What happens when lived experience, science, and nonprofit leadership collide? In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Eugene Manley, Jr. to discuss health equity, cancer care gaps, and what it truly takes to design programs that serve communities that have been overlooked for far too long. We explore how focus, intentionality, and listening to the people most impacted can turn complex equity challenges into meaningful, measurable action.

My guest for this episode is Dr. Eugene Manley, Jr., a biomedical scientist turned social-impact leader and Founder & CEO of the STEMM & Cancer Health Equity (SCHEQ) Foundation. He brings 20+ years of experience spanning engineering, molecular biology, nonprofit strategy, and workforce development. Through STEMM & Cancer Health Equity Foundation, he focuses on advancing STEMM workforce diversity and improving patient-centered cancer care, especially for underserved communities.

Dr. Manley also serves on several national advisory groups and has contributed to key work on compassion and stigma in lung cancer care. His mix of research expertise, lived experience, and policy engagement fuels his practical approach to closing gaps in screening, biomarker testing, trial access, and survivorship.

My guest for this episode is Dr. Eugene Manley, Jr., PhD, MS.

Dr. Eugene Manley, Jr., PhD, MS, is a biomedical scientist-turned-social impact leader and the Founder & CEO of the STEMM & Cancer Health Equity (SCHEQ) Foundation. He brings 20+ years across engineering, molecular and cell biology, nonprofit strategy, and workforce development, with prior leadership at leading cancer organizations. He had worked in development at the AACR, grant system administration at LCRF, and directed national STEM and workforce initiatives and health equity initiatives at LUNGevity Foundation.

Through SCHEQ, he advances STEMM workforce diversity and patient-centered solutions across the cancer care continuum, producing health-literacy resources, convening cross-sector stakeholders, and leading the Lung Cancer Interventions Summit to drive practical, equity-focused outcomes for underserved communities. He serves on local, national, and international advisory boards advocating for Medicaid, rural, and historically marginalized patients. Dr. Manley serves on the Stony Brook Cancer Community Advisory Council, PCORI advisory panels focused on healthcare delivery and comparative clinical effectiveness, and has co-authored a perspective work with the American Cancer Society's National Lung Cancer Roundtable on compassion and stigma in lung cancer care. His lived experience, research background, outreach, and policy engagement inform a pragmatic approach to closing gaps in screening, biomarker testing, trial access, and survivorship.

Connect with Dr. Eugene:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/eugenemanleyjrphd

https://www.linkedin.com/company/stemmcheq

https://www.facebook.com/stemmcheq

https://www.instagram.com/stemmcheq

https://www.instagram.com/manleyeugene