Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch
Current Fellows
Meet the current fellows in the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch and learn about research training opportunities.
Kathryn Hughes Barry, Ph.D., M.P.H. - Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Kathryn Hughes Barry is a postdoctoral fellow in OEEB through the Yale University/NCI Partnership Training Program. In her dissertation research, Kathryn is working with Michael Alavanja, Ph.D. (senior investigator, OEEB) and Jay Lubin, Ph.D, (senior investigator, Biostatistics Branch), along with other members of the Agricultural Health Study (AHS) team and her mentors from Yale, Drs. Tongzhang Zheng and Xiaomei Ma. Her projects will explore the association between pesticides and cancer risk and the role of genetic susceptibility. The latter effort will focus on prostate cancer, which is elevated in the AHS cohort. Kathryn received a B.S. from Tufts University in 2003, with majors in biology and community health, and an M.P.H. with a focus in chronic disease epidemiology from Yale University in 2005. Her Master's thesis examined the relationships between carotenoid nutrients and the F2-Isoprostanes, stable and specific biomarkers of oxidative damage to lipids, in curatively-treated head and neck cancer patients. She then spent two years as a CDC/CSTE Applied Epidemiology Fellow at the Washington State Department of Health. As part of her fellowship, Kathryn engaged in cluster investigations of non-infectious conditions, including childhood and breast cancers and aplastic anemia. She also utilized WA State Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data to explore predictors of cancer screening and conducted a literature review on tanning booth use and melanoma that was used to aid policy-making in WA regarding warning labels for tanning devices. Kathryn has presented the findings of her research at state, regional and national conferences, including the Washington State Joint Conference on Health, the Western Regional Epidemiology Network, and the 2006 Congress of Epidemiology. She is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research, the Society for Epidemiologic Research, and the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists.
DCEG Publications (text and abstracts from our publications database)
Benjamin Booth, M.S. - Predoctoral Fellow
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Benjamin Booth joined the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch (OEEB) as a predoctoral fellow in April 2013. He earned a B.S. in health promotion and education from the University of Utah in 2007 and a M.S. in epidemiology from the University of Iowa College of Public Health in 2009. He is currently enrolled as a doctoral student in epidemiology at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) School of Public Health. Under the mentorship of Mary Ward, Ph.D., Senior Investigator, OEEB and Leslie Stayner, Ph.D., Professor, UIC, Mr. Booth is investigating associations between several routes of pesticide exposure and childhood cancer occurrence in U.S. Populations. He is also evaluating childhood cancer risk in European populations from the International Childhood Cancer Cohort Consortium. He is a member of the Society for Epidemiologic Research.
Yu-Cheng Chen, Ph.D. - Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Yu-Cheng Chen joined the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch (OEEB) as a postdoctoral fellow in December 2010. Dr. Chen received his both M.S. (2004) and Ph.D. (2010) in environmental and occupational health from National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan. His dissertation research was to develop techniques for the control of the process emissions of air pollutants and to identify the main exposure sources in the iron ore sintering plant. As a visiting scholar at the Division of Environmental Health Science, University of Minnesota from 2009 to 2010, his research interests focused on occupational epidemiology with an emphasis on exposure assessment and modeling for workers at the chemical facility. Dr. Chen’s research focused on applied exposure reconstruction and Bayesian modeling skills to assess occupational diseases. While in OEEB, under the mentorship of Melissa Friesen, Ph.D., Investigator, OEEB, Dr. Chen’s research goals are to focus on developing exposure estimates for occupational risk factors by using statistical models to predict historical exposure, examining the validity and/or reliability of the exposure estimates, and assessing the sensitivity of exposure-disease associations to exposure assessment approaches for the use of epidemiologic study designs.
DCEG Publications (text and abstracts from our publications database)
Curt DellaValle, M.P.H., Ph.D. - Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Curt DellaValle joined the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch (OEEB) as a postdoctoral fellow in July 2010. He earned a B.S. in biology from the University of Connecticut in 2000 and received his M.P.H., in 2005 and Ph.D. in environmental health sciences in 2010, both from Yale University. The focus of Dr. DellaValle’s dissertation research was the development and evaluation of exposure modeling techniques for ambient allergens. The primary purpose of this research was to assess ambient allergen exposure at the individual level. In particular, he investigated the association between ambient allergen exposures and daily respiratory symptoms among a cohort of asthmatic children. At OEEB, under the direction of mentor Mary Ward, Ph.D., senior investigator, OEEB, Dr. DellaValle’s research goals are to focus on improvement and validation of methods for assessing environmental exposures in epidemiological studies of cancer. Research projects include developing estimates of nitrate levels in groundwater aquifers for the Agricultural Health Study cohort to evaluate risk of gastrointestinal cancers and estimating the geographic extent of pesticide drift from agricultural pesticide applications for evaluation of lymphohematopoietic cancers. He is a member of the International Society of Exposure Science.
DCEG Publications (text and abstracts from our publications database)
Nicole Cardello Deziel, Ph.D., M.H.S. - Research Fellow
Dr. Nicole Deziel joined the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch (OEEB) in 2010 as a Sallie Rosen Kaplan Fellow. Dr. Deziel received her Masters in industrial hygiene in 2000 and her doctorate in environmental health sciences in 2008, both from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. After completing her doctorate, Dr. Deziel joined the National Children’s Study Coordinating Center as a Senior Environmental Health Scientist, where she conducted methodological studies to evaluate environmental exposure assessment methods and develop environmental sampling protocols. Dr. Deziel’s research areas include: (1) evaluating temporal variability and determinants of environmental exposures, (2) comparing different approaches of assessing exposure to environmental agents, and (3) developing exposure estimates for environmental risk factors in epidemiologic studies. During her fellowship, she has investigated these issues within the context of three classes of pollutants: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), pesticides, and persistent organic pollutants. Dr. Deziel works on several studies, including the Northern California Childhood Leukemia Study, the Agricultural Health Study, and the NCI SEER Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Study. Her mentors are Drs. Mary Ward and Melissa Friesen.
DCEG Publications (text and abstracts from our publications database)
Linda Liao, Ph.D., M.P.H. - Research Fellow
Dr. Linda Dong Liao joined the OEEB as a Sallie Rosen Kaplan post-doctoral fellow. She has a long-standing interest in nutrition. She first merged her interests in nutrition and physical activity with the field of epidemiology at the University of California, Berkeley where she obtained her B.S. and M.P.H. In her Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Washington, she evaluated the interplay between nutrition and genetics in relation to cancer risk: "Genetic variation in calcium and vitamin D related genes and colon cancer." She currently works with Wong-Ho Chow, Ph.D. (Senior Investigator, OEEB) and Lee Moore, Ph.D. (Investigator, OEEB) evaluating genetic and lifestyle risk factors from two large case-control studies of renal cancer in the U.S. and Europe. She is also involved in studies of esophageal and gastric cancers within several consortia. She has received a DCEG Molecular Epidemiology Research Award and an NIH Fellows Award for Research Excellence. Dr. Liao has published in JAMA, Lancet Oncology, the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, Nutrition and Cancer, and Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention. She performs peer-review services for the journal Nutrition and Cancer and the International Journal of Cancer. Dr. Liao has membership in professional organizations such as the American Association for Cancer Research and the Society for Epidemiologic Research.
DCEG Publications (text and abstracts from our publications database)
Alexander Fischer, B.S. - Post-baccalaureate Fellow
Mr. Alexander Fischer joined the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch (OEEB) as a post-baccalaureate CRTA fellow in September, 2010. He received his B.S. in biochemistry, B.A. in Spanish, and minor in statistics from the University of Maryland in May 2010. Mr. Fischer first began conducting research in a lab of the Genetics Branch of the Center for Cancer Research (CCR), looking at gene expression analysis in colorectal cancer cell lines. As an undergraduate, he worked on research projects involving the epidemiology of minority health, health disparities, and culturally competent care at the University of Maryland, School of Public Health. These experiences in cancer and epidemiological research inspired Mr. Fischer to join the Division of Cancer Epidemiology Research as a CRTA summer fellow in the OEEB for two years. He will continue to work on the New England Bladder Cancer Study, focusing on biological markers in relation to bladder cancer, under the mentorship of Dalsu Baris, M.D., Ph.D., staff scientist, OEEB.
DCEG Publications (text and abstracts from our publications database)
Jonathan Hofmann, Ph.D., M.P.H. - Research Fellow
Dr. Jonathan Hofmann joined the OEEB as a post-doctoral fellow in May 2009. He received his Ph.D. from the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Washington, where his dissertation research focused on occupational and genetic determinants of serum cholinesterase inhibition among organophosphate-exposed agricultural pesticide handlers. Dr. Hofmann's research interests include occupational and environmental determinants of cancer, with a particular emphasis on biomarkers of exposure, susceptibility, and early biologic effects related to cancer etiology. His work has been published in several peer-reviewed journals including Occupational Medicine, the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, and the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health. He has served as a peer reviewer for Environmental Health Perspectives and the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health.
DCEG Publications (text and abstracts from our publications database)
Wei Hu, Ph.D. - Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Wei Hu joined the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch (OEEB) as a post-doctoral fellow in 2010. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Science and Technology in Beijing, China in 2005. His Ph.D. thesis, Interactive effects on respiratory health between outdoor air pollutants and other factors, studied the effect of particulate matter, SO2, and NOx pollution on respiratory symptoms in four Chinese cities. As a doctoral student, Dr. Hu also worked with investigators from the University of California, Los Angeles as a field team leader on a project that measured inhalation and dietary exposure to boron in workers from boric acid industries in Northeast China in order to study the effects of boric exposure on human reproductive health. After obtaining his Ph.D., he worked for the China National Environmental Monitoring Center in Beijing where he played a key role in the development of study instruments, training, and managing the OEEB hospital-based case-control study of lung cancer among non-smoking women in Xuan and Fuyuan and its exposure assessment component. As a post-doctoral fellow in OEEB, Dr. Hu will be involved in several projects including a series of studies on lung cancer in China, -the AsiaLymph study (a hospital-based case-control study of lymphoma in Asia), and molecular epidemiology studies of known or suspected occupational carcinogens, under the mentorship of Qing Lan,Ph.D., M.P.H., senior investigator.
DCEG Publications (text and abstracts from our publications database)
Rena Jones, Ph.D., M.S. - Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Rena Jones joined the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch (OEEB) as a post-doctoral fellow in September 2012. Dr. Jones received her B.S. in biology from the University of Massachusetts, and MS and PhD degrees in Epidemiology from the University at Albany, SUNY School of Public Health. Dr. Jones’ research has explored spatial-analytical approaches for environmental epidemiological studies and evaluated the impact of environmental exposure assessment methods on study validity. For her MS thesis, Dr. Jones examined the consequences of aggregating geographic administrative units on epidemiological inference about low birth weight. Her doctoral dissertation investigated the association between chemical constituents of ambient particulate matter and cardiovascular and respiratory morbidities in New York State. As part of her research, she evaluated methods for examining independent constituent effects and for geo-spatial exposure imputation. While pursuing her Ph.D. at SUNY Albany, Dr. Jones also worked as an epidemiologist at the New York State Department of Health and gained practical experience in studies of environmental and occupational exposures. Dr. Jones is involved in several OEEB projects, including the Agricultural Health Study and the Iowa Women’s Health Study. Under the mentorship of Dr. Mary Ward, Senior Investigator, she will conduct research on environmental exposures and cancer, continuing to focus on the improvement and validation of methods for assessing environmental exposures in epidemiological studies. Dr. Jones is a member of the International Society of Exposure Science and the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology. She also serves as President of the Society for Epidemiologic Research Student/Postdoctoral Committee (2012-2013).
DCEG Publications (text and abstracts from our publications database)
Sara Karami, Ph.D., M.P.H. - Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Sara Karami, a post-doctoral fellow in the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch (OEEB), received her M.P.H. in 2003 in epidemiology and biostatistics and in 2009 completed her Ph.D. in epidemiology, both from George Washington University. For Dr. Karami’s dissertation she worked with her mentor, Lee Moore, Ph.D., M.P.H., Investigator, OEEB on investigating the association between vitamin D exposure (via occupational sunlight, dietary intake and genetic variations in vitamin D pathway genes) and renal cancer risk among participants in the Central and European Renal Cell Carcinoma (CEERCC) study. Currently, Dr. Karami is working on replicating her dissertational results in the U.S. Renal Cell Carcinoma (USRCC) study. As a post-doctoral fellow in OEEB, Dr. Karami is continuing her studying of occupational, environmental, and genetic risk factors for different cancers, such as the bladder, kidney, and prostate. She is working with Mark Purdue, Ph.D., investigator, OEEB on the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial & American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) cohort analysis of reproductive factors in relation to renal cancer and an USRCC analysis of occupational and industrial categories in relation to renal cancer risk. For another project, Dr. Karami is collaborating with OEEB researchers, Michael Alavanja, Ph.D., senior investigator and Gabriella Andreotti, Ph.D., staff scientist on the Agricultural Health Study, looking at gene-environment interaction in relation to prostate cancer, specifically to explore whether vitamin D pathway genes modify the association between pesticide exposure and prostate cancer risk. Dr. Karami is continuing to work with her primary mentor, Dr. Moore on the USRCC and CEERCC studies analyzing occupational exposure in relation to renal cancer risk, analysis of gene-environment interactions to see if risk factors modify renal cancer risk, in order to replicate her dissertation results in the USRCC study population.
DCEG Publications (text and abstracts from our publications database)
Christopher Kim, M.P.H. - Predoctoral Fellow
Mr. Christopher Kim joined the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch (OEEB) as a predoctoral fellow in August 2011. Dr. Kim received his M.P.H. in Epidemiology and Environmental Health from Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts and is currently matriculated in the Yale University-National Cancer Institute Partnership Training Program cancer epidemiology. Under the mentorship of OEEB investigators Drs. Qing Lan, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., Nathaniel Rothman, M.D., M.P.H., M.H.S., and H. Dean Hosgood III, Ph.D., and Yale investigator Dr. Yawei Zhang, Dr. Kim will investigate interactions between molecular markers, genetic variation, and air toxins and their associations with lung cancer.
DCEG Publications (text and abstracts from our publications database)
Stella Koutros, Ph.D. - Research Fellow
Dr. Stella Koutros, a postdoctoral fellow, began her education with a B.A. from Tufts University with a focus in epidemiology and public health. She received her M.P.H. and Ph.D. in epidemiology from Yale University. As part of her doctoral studies, she participated in the Yale-NCI partnership training program in cancer epidemiology and conducted her dissertation research in OEEB. After receiving her doctorate in 2008, Dr. Koutros became a post-doctoral fellow in OEEB where she is studying a variety of occupational, environmental, and genetic risk factors for cancer. She is involved in and leading several projects within the Agricultural Health Study (PI: Michael Alavanja, Ph.D., senior investigator, OEEB) under the mentorship of Laura Beane Freeman, Ph.D. (investigator, OEEB). For example, she is looking for gene-environment interactions associated with prostate cancer as well as the impact of pesticide exposure on cancer risk. Dr. Koutros is also investigating genetic risk factors for prostate cancer in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening trial and the Breast and Prostate Cancer Cohort Consortium. She is also conducting research on occupational and environmental risk factors for bladder cancer in the Spanish and New England bladder cancer case-control studies. Her experiences before coming to NCI were in various aspects of the public health field including two Yale/NCI grants for epidemiology training, and working at the Connecticut Tumor Registry focusing on cancer epidemiology. In 2008, she was awarded the American College of Epidemiology Student Prize for her work on "Aromatic amine pesticide use and human cancer risk: results from the U.S. Agricultural Health Study."
DCEG Publications (text and abstracts from our publications database)
Learn about research training opportunities in the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch.