Radiation Epidemiology Branch
Current Fellows
Meet the current fellows in the Radiation Epidemiology Branch and learn about research training opportunities.
Melissa Braganza, B.S., B.A., M.P.H. - Predoctoral Fellow
Ms. Melissa Braganza is a predoctoral CRTA fellow with the Radiation Epidemiology Branch (REB). Melissa received a B.S. in chemical engineering and a B.A. in economics from the University of Notre Dame, where she examined whether antibody-antigen binding is detectable on a carbon nanotube based microfluidic platform. In the spring of 2012 she received an M.P.H. from Washington University in St. Louis. Ms. Braganza spent the summer of 2011 as a fellow in REB with Dr. Preetha Rajaraman and Dr. Cari M. Kitahara, reviewing and summarizing the published evidence on ionizing radiation and brain tumors. As a predoctoral fellow with REB she is working with Dr. Cari M. Kitahara and Dr. Amy Berrington de Gonzalez on projects that explore the radiation and non-radiation risk factors related to brain and thyroid cancers.
DCEG Publications (text and abstracts from our publications database)
Elizabeth (Lisa) Cahoon, Ph.D., M.H.S., S.M. - Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Elizabeth Cahoon joined the Radiation Epidemiology Branch (REB) as a postdoctoral fellow in July 2010. Dr. Cahoon received her Master’s in biostatistics in 2005 and her Ph.D. in epidemiology in 2008, both from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her doctoral research involved examining patient safety in persons with serious mental illness. While at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Cahoon also conducted a meta-analysis on secondhand smoking and cancer for the U.S. Surgeon General’s report on The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke, contributed to writing of The International Agency for Research on Cancer, World Health Organization monograph on secondhand smoking and cancer, and researched the history of radon and cancer. Dr. Cahoon worked under the mentorship of Jonathan Samet, M.D., M.S., Department of Epidemiology Professor and Chair, Gail Daumit, M.D., M.H.S., Associate Professor of Medicine, and William Eaton, Ph.D., Department of Mental Health Professor and Chair during her time at Hopkins. In REB, Dr. Cahoon will work with her primary mentor D. Michal Freedman, J.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., epidemiologist, evaluating cancer risks associated with medication use, ultraviolet radiation, and vitamin D in the United States Radiologic Technologists cohort. Dr. Cahoon will also work with Kiyohiko Mabuchi, M.D., Dr.P.H., Deputy Chief and senior scientist, and Alina Brenner, M.D., PH.D., staff scientist on assessment of risks of thyroid cancer and related diseases in cohorts of persons exposed to radiation as a result of the Chernobyl accident.
DCEG Publications (text and abstracts from our publications database)
Vladimir Drozdovitch, Ph.D. - Research Fellow
Dr. Vladimir Drozdovitch joined the Radiation Epidemiology Branch (REB), as a visiting fellow in November 2006. Dr. Drozdovitch has a Ph.D. in nuclear physics from the Institute of Power Engineering and Nuclear Research (Minsk, Belarus). During 2003-2006 he was a scientist in the Radiation Group at the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, where he was responsible for the development and validation of dosimetric models and estimation of doses for the studies of cancer risk following the Chernobyl accident. Dr. Drozdovitch is working with Andre Bouville, Ph.D. in the field of radiation and cancer and will participate in a number of projects related to the evaluation of radiation doses and associated uncertainties.
DCEG Publications (text and abstracts from our publications database)
Zhenming Fu, M.D., Ph.D., M.Phil., - Research Fellow
Dr. Fu joined the Radiation Epidemiology Branch (REB) as a research fellow in Oct 2012. After he received his medical degree from the Medical School of Wuhan University, he was trained as a radiation oncologist as well as a medical oncologist in China. He then received an M.Phil. in molecular oncology in Dec 2003 and a Ph.D. in cancer epidemiology in Dec 2009, both from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His masters’ work (2001-2003, mentors: Profs. Philip J. Johnson and Winnie Yeo) involved assessing mitochondrial DNA mutations in hepatocellular carcinoma of Chinese patients. During 2003-2005, he worked as a senior attending oncologist in Wuhan Union Hospital of Tong Ji Medical University. He was especially focused on IMRT (Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy), IGRT (Image-guided IMRT), and actively recruiting patients for clinical trials, including the Iressa Pan-Asia Study (IPASS), which is now considered as a landmark study for personalized management of lung cancer. The participation in these trials boosted his interest in further epidemiological research. In his Ph.D. study, he addressed Family Cancer History and Other Risk Factors and their Interactions in Different Subsets of Lung Cancer (mentor: Prof. Ignatius Yu). Dr. Fu completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Cancer Genetic Epidemiology at Vanderbilt University during 2009-2012 (mentor: Professor Zheng Wei). He used novel gene-environment interaction, pathway and Mendelian randomization analyses to clarify the role of red meat, heterocyclic amine (HCA), and other carcinogens in cancer risk. While in DCEG, he will work with Dr. Lindsay Morton and other REB investigators and use his unique cross-training background to examining the gene-radiation interaction in cancer risk and interrogating their causality by methods such as Mendelian randomization analysis. He will also work on the study of treatment-related second cancer risks with particular focus on new radiation therapy modalities such as IMRT and Proton therapy.
Todd Gibson, Ph.D. - Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Todd Gibson joined the Radiation Epidemiology Branch (REB) as a NCI Cancer Prevention Fellow in October 2010. He graduated with a Ph.D. in epidemiology (focus on nutrition and cancer) from Yale University in 2010, after spending time as a predoctoral fellow in the Nutritional Epidemiology Branch (NEB) as part of the Yale University - National Cancer Institute Partnership Training Program. His dissertation utilized dietary, molecular, and genetic analyses to examine the associations between folate and one-carbon metabolism and risk of colorectal and renal cancers. Todd's primary mentors were Drs. Rachael Stolzenberg-Solomon, investigator (NEB), and Susan Mayne, Professor, Yale University School of Public Health. He also worked with Drs. Stephanie Weinstein, staff scientist (NEB), Ruth Pfeiffer, senior investigator, Biostatistics Branch (BB), and Lee Moore, investigator, Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch (OEEB). Dr. Gibson also has a B.S. degree in nutrition from Cornell University (1998) and an M.S. degree in molecular biology from Lehigh University (2005). As a member of REB, he will be working with Dr. Lindsay Morton, investigator, REB, and others to examine treatment-related, lifestyle, and molecular/genetic factors influencing the risk of second primary cancers, as well as non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).
DCEG Publications (text and abstracts from our publications database)
Clara Kim, M.P.H. - Predoctoral Fellow
Ms. Clara Kim is a predoctoral fellow in the Radiation Epidemiology Branch (REB) and is enrolled in the Ph.D. program in cancer epidemiology at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. Ms. Kim received a B.S. in biology and psychology from Brandeis University in 2005 and an M.P.H. in Epidemiology from the George Washington University in 2009. For her M.P.H. final thesis she examined the significance of microRNA in the insulin pathway and the association with diabetes. Ms. Kim is working with Lindsay Morton, Ph.D., investigator, REB to identify patterns of and risk factors for multiple primary cancers among patients with at least one hematologic malignancy.
DCEG Publications (text and abstracts from our publications database)
Cari Meinhold Kitahara, Ph.D., M.H.S. - Research Fellow
Dr. Cari Kitahara joined the Radiation Epidemiology Branch in 2008 as a predoctoral fellow to conduct her doctoral dissertation work on the etiology of thyroid cancer under the supervision of Dr. Amy Berrington de González (REB). In 2011, Dr. Kitahara received her Ph.D. in epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health after successfully defending her dissertation, entitled “The association of obesity with thyroid cancer risk and markers of thyroid function." Dr. Kitahara now works closely with Dr. Berrington de González, Dr. Preetha Rajaraman (REB), and others in DCEG and DCCPS to investigate genetic and environmental factors influencing the risk of thyroid cancer and brain/central nervous system tumors and explore new methods for measuring and evaluating obesity and diet for cancer epidemiology studies. She is actively involved in several projects within the NCI Cohort Consortium, including facilitating the development of a large pooled study of the relationship between obesity and risk of thyroid and other rare cancers. Dr. Kitahara also has a B.S. degree from the University of Michigan in biology and anthropology (2005) and an M.H.S. degree from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (2008).
DCEG Publications (text and abstracts from our publications database)
Stephanie Lamart, Ph.D. - Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Stephanie Lamart joined the Radiation Epidemiology Branch (REB) as a visiting postdoctoral fellow. Dr. Lamart received her doctorate in physics in 2008 from the University of Paris XI in France and subsequently obtained the French certification in medical physics in December 2009. Her Ph.D. work was in the field of internal dosimetry and focused on the influence of biokinetics of radionuclides on whole-body measurements using numeric voxel phantoms. While with REB, she will work in the Dosimetry Unit and will be mentored by Drs. Steven Simon, staff scientist, REB and Choonsik Lee, investigator, REB. Dr. Lamart is interested in the estimation of organ doses related to external radiotherapy procedures. She also plans to investigate the variability of organ doses received as a result of intakes of 131I for diagnostic or treatment purposes.
DCEG Publications (text and abstracts from our publications database)
Terrence Lee, M.P.H. - Predoctoral Fellow
Mr. Terrence Lee is a predoctoral fellow in the Radiation Epidemiology Branch (REB) and is enrolled in the Ph.D. program in occupational and environmental epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Mr. Lee received a B.S. in food biochemistry from the University of California at Davis in 1988 and an M.P.H. in epidemiology from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1990. He was also a postgraduate environmental health and industrial hygiene fellow at the Uniformed Service University for the Health Sciences in 1997. Mr. Lee served as a civilian epidemiologist with the U.S. Army for over 10 years; he also worked as a medical surveillance coordinator at the U.S. CDC in Beijing, China. Mr. Lee will work with Drs. Mark Little, D.Phil., senior scientist, REB, and Alice Sigurdson, Ph.D., staff scientist, REB, on his doctoral dissertation which will use the U.S. Radiologic Technologist cohort to examine the risk factors for basal cell carcinoma and risk of subsequent cancer for those with basal cell carcinoma.
Jason Liu, Sc.D. - Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Jason Liu joined the Radiation Epidemiology Branch as a postdoctoral fellow in the summer of 2012. Dr. Liu received a B.S. in cellular and molecular biology from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, an M.P.H. in epidemiology from Columbia University, and an M.S. in biostatistics and Sc.D. in epidemiology from Harvard University. For his doctoral thesis, he examined the influence of vitamin D and one-carbon metabolism factors on telomere length and endometrial cancer. In DCEG, he will be working with Dr. Martha Linet on the U.S. Radiologic Technologists Study to determine the role of occupational radiation exposure on cancer incidence and mortality.
DCEG Publications (text and abstracts from our publications database)
Evgenia Ostroumova, M.D., Ph.D. - Research Fellow
Dr. Evgenia Ostroumova joined the Radiation Epidemiology Branch (REB) in December 2011 as a Research Fellow. She received her M.D. from the Chelyabinsk Medical Institute, Russia. She had been working in the epidemiology lab of the Urals Research Center for Radiation Medicine in 1994-2009. She studied health effects among rural residents in the Techa riverside who have been chronically exposed to ionizing radiation due to radioactive contamination of the area by a plant producing weapons-grade plutonium. Dr. Ostroumova received a Ph.D. in internal medicine from the Tyumen Medical Academy, Russia, in 2005 after successfully defending her dissertation, entitled “Clinical course and outcomes of chronic radiation disease in individuals exposed to protracted ionizing radiation in the antenatal and postnatal periods." In 2009 – 2010 she served as a scientist at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Lyon, France working on the Agenda for Research on Chernobyl Health (ARCH) project. She had her postdoctoral training at the REB in 2006-2008. Currently, Dr.Ostroumova is working on the Chernobyl project with Kiyohiko Mabuchi, M.D., Dr.P.H., Alina Brenner, M.D., Ph.D., Maureen Hatch, C., Ph.D.; benign breast diseases in the USRT cohort with Alice Sigurdson, Ph.D. and Preetha Rajaraman, Ph.D. and non-cancer thyroid diseases in the CCSS cohort with Peter Inskip, D., Sc.D., Drs. Sigurdson and Brenner.
DCEG Publications (text and abstracts from our publications)
Jeannette Wong, M.P.H. - Post-baccalaureate Fellow
Ms. Jeannette Wong, is a post-baccalaureate fellow with the Radiation Epidemiology Branch (REB). Ms. Wong received her M.P.H. from Washington University in St. Louis. During her M.P.H., she began working on a project quantifying risk of second cancers in relation to past chemotherapy and radiotherapy in the retinoblastoma cohort with REB's Ruth Kleinerman and collaborators. She is currently completing that project, as well as an analysis of incidence trends in childhood melanoma using SEER data. Ms. Wong will expand her work in second cancers and molecular epidemiology by assisting Dr. Lindsay Morton with an analysis of RB1 mutation sequencing data in relation to second cancers in the retinoblastoma cohort and exploring other opportunities such as conducting a pilot study of patterns of genomic aberrations in second primary gastrointestinal cancers.
Learn about research training opportunities in the Radiation Epidemiology Branch.