Genetic Epidemiology Branch
Current Fellows
Meet the current fellows in the Genetic Epidemiology Branch and learn about research training opportunities.
Fangyi Gu, M.Med., Sc.D. - Postdoctoral Fellow
In May 2010, Dr. Fangyi Gu became a postdoctoral fellow in the Genetic Epidemiology Branch (GEB). Dr. Gu completed her ScD. in epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health in 2010 and earned a Master of Medicine from Peking Union Medical College in 2004 and a Bachelor of Medicine from Peking Medical University in 2001. She has collaborated on several epidemiological projects, including the recent GWAS of smoking behaviors led by DCEG and Harvard investigators, as well as an international multicenter association study of insulin like growth factor pathway genes with circulating IGF1/BP3 hormone levels. While at DCEG, Dr. Gu will work with Dr. Neil Caporaso, Senior Investigator, GEB and colleagues on smoking exposure and genetic susceptibility in relation to lung cancer risk.
DCEG Publications (text and abstracts from our publications)
Paula Hyland, PH.D., M.P.H. - Research Fellow
Dr. Paula Hyland, a 2008-2013 Northern Irish Cancer Prevention Fellow, joined the Genetic Epidemiology Branch (GEB) in January 2010. Dr. Hyland received her Ph.D. in biomedical sciences from the University of Ulster, Coleraine, (UUC), in Northern Ireland (NI), studying the effects of dNTP pool imbalances on DNA replication and repair fidelity. She also has a B.Sc. in biomedical sciences from UUC. In 2009, she obtained her M.P.H. from Queen’s University in Belfast, NI, which focused on the molecular epidemiology of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) and the alteration of chromatin modifiers and histone marks by HPV-16 E6/7 oncogenes. Dr. Hyland’s present research interests include investigating the association of genetic variation as well as epigenetic changes and the risk of esophageal cancer and melanoma. She is currently working with Philip Taylor, M.D., Sc.D., Senior Investigator in GEB, on the following projects: assessing the relationship of selected gene pathways to risk of esophageal cancer using SNP data from the upper gastrointestinal (UGI) cancer, iSelect, and GWAS data sets; protein biomarkers with survival in UGI cancers; and mRNA and microRNA expression in Barrett’s esophagus from the Barrett’s Esophagus Early Detection Study. She is also working with Rose Yang, Ph.D., M.P.H., Investigator, GEB examining the epigenome in melanoma-prone families. In 2010, Dr. Hyland was awarded a DCEG Intramural Research Award for her project: “Genome-wide epigenetic changes in melanoma-prone families segregating CDKN2A mutations.”
DCEG Publications (text and abstracts from our publications)
Wenqing Li, Ph.D. - Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Wenqing Li joined the Genetic Epidemiology Branch (GEB) as a visiting postdoctoral fellow in January 2012. He received his Ph.D. in epidemiology and biostatistics from Peking University, China, in July 2010. His doctoral dissertation involved the the gene-environmental interaction in the evolution of precancerous gastric lesions, as well as the genetic factors which determine the effect of chemo-intervention trials. Since August, 2011, Dr. Wenqing Li has worked as a postdoctoral research fellow in Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, where he worked on risk factors and comorbidities of skin cancer and skin diseases basing on the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS), NHS II, and Health Professionals’ Follow-up Study, and also the clinical resources in Brigham and Women’s Hospital. His interests focus on the influence of environmental and genetic factors in the etiology and prevention of cancer, particularly gastrointestinal cancer and skin cancer. Under the mentorship of Alisa Goldstein, Ph.D., Senior Investigator, GEB, and Dr. Philip R. Taylor, M.D., Sc.D., Senior Investigator, Dr. Wenqing Li will be working on genetic and environmental factors involved in the development of cancer.
DCEG Publications (text and abstracts from our publications)
Carolyn Reyes-Guzman, M.P.H. - Predoctoral Fellow
Ms. Carolyn Reyes-Guzman joined the Genetic Epidemiology Branch (GEB) as a pre-doctoral CRTA fellow in November 2011. Prior to joining as a fellow, she worked with GEB as a special volunteer since December 2010. She received her B.A. in French from Santa Clara University in 1999, and her M.P.H in epidemiology from George Washington University (GWU) in 2005. Her interest in tobacco prevention and cancer etiology led her to focus her Master’s research on cancer prevention, and in May 2005, she defended her thesis on the effectiveness of the cancer prevention clinic at Washington Hospital Center in Washington, DC. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in epidemiology at GWU. In GEB, Ms. Reyes-Guzman works with Dr. Neil Caporaso, and her dissertation work focuses on the epidemiology of light and intermittent smokers, their genetics, and lung cancer outcomes.
DCEG Publications (text and abstracts from our publications)
Guoqin Yu, Ph.D. - Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Guoqin Yu joined GEB and IIB as a CRTA postdoctoral fellow in 2011. She received a B.S. in biology and computer science in 2001 and an M.S. in genetics from Zhejiang University/Beijing Institute of Botany in 2004. She went on to earn a Ph.D. in evolution, ecology and population biology from Washington University in St. Louis in 2009, under the direction of Dr. Barbara Schaal. As part of her doctoral studies, she researched the evolution of starch synthesis pathway genes in wild and cultivated rice, and the association between variation in starch genes and starch quality in rice. In order to improve her bioinformatics techniques, Dr. Guoqin performed postdoctoral research for Drs. Arlin Stoltzfus and John Moult at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she studied the evolution of prokaryotes genomes using population genetics tools.
Dr. Guoqin is interested in the relationship between human microbiomes and cancer. She is also interested in explaining the variation within/between human populations and their relationship with cancer. She is currently working on projects about smoking, the human microbiome and smoking-related cancer with Dr. Neil Caporaso, Dr. Christian Abnet, and her mentors Dr. Alisa Goldstein and Dr. James Goedert. She is also working with Dr. Alisa Goldstein and Dr. Allan Hildesheim on a study of the genetic susceptibility of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) families in Taiwan. In 2013, Dr. Yu was awarded an NCI Director’s Intramural Innovation Award.
DCEG Publications (text and abstracts from our publications)
Learn about research training opportunities in the Genetic Epidemiology Branch.