The Wyoming Department of Health, Wyoming Cancer Program (WCP) has established a Wyoming Cancer Advisory Board (CAB). The CAB utilizes the expertise of local medical, public health, and cancer professionals to provide feedback to WCP leadership to better serve program clients.
The goals of the CAB are threefold: (1) to provide a mechanism for enhancing communication between the WCP, the healthcare community, and the public; (2) to allow providers to better understand and utilize the program; and (3) to provide feedback on program evaluation activities and quality improvement processes to increase program reach and effectiveness.
Wyoming Cancer Advisory Board Members
James Bush, MD, MACP
Medicaid Medical Officer
Wyoming Department of Health
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Dr. James Bush joined the Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) in March 2007 as a Staff Physician and Medicaid Medical Director. In this role he oversees the Health Management and Utilization Management contract, and provides clinical oversight throughout WDH. Currently he provides clinical input to the development of the Statewide Superutilizer Program. Prior to that he had a solo practice on Internal Medicine in Fort Collins, CO. Interested in Medical Policy and Organization, he has filled many roles including that of Chief of Staff at Poudre Valley Hospital, President of the Colorado Society of Internal Medicine, and President of the Fort Collins IPAS. Enjoying teaching as well he has been on the clinical faculty of the University of Colorado for 23 years, and has also been involved with teaching Residents in Family Practice in Fort Collins.
In 2010, he was elected to be Governor of the Wyoming Chapter of the American College of Physicians for 2012-2016. He is Chairman of the Wyoming Telehealth Consortium and oversees the State of Wyoming’s Telehealth contract. Special interests include developing Wyoming’s Patient Centered Medical Home model, and Value Based Purchasing.
Joe Grandpre, PhD, MPH
Chronic Disease and Maternal Child Health Epidemiology Unit Manager
Wyoming Department of Health
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Joe Grandpre received a Masters of Public Health in 1998 and a PhD in Communication in 1999 from the University of Arizona. He started work at the Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) in 2002. He is the Chronic Disease & MCH Epidemiology Unit Manager, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System program coordinator, and Wyoming Violent Death Reporting System Program Manager.
Alexia Harrist, MD, PhD
State Health Officer
Wyoming Department of Health
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Dr. Ali Harrist is the Wyoming State Epidemiologist and Wyoming State Health Officer at the Wyoming Department of Health, Public Health Division. She is a 2013 graduate of the Boston Combined Residency Program in Pediatrics and is a board-certified pediatrician and a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. She earned her medical degree and PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania.
Prior to joining the Wyoming Department of Health as the State Epidemiologist, she was a Medical Officer in the Division of Tuberculosis Elimination at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia. Before that, she served as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, assigned to the Wyoming Department of Health. As an EIS Officer she responded to the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone and the Zika outbreak in Brazil.
Laurie Heath
Past President
Wyoming Breast Cancer Initiative
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Laurie Heath is a founding member of the Wyoming Breast Cancer Initiative and leads this volunteer organization to raise funds and grant them back into Wyoming programs in order to remove the cancer care barriers. She has held various professional positions in sectors important to Wyoming, yet recently returned to the University of Wyoming obtaining her bachelor’s in nursing to begin a career as an oncology nurse. She hopes her knowledge of Wyoming healthcare and her desire to help in the cancer field, will contribute to the Wyoming Cancer Advisory Board.
Kent Katz, MD
Gastroenterologist
Wyoming Medical Center
Casper, Wyoming
Kent D. Katz, MD, is a gastroenterologist with Wyoming Medical Center in Casper, WY and was among the first WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, and Idaho) students, graduating from the University of Washington School of Medicine. He then completed an internal medicine residency at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. From there he moved south to complete his gastroenterology fellowship at the University of California, Irvine. Upon completion, he was invited to join the faculty there, where he stayed for 13 years. He has published in the areas of Crohn’s disease, colon cancer prevention, endoscopic ultrasound and fine needle aspirations, celiac disease, and intestinal permeability. He moved to Casper, Wyoming in 2000, and has held clinics throughout the state. He has served as the chief of the department of medicine and chief of the medical division at Wyoming Medical Center. He was also elected president of the Natrona County Medical Society.
Shawna Pena, MSW, LCSW, CPM
Rural and Frontier Health Unit Manager
Wyoming Department of Health
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Shawna Pena is a licensed clinical social worker with the State of Wyoming and has been working for the Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) in various capacities. She started with the WDH as the Adolescent Treatment Coordinator in 2006 and is currently working in the Public Health Division as the Manager for the Rural and Frontier Health Unit. Her passion is to work to improve the access to care for children, youth and families.
Kristal Skiles, BSN, RN
Director of Nursing & Quality
Community Health Centers of Central Wyoming
Casper, Wyoming
Kristal Skiles BSN, RN attended Casper College and graduated in 1998 with an Associate of Science in Nursing, then went onto the University of Wyoming to obtain a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. Kristal celebrated her twenty-first year this June as a Registered Nurse. Kristal has worked in management/leadership roles for the last sixteen years; her nursing skills are primarily critical care, working in areas such as ICU, Telemetry, and Post-Anesthesia Care Unit. Kristal worked for Wyoming Medical Center for ten years and then Mountain View Regional Hospital (MVRH) for ten years. Kristal also served as adjunct faculty in the Nursing Program at Casper College from 2008-2010. Kristal is currently the Director of Nursing and Quality at Community Health Centers of Central Wyoming. One of her proudest accomplishments while serving as the Chief Nursing Officer for MVRH was receiving Healthgrades® 2017 Spine Surgery Excellence Award™ (MVRH was the only hospital in Wyoming to receive awards) and was named among the Top 10% in the Nation for Spine Surgery in 2017. Kristal was also nominated twice for Wyoming Nurse of the Year in 2016. Her philosophy surrounding patient care is everyone deserves access to healthcare, respect in their care, dignity from all individuals, and the patient is our first priority.
Banu Symington, MD, MACP
Hematologist/Oncologist
Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County
Rock Springs, Wyoming
Dr. Symington, medical director of the Sweetwater Regional Cancer Center, is a Hematologist/Oncologist. Raised and educated in Philadelphia, she previously worked a decade in Wyoming as a primary care provider. She is a vaccine enthusiast, human papillomavirus activist, former Governor of the Idaho Chapter of the American College of Physicians and a SWOG Cancer Research Network clinical trial investigator.
Angie Van Houten, MS
Community Health Section Chief
Wyoming Department of Health
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Angie Van Houten, MS, is the Community Health Section Chief at the Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) Public Health Division. The Community Health Section includes the Prevention and Health Promotion Unit; the Public Health Nursing Unit; the Immunization Unit; the Women, Infants and Children Unit; and the Maternal and Child Health Unit.
Prior to taking this position in January, 2013, she was the Public Health Emergency Preparedness Manager for six years and the Laboratory Preparedness Supervisor for nearly seven years, both at WDH. In 1996, she completed her Master’s thesis on Neospora caninum, a protozoan parasite that causes abortion in some animals and then took a position with the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory in Laramie, Wyoming in the clinical pathology and parasitology laboratory.
Wyoming Cancer Program Members
James Hruby, BSW, CPM
Wyoming Cancer Program, Screening Program Supervisor
Wyoming Department of Health
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Star Jones, CPM
Wyoming Cancer Program Manager
Wyoming Department of Health
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Lieve Worthington, CPM
Data Analyst Supervisor, Wyoming Cancer Program
Wyoming Department of Health
Cheyenne, Wyoming