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Meet the current fellows in the Nutritional Epidemiology Branch and learn about research training opportunities.

Hannah Arem, M.H.S., Ph.D - Postdoctoral Fellow

Ms. Hannah Arem joined the Nutritional Epidemiology Branch (NEB) as a predoctoral fellow through the Yale University-National Cancer Institute Partnership Training Program in 2011. Ms. Arem received her M.H.S. in international health from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health where she focused on social and behavioral interventions. Ms. Arem has a B.A. in anthropology from Cornell University. Prior to joining NEB as a research fellow her work at Yale focused on energy balance (obesity, diet and physical activity) and endometrial cancer risk and survival. In NEB she will be working with Rachael Stolzenberg Solomon, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.D., on dietary factors and genetic polymorphisms associated with pancreatic cancer risk and survival.

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Arash Etemadi, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D. - Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Arash Etemadi joined the Nutritional Epidemiology Branch (NEB) as a postdoctoral fellow in June 2010. He has an M.D. (1998) , an M.P.H. (2003) and a Ph.D. in epidemiology (2007) from Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), Iran. As a result of Dr. Etemadi's interest in genetic epidemiology, he worked on familial aggregation of myopia and segregation analysis of refractive errors for his Ph.D. dissertation with Dr. Akbar Fotouhi from TUMS and Dr. Joan E Bailey-Wilson from the Inherited Disease Research Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health. Dr. Etemadi did a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Maastricht, in the Netherlands, working on polymorphisms in genes responsible for the metabolism of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and DNA repair in relation to esophageal cancer. Then in 2009 he was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology in Tehran University of Medical Sciences, to work in the Digestive Disease Research Center. The main focus of his research is the molecular and genetic epidemiology of upper gastro intestinal (GI) cancers. He is also interested in other non-communicable diseases, in particular obesity, metabolic syndrome and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). In NEB, Dr. Etemadi is working on esophageal cancer studies, especially in relation to PAH exposure and nutrition with his mentors, Sanford Dawsey , M.D., senior investigator, and Christian Abnet , Ph.D., M.P.H., investigator.

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Gabriel Lai, Ph.D., M.H.S. - Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Gabriel Lai joined the Nutritional Epidemiology Branch (NEB) in September 2010 as a postdoctoral fellow under the NCI Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program. He obtained a B.A. (1999) in molecular and cell biology and psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, and both an M.H.S. (2004) and Ph.D. (2009) in epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH). For his doctoral dissertation, Dr. Lai evaluated the association between metabolic perturbations and prostate cancer under the mentorship of Dr. Elizabeth Platz, Professor of Epidemiology, JHSPH. Dr. Lai’s research interests include diet, energy metabolism, and cancers. Currently, Dr. Lai is working with his mentor, Neal Freedman, Ph.D., NEB investigator, to examine the relationship between diet and energy metabolism with liver and other cancers.

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Wenny (Shih-Wen) Lin, Ph.D., M.P.H - Research Fellow

Wenny (Shih-Wen) Lin joined the Nutritional Epidemiology Branch (NEB) as a Cancer Prevention Fellow in October 2009. In 2008, she earned her Ph.D. in Cell & Molecular Biology/Gene Therapy & Vaccines at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where she worked with Dr. Hildegund C. J. Ertl on vaccine prime-boost strategies using adenovirus and adeno-associated virus vectors to induce CD8+ T cell responses against HIV-1. In 2009, she received her M.P.H. in Quantitative Methods at the Harvard School of Public Health, where she worked with Dr. Lorelei Mucci on  dietary risk factors for TMPRSS2:ERG prostate cancers.  Her translational research background includes work at Merck & Co., the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.  Working with her primary mentor in NEB, Dr. Christian Abnet, Dr. Lin’s current research aims to identify nutritional and immunological risk factors by which to identify individuals who are highly susceptible to cancer. In particular, she is interested in investigating human as well as microbial genetics in the context of chronic infections and human health. She was promoted to Research Fellow in 2012.

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Alison Mondul, Ph.D. - Research Fellow

Dr. Alison Mondul joined the Nutritional Epidemiology Branch (NEB) as a postdoctoral fellow in June 2009. In 2009 she received a Ph.D. in cancer epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she studied the relationship between statin use, cholesterol, and prostate cancer with her mentor, Dr. Elizabeth Platz, Professor. Prior to her doctoral work at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Mondul earned an M.S.P.H. in epidemiology from Emory University in 2002 and worked at the American Cancer Society in Atlanta, Georgia. She is currently working with her mentor, Demetrius Albanes, M.D., senior investigator, NEB, on the role of nutrients including vitamins E and D, retinol, and cholesterol in the etiology of prostate and other cancers. Dr. Mondul was promoted to Research Fellow in June of 2012.

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Steven C. Moore, Ph.D. - Research Fellow

Dr. Steven C. Moore joined the Nutritional Epidemiology Branch (NEB) as a predoctoral fellow in 2005. He received his Ph.D. in cancer epidemiology from Yale University in 2007 and continued his stay in NEB as a post-doctoral fellow. His dissertation examined the epidemiologic relationships linking adiposity with mortality and cancer incidence, particularly emphasizing how novel analytic strategies might be used to resolve long-standing controversies. Under the primary mentorship of Drs. Michael Leitzmann and Arthur Schatzkin, Dr. Moore has researched the epidemiologic relationships between physical activity and incidence of cancers of the prostate, kidney, and brain. Dr. Moore also has helped initiate efforts to improve the measurement of physical activity in epidemiologic studies and to use measurement error modeling techniques to correct questionnaire-based physical activity measures. To that end, Dr. Moore facilitated the development of the Shanghai Physical Activity Study, a subcohort of 600 men and women from the Shanghai Men's and Women's cohorts where physical activity levels are measured using objective monitoring by accelerometer. In addition, Dr. Moore also played a key role in initiating, developing, and piloting an internet-based assessment of physical activity based upon a 24 hour recall paradigm (ACT24). During his time in the DCEG, Dr. Moore has been awarded the DCEG Fellowship Achievement Award and served as a NIH Fellows representative (FELCOM). Dr. Moore was the cochair of the Mentoring Sub-Committee of NIH FELCOM.

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Kristin Moy, M.P.H., Ph.D. - Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Kristin Moy joined the Nutritional Epidemiology Branch (NEB) as a postdoctoral fellow in December 2011. She obtained a B.A. in biological chemistry from Wellesley College and both a M.P.H. (2007) and Ph.D. (2011) in epidemiology from the University of Minnesota. For her doctoral dissertation, Dr. Moy examined the associations between dietary intake of glucosinolate metabolites and the risks of lung and breast cancers in the Singapore Chinese Health Study under the mentorship of Dr. Jian-Min Yuan, Professor. In NEB, Dr. Moy is working with her mentor, Rachael Stolzenberg-Solomon, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.D., investigator, NEB, on the role of diet and nutrition in the etiology of pancreatic cancer. Dr. Moy’s research interests also include the potential role of genes in modifying the diet-pancreatic cancer association.

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Gwen Murphy, Ph.D., M.P.H . - Research Fellow

Gwen Murphy is a Research Fellow in the Nutritional Epidemiology Branch (NEB) under the mentorship of Dr. Sanford Dawsey, Senior Investigator, NEB. She earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Medicine from Trinity College Dublin in 2005 and her Masters in Public Health from University College Dublin in 2006. Prior to coming to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Dr. Murphy worked as a Fellow with Professor Cecily Kelleher in the School of Public Health and Population Sciences in University College, Dublin. Within NCI’s Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG), Dr. Murphy has been involved in several projects relating to gastrointestinal cancers, including a number of investigations into gene-diet interactions relating to colorectal adenoma recurrence within the Polyp Prevention Trial cohort. In addition she is coordinating an NCI-led International Consortium to examine the role of Epstein Barr Virus in gastric adenocarcinoma. In 2008, Dr. Murphy was awarded a Cancer Prevention Research Training Merit Award from NCI in recognition of outstanding performance as a Cancer Prevention Fellow as well as a Fellows Award for Research Excellence. In 2010 she was awarded an Intramural Research Award for her project: “An Evaluation of serum antibodies to Helicobacter pylori proteins and risk of Upper Gastrointestinal and Pancreatic cancers”. Dr. Murphy is currently working on a number of projects looking at how nutritional and infectious factors may modulate risk of gastric cancer. 

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Jian-Song Ren, Ph.D. - Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Jian-Song Ren joined the Nutritional Epidemiology Branch (NEB) in January 2012 as a visiting fellow. He received his Ph.D. in epidemiology and health statistics from Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China in 2009. His dissertation examined the association between serum pepsinogens and gastrin-17 and upper digestive tract cancers (esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and gastric cardia and non-cardia adenocarcinomas). Prior to joining NEB as a visiting fellow, Dr. Ren worked in NEB in 2008-2009 as a visiting scientist, focusing on beverage intake (tea, coffee and carbonated soft drinks) and upper gastrointestinal tract cancer risk. During 2009-2011, he received post-doctoral training at the International Agency for Research on Cancer, where he conducted studies estimating cancer incidence and mortality in China in 2005 and examined the worldwide prevalence at the country level for 2008. Currently, Dr. Ren is working with his mentor, Christian Abnet, Ph.D., M.P.H, on etiologic studies of upper gastrointestinal tract cancers including studies of B vitamins, sex hormones, and pepsinogens. 

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Jianbing Wang, Ph.D., M.P.H. - Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Jianbing Wang joined the Nutritional Epidemiology Branch (NEB) as a postdoctoral fellow in August 2011. Dr. Wang received his M.P.H in epidemiology from the Harbin Medical University in 2007 and a Ph.D. in cancer epidemiology from Peking Union Medical College in 2010. His dissertation research focused on etiology study between esophageal cancer and HPV and population attributable fraction of environment risk factors in esophageal cancer. He worked with Dr. Youlin Qiao, Cancer Institute, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CICAMS) on several NCI-CICAMS collaborative projects, including the follow-up of participants in the Dysplasia and General Population Nutrition Intervention Trials in Linxian, China. He was also a CICAMS coordinator for the Attributable Causes of Cancer in China project, collaboration between CICAMS and IARC. In NEB, Dr. Wang is working on the 25-year follow-up analysis of Linxian Dysplasia Nutrition Intervention Trial and the analysis of the association between vitamin D and liver diseases in Linxian Nutrition Intervention Trials with his mentors, Sanford Dawsey , M.D., senior investigator, NEB, Christian Abnet , Ph.D., M.P.H., investigator, NEB and Neal Freedman, Ph.D., investigator, NEB. 

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Qian Xiao, M.P.H., Ph.D. - Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Qian Xiao joined the Nutritional Epidemiology Branch (NEB) as a Cancer Prevention Fellow in 2012. Dr. Xiao received her Ph.D. in biological sciences from the University of California at San Diego. Her doctoral dissertation focused on the role of muscle- derived molecules on neuronal differentiation. She received her M.P.H. in epidemiology from the University of Michigan, where she investigated environmental exposure to xenoestrogen and risk of inflammatory breast cancer in Egypt. She also studied cooking fat consumption and childhood growth in Colombian school children. In NEB, she works with Dr Charles Matthews, Dr Yikyung Park and other investigators on a variety of projects examining the role of physical activity, nutrition, obesity and energy balance on cancer risk.

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