About COMPASS

Jackie Dahlgren is the COMPASS co-director. Dahlgren has been in research management for over 30 years. She shares primary responsibility in leading COMPASS to achieve its mission in a manner that assures the organization’s stability and continuity and that promotes its Core Values. As the COMPASS co-director, Dahlgren works in direct collaboration with the COMPASS director and all investigators who have projects within COMPASS. Additionally, she has primary responsibility for all services that support COMPASS scientific work, and acts on behalf of the director in her absence. Dahlgren also serves as the project director for the Early Detection Research Network’s (EDRN) Data Management and Coordinating Center (DMCC), one of COMPASS's main projects. In this role, her primary responsibility is to manage the day-to-day operations of the DMCC which include network-coordination, data management, data quality, protocol development, site monitoring and overall coordination for large scale multi-center research studies. To successfully complete these tasks, Dahlgren utilizes COMPASS's IT services. In this role she collaborates with EDRN investigators around the world to further the development of specimen reference sets and coordination of multiple validation studies and clinical utility trials. She is also the project director for the Liquid Biopsy Consortium (LBC), Early Detection Initiative (EDI) and New Onset Diabetes (NOD).

Stephanie Page-Lester is the project manager for the Translational Liver Cancer Consortium (TLC) and the project manager for the Prostate Active Surveillance Study (PASS). In addition, she serves in a coordination role for various Early Detection Research Network (EDRN) studies. Page-Lester has over 20 years of project coordination/management experience. She oversees all aspects of the TLC, including network coordination, website management, governance documentation, facilitation of working groups and scientific meetings. In her role as project manager for PASS, she works on a daily basis with research coordinators using the Validation Study Information Management System (VSIMS) to ensure proper study data entry and participant eligibility and collaborates closely with the study sponsor, the Canary Foundation. She also oversees the protocol and manual of operations and procedures (MOP). Prior to joining Fred Hutch and COMPASS in 2005, Page-Lester worked as a research assistant conducting GLP-regulated studies for a biotechnology firm.

Suzanna Reid is the COMPASS IT project manager and is a member of the COMPASS Scientific Leadership Team. Dr. Reid’s formal education and background is in basic research (BS in biochemistry; PhD in immunology; post doctoral research in hematology) but left research to pursue interests in IT and IT project management with the intent of incorporating the additional IT skill set back into basic research. The COMPASS IT project manager serves as a liaison between clients (internal and external) and COMPASS IT staff. Dr. Reid supervises COMPASS IT staff and processes to evaluate client IT needs for research work (develop statement of work and staffing levels for grants) as well as performing oversight of the software development life cycle to ensure delivery of quality IT applications that assist with data capture and management pertaining to scientific research.

Lesley Wilkerson is the research administrator for COMPASS. She has over 20 years of experience in research fiscal management and has worked as a research administrator at Fred Hutch since 2019. Wilkerson is responsible for the fiscal oversight of all projects that COMPASS is involved in. She works closely with the COMPASS co-director and other collaborators to identify areas of opportunity, develop appropriate fiscal plans and manage the fiscal and administrative aspects of the scientific work.