Full Member, Cancer Prevention
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle WA
I have a broad interest in nutrition, molecular epidemiology, cancer etiology and prevention and microbiology. My research goal is to understand relationships between diet and cancer by studying the combined effects of diet, human genetic variation and gut microbial variation on biomarkers of cancer susceptibility. Using intervention studies, we have shown that polymorphisms in biotransformation-enzyme genes produce different metabolizing phenotypes, several of which are modulated by diet. Further, we study how gut microbial community influences cancer-related biomarkers and exposure to dietary bioactives. These data cast light on some complex associations found in observational studies of diet and cancer.
Vice President, Epidemiology Research Program
American Cancer Society, Atlanta, GA
My research focuses on clarifying associations of hormone (both endogenous and exogenous) and lifestyle factors such as obesity and alcohol consumption, with risk of breast cancer in women, prostate cancer in men and other cancers in both. For example, using data from the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Prevention Study-II, my research recently showed that heavy alcohol intake increases the risk of pancreatic cancer (Arch Int Med 2010). In another analysis using data from a longitudinal cohort study of young adult black and white men, my research showed that previously observed changes in BMI during young adulthood modulate age-related changes in SHBG and total testosterone, but not bioavailable testosterone (Obesity 2007).
Professor and Chair, Division of Epidemiology
College of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
My research program is focused on the role of environmental, medical, lifestyle and genetic factors in the etiology of lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). I am particularly interested in linking etiologic factors to molecularly-defined lymphoma subtypes to better clarify mechanistic pathways. My other major research focus is to identify lifestyle, genetic, tumor/microenvironment and treatment factors in lymphoma and CLL patients that predict disease progression and overall survival. I also work collaboratively on molecular epidemiology studies of myeloid, breast, endometrial, colorectal and prostate cancers.
Attending and Member, Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY
My core research is focused on breast cancer and gliomas, and on understanding cancer risk and progression to identify those at highest risk because of genetic and biologic factors, environmental exposures, or a combination of both. I am also working on developing and validating biomarkers of breast cancer. I serve as the overall principal investigator of the international, 25-center WECARE (Women’s Environmental Cancer Radiation and Epidemiology) Study designed to examine the interaction of treatment and genetic predisposition in breast cancer etiology and prognosis. Currently, I co-chair the newly formed international NCI-sponsored Consortium of Contralateral Breast Cancer (CCBC).
Strategic Director, Nutritional Epidemiology
American Cancer Society Inc., Atlanta, GA
My research focuses on diet and alcohol consumption in relation to cancer, particularly breast cancer. With my research group, I am working also on understanding how genetic factors may interact with diet to influence disease risk, on how tumor characteristics may vary with dietary, genetic and other exposures and on the impact of exposures in early life on breast cancer risk. My work includes studies in Western New York and in Puerto Rico.
Assistant Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine
USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, CA
My research focuses on the molecular and genetic epidemiology of complex phenotypes utilizing multi-ethnic population-based samples. A primary area of interest is identifying genetic susceptibility risk factors in cancer, primarily prostate and colorectal cancer, and developing genetic risk prediction tools for clinical and public health use – a “bench-side to bed-side” translational focus. An area of increasing interest involves pleiotropy between metabolic traits, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, and cancer susceptibility as well as progression. In particular, the obesity-cancer paradigm provides a framework to employ and develop pathway analyses incorporating germline variation and DNA expression. Currently I am working with a large multiethnic cohort based in Los Angeles and Hawaii and several large cancer consortia of genome-wide association studies. In addition, I am co-leading a project using novel pathway analytical approaches to better understand the folate-mediated one-carbon metabolism pathway in colorectal cancer susceptibility.
Chief, Breast and Gynecological Research Group
National Cancer Institute, Rockville, MD