Our Team
Worth the Wait Trustees
Worth the Wait Advisory Committee
Our advisory team is comprised of professionals from various disciplines with personal or professional connections to cancer, infertility or adoption. They review our grant applications and advise us on special projects.
Rachel Antalek, Strategic Growth and Innovation Executive (Committee Member)
Rachel Antalek is the Chief Global Food Innovation Officer at Pizza Hut. She has over 25 years of experience advising executive teams across the restaurant, retail and hospitality industries.
Personally, Rachel has a passion for kids and families. She has previously served as a Board Member and volunteer with a non-profit supporting foster kids on their path to educational success, and she currently volunteers time as an adoptive parent coach. Rachel and her husband Larry are parents to two teen boys adopted from Bulgaria. Having personally struggled with infertility and a challenging path to parenthood, Rachel is committed to Worth the Wait’s mission.
Jill Apgar, Founder of Coco Beans (Committee Member)
Jill is a former retail executive and founder of Coco Beans. Jill and her husband, Joe – who was diagnosed with infertility after beating cancer in college – adopted their daughter Cora in 2018. The Worth the Wait mission is personal to the Apgar family and Jill looks forward to helping young cancer survivors experience the joy of starting their own families.
Dr. Alexandra Diaz Pardo, Radiation Oncologist (Committee Member)
Dr. Diaz Pardo is an Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. She specializes in the treatment of GU and GI cancers. She is also the Vice-chair of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion of the Department of Radiation Oncology. She received her Master of Science in Clinical and Translational Investigation at the University of Miami, and completed medical training at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia. She serves as the site principal investigator for several randomized trials. Her research focuses on disparities, particularly in the treatment of prostate and liver cancer.
Unfortunately, over the years, her patients have become younger and younger and they have specific needs that should be addressed. She’s proud to be a member of the advisory committee of Worth the Wait.
Mary Hackett, Founder Databasey and Fundraising Executive (Committee Member)
Mary is the founder of Databasey, which provides fundraising tools to non profits and Ravela Insights, a company that helps nonprofit executives make data-driven decisions when it comes to revenue generation. Mary is passionate about fundraising and has held executive development roles for Swedish Medical, Boys and Girls Club of King County and the Humane Society of the U.S.
Lesley Northrop, PhD, Translational Scientist, Geneticist and Executive (Committee Member)
Dr. Lesley Northrop has spent over 20 years in the clinical diagnostic industry specific to women’s health, including her ABMGG training at Columbia University Medical Center, and post-doctoral training at the largest, most prestigious IVF center in the US, RMA-NJ Fertility Center. As an innovator, Dr. Northrop was a lead scientist on developing the first comprehensive preimplantation genetic diagnosis technology (PGD) or known as PGD-A today. Dr. Northrop serves as an advisor to several biotechnology and financial investment firms on her expertise in the clinical diagnostic genomics space. She spends her free time mentoring young minds in science, including her 2 young children.
Pash Patel, Marketing Executive (Committee Member)
Pash has 20 years of Consumer and Patient Marketing experience at Procter and Gamble and more recently at Takeda. She led the 1st ever disease awareness campaign in the patient community for Eosinophil Esophagitis, a rare GI condition. Her current role is focused on bringing human-centric approach to innovation while keeping patient needs at the core and having a positive impact to society.
She has a wealth of experience in brand building and portfolio innovation strategy rooted in consumer and patient insights. Pash and her husband’s two kids keep them busy and grounded in life. She has a personal connection to cancer patients and celebrating survivorship.
Dr. Preeti Sudheendra, Clinical Director (Committee Member)
Dr. Sudheendra is a highly regarded breast cancer medical oncologist and lifestyle medicine physician. After almost 15 years in full time clinical practice, she is now focused on breast cancer drug development at Merck.
She continues to see patients at The Ohio State University in the High Risk and Cancer Genetics clinic. Her practice philosophy is to incorporate the pillars of Lifestyle Medicine as important tools for cancer prevention and improve overall health and well-being.
She served as an investigator on several clinical trials and her research has been published in Clinical Breast Cancer and Journal of Clinical Oncology and Blood. Dr. Sudheendra is an active member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and serves on several of their national committees for breast cancer therapy.
Mickie Henshall, Chief Marketing Officer, REALM IDx (Special Advisor)
Mickie is a senior-level marketer, strategic turnaround expert, branding leader, and board member who builds respected brands from the ground up and turns around stagnant operations to become industry powerhouses. Her career spans more than 20 years providing marketing leadership for high-growth diagnostic and life sciences companies, from PE-backed start-ups to Fortune 1000 organizations.
Mickie lives in southern California with her husband, where they cultivate a small cabernet sauvignon vineyard and enjoy amateur winemaking. She is proud of her heritage as a Chinese American and can speak conversational Mandarin.
Dr. Leena Nahata, Medical Director of the Fertility and Reproductive Health Program at Nationwide Children’s Hospital (Special Medical Advisor)
Leena Nahata, MD, is a board-certified pediatric endocrinologist, associate professor of Clinical Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, and founder and medical director of the Fertility and Reproductive Health Program at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. As an NIH-funded Principal Investigator in the Center for Biobehavioral Health at the Abigail Wexner Research Institute, she is leading and collaborating on several clinical research studies focused on improving reproductive and psychosocial outcomes in pediatric populations at risk for infertility. She also contributes to fertility guidelines through multiple national and international organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, Pediatric Initiative Network of the Oncofertility Consortium, Children’s Oncology Group, PanCareLIFE, and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.