Lisa Simms Booth

Lisa Simms Booth serves as Executive Director at the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, a Washington, DC based health, education and arts nonprofit with the mission to develop and promote healing practices that explore physical, emotional and mental resources that lead to life-affirming changes for people affected by cancer.

Most recently, Lisa served as Senior Director of Patient and Public Engagement at the Biden Cancer Initiative, where she helped define the organization’s advocacy outreach and collaboration strategies. She also led the design and coordination of the Biden Cancer Collaborative, which mobilized the cancer patient and advocacy community around key priorities, promoting, and sharing tried and tested approaches to addressing common problems.

Prior to joining the Initiative, she was at FasterCures, a center of the Milken Institute, playing leadership roles in partnership development, external affairs and operations. Throughout her 14-year tenure at FasterCures, she created programs that brought together pharmaceutical, biotech, philanthropic, and non-profit communities.

Previously, Lisa worked for political and advocacy organizations including LISTEN, Inc., The Alliance for Justice, Time Dollar Institute, Children’s Defense Fund, Democratic National Committee and the National Rainbow Coalition. She is a Pittsburgh native and graduate of Michigan State University. She is active in the music ministry and community outreach efforts for her church, Metropolitan AME, which recently celebrated its 181st Anniversary.