NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA — The Cancer Advocacy Group of Louisiana (CAGLA) announced today the appointment of five distinguished healthcare pioneers to its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). These strategic appointments reinforce CAGLA’s grassroots and legislative commitment to accelerating access to cutting-edge therapies, supportive oncology infrastructure, precision pathology, and data-driven clinical transformation for cancer patients across the state of Louisiana.
Dr. Sonia Malhotra
Associate Chief of Palliative Medicine, Tulane University School of Medicine | SAB Member
As its first Palliative Medicine fellowship trained physician on the CAGLA Scientific Advisory Board, Dr. Sonia Malhotra is proud to represent her field that shares so much integration with Oncology services.
She is a nationally and internationally recognized physician leader in Hospice and Palliative Medicine, currently serving as the Associate Chief of Palliative Medicine at Tulane School of Medicine. Dr. Malhotra is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Pediatrics and Hospice & Palliative Medicine and an Associate Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at Tulane.
Since moving back to New Orleans in 2015, she has been building Palliative Medicine programs across the region. Her work started at Ochsner Health System where she built Louisiana’s first Pediatric Palliative Medicine program and helped to achieve Ochsner Palliative Medicine’s first JCAHO accreditation. Additionally, she helped improve Palliative-Oncology integration from 1% to 21% of all inpatient Palliative consults.
At LCMC Health, she built the Palliative Medicine program from ground up at UMCNO in 2017 which has expanded its scope to integrated inpatient consult services, outpatient supportive care clinics, inpatient hospice beds and the first Palliative Medicine fellowship in the state of Louisiana. Currently she serves as the Founding Director of Palliative Medicine & Supportive Care at University Medical Center New Orleans (UMCNO) and Medical Director at East Jefferson Hospital (EJGH).
Educationally, she serves as Site Director for the Palliative Medicine fellowship and Associate Program Director for the Tulane Med-Peds Residency Program. She has lectured nationally on improving communication in serious illness, advancing culturally responsive and equitable palliative care delivery, and strengthening medical education in primary palliative care skills at several institutions including Memorial Hermann Health System, Penn State Health, Memorial Sloan-Kettering and Hawaii Oncology Society.
Dr. Malhotra has authored peer-reviewed publications, including scholarship in oncology and serious illness care published in journals such as JAMA Oncology, and has contributed to national and international educational initiatives to expand access to high-quality Palliative Medicine and Supportive Care. Her research and program development efforts emphasize interdisciplinary team-based care, earlier integration of supportive services, and reducing disparities in access for historically underserved communities. She has been funded by the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Care (AAHPM) and the American Cancer Society (ACS).
An award-winning educator and international leader, Dr. Malhotra serves on the Louisiana Governor’s Council on Palliative Care. Through her work with the state Department of Health, payment models for Palliative Medicine have been established for Medicaid patients receiving serious illness care and extensions created for inpatient hospice days and the framing of a Pediatric Concurrent Care model. Through her clinical leadership, scholarship, and advocacy, she works to reframe Palliative Care as an essential, life-enhancing component of care at every stage of serious illness.
Dr. Jason Hill
System Vice Chair of Hospital Medicine and Innovation, Ochsner Health | SAB Member
Dr. Hill is a healthcare leader with a passion for applying cutting-edge technologies and data-driven solutions to improve patient care and outcomes. He has a unique combination of clinical, academic, and technical expertise that enables him to bridge the gap between medicine and innovation.
He holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science both obtained from Louisiana Tech University. He also holds a Masters of Medical Management from Tulane University. He obtained his M.D. at Louisiana State University Medical Center New Orleans and completed his Internal Medicine/Pediatrics residency at the University of Texas at Houston. He is board certified in Internal Medicine as well as Clinical Informatics.
Dr. Hill has served as one of the Associate Chief Medical Information Officer’s (ACMIO) at Ochsner Health, where he led system-wide projects involving transitions of care, artificial intelligence, decision support analytics, voice recognition, predictive analytics and patient access/throughput. He has also occupied the role of Innovation Officer,
where he co-founded the AI center of excellence and works frequently with innovation team, known as iO (innovation Ochsner) at Ochsner Health. He has transitioned to the role of System Vice Chair of Hospital Medicine and Innovation, where he operates at the edge of operations and innovation, driving adoption and scale of new technologies across the Hospital Medicine service line.
Dr. Hill is a frequent speaker at conferences on topics such as healthcare innovation, digital transformation, artificial intelligence and clinical informatics.
Dr. Benjamin Watkins
Division Chief of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Tulane University School of Medicine | SAB Member
Dr. Benjamin Watkins is Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Division Chief of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Tulane University School of Medicine and serves as the Marcelle Schaefer Vergara Endowed Chair in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology. He is also Director of the Stem Cell Transplant, Cellular, and Gene Therapy Program at Manning Family Children’s in New Orleans. Previously, Dr. Watkins served as the Co-Director of High-Risk Leukemia and Lymphoma Program, and Director of Global Oncology Program at Emory University and the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
A pediatric hematologist/oncologist and physician-scientist, Dr. Watkins focuses on improving outcomes for children with cancer and blood disorders. His expertise includes stem cell transplantation, cellular therapies, and emerging gene-based treatments. His research in transplant immunology has contributed to advances in the prevention of graft-versus-host disease, including work supporting the development of the first and only FDA-approved therapies for prevention of the disease.
He is also actively engaged in clinical research and global health initiatives to improve access to high-quality pediatric oncology care, both regionally and internationally. He serves as the Project Director of two pediatric oncology collaborations in Cambodia and is a steering committee member of the Children’s International Consortium on Acute
Leukemia.
Kim Gregory Mayhall, MD
Pathologist, Ochsner Health | SAB Member
Dr. Kim Gregory Mayhall practices pathology at Ochsner Health. He received his undergraduate degree at Louisiana State University and medical degree from LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. Following this he completed his residency in anatomic and clinical pathology at Tulane University in New Orleans. He completed his fellowship in selective surgical pathology with a special focus on bone and soft tissue pathology at Medical College of Wisconsin.
Dr. Mayhall is board certified by the American Board of Pathology in anatomic and clinical pathology. He has been on staff at Ochsner since 2019 and practicing medicine since 2016. His special areas of interest include bone, soft tissue and sarcoma pathology as well as thoracic and pulmonary pathology.
Harry G. Sequeira, MD
Hematologist-Oncologist & Cellular Therapy Specialist | SAB Member
Dr. Harry G. Sequeira is a board-certified internal medicine physician and graduate of the Hematology-Oncology fellowship at Cook County Health, where he served as Chief Fellow. He previously completed his internal medicine residency at Saint Barnabas Hospital in New York, serving as Chief Medical Resident. Throughout his training, Dr. Sequeira was consistently recognized for excellence, receiving multiple awards for clinical leadership, academic achievement and teaching.
His academic and clinical trajectory has been complemented by robust research involvement. He was a registered investigator with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) during his final year of fellowship and has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications and abstracts presented at national conferences, including American Society of Clinical Oncology and The American College of Chest Physicians. His scholarly work spans hematologic malignancies, solid tumors and healthcare disparities, with a strong focus on clinical outcomes and health systems research.
Dr. Sequeira is a member of multiple professional societies, including the American Society of Hematology (ASH), American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (ASTCT), and the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT). He is also an approved speaker for the
National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), contributing to national education and donor engagement initiatives.
Fluent in both English and Spanish and semi-fluent in German, Dr. Sequeira brings a global perspective to medicine. He is committed to advancing patient-centered cancer care, promoting equitable access to clinical trials, and mentoring the next generation of physicians through academic leadership and community involvement. Dr. Sequeira specializes in cellular therapy, leukemia and myelodysplastic disorders.
ABOUT THE CANCER ADVOCACY GROUP OF LOUISIANA (CAGLA)
The Cancer Advocacy Group of Louisiana (CAGLA) is a grassroots non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing cancer care, expanding clinical research funding, and advancing transformative health policy across Louisiana. CAGLA’s Scientific Advisory Board brings together leading oncology, pathology, palliative, and informatics innovators to shape legislative initiatives and drive patient-first healthcare advancement statewide.