Special Education Session Speakers' Biographies

Ann Partridge, M.D., M.P.H., is a medical oncologist and clinical researcher focused on improving the care and outcomes of patients with cancer, with a particular focus on breast cancer. She is the former clinical director of the Breast Oncology Program, founder and director of the Program for Young Women with Breast Cancer, and was recently named the director of the Adult Cancer Survivorship Program at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center. Dr. Partridge has published numerous manuscripts and lectures both nationally and internationally on issues of breast cancer survivorship and young women with breast cancer, in particular. She has received several awards and grants including an American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Improving Cancer Care Grant, Lance Armstrong Foundation Survivorship Award, Tracy Starr Breast Cancer Research Fund Award and serves as a Susan G. Komen for the Cure Scholar. She currently serves on several committees including as chair of the ASCO Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee, vice-chair of the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) Cancer Control and Health Outcomes Committee, and chair for the Federal Advisory Committee on Breast Cancer in Young Women. Dr. Partridge graduated from Georgetown University, earned her M.D. at Cornell University, trained in internal medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and completed hematology and medical oncology fellowships at DFCI. She received a master’s degree in public health at the Harvard School of Public Health. She lives with her husband and three children in New Bedford, Massachusetts. 

Krystal Sexton, Ph.D., earned a BS in mathematics from McNeese State University and an MS in biostatistics from the University of Texas School of Public Health. She obtained her Ph.D. in epidemiology from the University of Texas School of Public Health and completed postdoctoral training at both the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Baylor College of Medicine. She is an associate editor for IEEE Journal on Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine and is a reviewer for a number of scientific journals. Dr. Sexton’s primary research focus is breast cancer epidemiology, specifically the effects of obesity and lifestyle factors on the risks and outcomes of breast cancer in minority women.