protocol Coordinator

As a long-time (30+ years) employee of MD Anderson, Angele brings a wealth of experience to the management of the department's human and animal research protocols. She assists faculty with navigating the ever-changing processes of new protocol submission, protocol modifications, continuing reviews and other compliance and regulatory activities and completes many of these activities on the faculty's behalf. She also coordinates the processing of new material transfer agreements.

Angele is certified as a clinical research professional (CCRP) by the Society of Clinical Research Associates (SOCRA). Given the many changes to MD Anderson's protocol submission process in the past few years, she embraces the challenge of keeping up with the changes and attending the required educational courses offered by the institution.

Jeanie F. Woodruff, B.S., ELS
Senior Technical Writer/Editor and Website Editor

Jeanie is a board-certified editor in the life sciences with more than 20 years’ experience in the areas of oncology and cardiology. She provides high-level substantive editing for department publications and grants, and she curates the department’s websites and internal storefront. Originally an art major, she ultimately earned a degree in behavioral science. Scientific editing and website design allow her to indulge both the creative and the analytical sides of her personality.

“Research births a story of why, how, and what was learned. My passion is to help our faculty tell these stories with clarity, precision, and a compelling narrative.”

Kristin L. Van Houten
Program Manager

Kristin began her career in medicine in 1996 at The University of Texas Houston Health Science Center (UT Medical School) in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. She came to MD Anderson Cancer Center in 2000 to work in the Department of Gynecologic Oncology's Division of Surgery. In 2011, she transferred to the Division of Internal Medicine, Department of Symptom Research, where she currently manages the symptom assessment tools licensing program.

"One person can make a difference, and everyone should try." -- John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Sharlet A. Gordon
Senior Administrative Assistant

Sharlet joined Symptom Research in November 2016 as administrative support for the department's symptom tools licensing efforts. In that capacity, she diligently works to collect money from delinquent accounts, process tool requests and bill customers who place orders through the website. She also supplies translation certificates and license agreements to customers. Sharlet has an extensive background in accounting and has experience in both oil and gas and real estate.

In her spare time, Sharlet is involved in her church, loves to watch movies and practices retail therapy whenever she can.

Shu-En (Annie) Shen, M.S.
Data Analyst

Cancer-Related Symptom Burden Staff