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Hormonal and Reproductive Epidemiology Branch

Hormonal and Reproductive Epidemiology Branch Fellows


Clara Bodelon, M.P.H., Ph.D. Postdoctoral Fellow

Clara Bodelon Dr. Clara Bodelon joined the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics as a postdoctoral fellow in January 2011. She received her Ph.D. in Mathematics from Boston University in 2001. From 2002 to 2006, Dr. Bodelon did postdoctoral research at The Salk Institute (La Jolla, CA) attempting to understand the dynamics of visual processing. In 2009, Dr. Bodelon received a Master of Science degree in Epidemiology from the University of Washington. While working on this degree, she examined the association between the use of analgesics and the risk of endometrial cancer. She also studied relationships between hormonally-related factors and esophageal cancer and the immunogenetic susceptibility of cervical and vulvar cancers. In her current appointment within the Hormonal and Reproductive Epidemiology Branch (HREB), she is working with Nicolas Wentzensen, M.D., Ph.D., Investigator, and Mark Sherman, M.D., Senior Clinician, on projects related to the molecular epidemiology of ovarian cancer.



Cher Dallal, M.P.H., Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow

Cher Dallal Cher Dallal joined the Hormonal and Reproductive Epidemiology Branch (HREB) as a NCI Cancer Prevention Fellow in September, 2009. Dr. Dallal received her Ph.D. in epidemiology from the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health where she was involved in studies of estrogen metabolites and breast cancer. Dr. Dallal has a B.A. in molecular and cell biology from the University of California at Berkeley, an M.P.H. with a concentration in chronic disease epidemiology from Yale University and an M.S. in applied biostatistics and epidemiology from the University of Southern California (USC). Her master theses involved assessing the relationships of obesity and breast cancer survival in a cohort of white and African American women (Yale) and physical activity and breast cancer risk in the California Teachers Cohort (USC). Dr. Dallal’s research interests include the study of hormonal and lifestyle factors as they relate to carcinogenesis of the breast, endometrium, and ovary as well as understanding racial disparities in disease incidence and survival. She is currently working with Dr. Louise Brinton, Chief and Senior Investigator HREB,and Dr. Gretchen Gierach, Tenure Track Investigator, on projects assessing the relationships of adipokines to endometrial cancer risk and endogenous estrogens and metabolites to breast cancer risk in the Fracture Intervention Trial Follow-up Study.



Key Publications:

Jennifer Drahos, M.P.H., Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow

Jennifer Drahos

Jennifer Drahos joined the Hormonal and Reproductive Epidemiology Branch (HREB) as a NCI Cancer Prevention Fellow in September 2011. She earned a B.S. in Economics and Microbiology with Honors from the University of Iowa and received her Ph.D. in Microbiology from Columba University, where she focused on the innate immune response in picornavirus-infected cells. Prior to being awarded the Cancer Prevention Fellowship from the National Cancer Institute in 2010, she was a senior analyst at a healthcare research firm specializing in improving healthcare delivery at hospitals. During her MPH training at the Harvard School of Public Health she concentrated in quantitative methods and researched the incidence and survival variability by ethnicity of pediatric patients with treatment-induced acute myeloid leukemia. Dr. Drahos is interested in applying epidemiologic methods to investigate the role of chronic inflammation and microbial infection in carcinogenesis, as well as sex differences in cancer pathogenesis. She is currently working with Dr. Michael Cook (HREB) and Dr. Mahboobeh Safaeian (IIB) to elucidate the etiology of the distinct stages of esophageal adenocarcinoma as well as investigate the serologic response to HPV natural infection and vaccination.



Ashley Felix, M.P.H., Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow

Ashley Felix Ashley Felix joined the Hormonal and Reproductive Epidemiology Branch (HREB) as a Cancer Prevention Fellow in August, 2011. Prior to joining the branch, Dr. Felix received a B.A. in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University, an M.P.H. in Epidemiology from the University of Michigan School of Public Health, and a Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. Her doctoral dissertation focused on tumor-stromal interactions in Type I and Type II endometrial cancers, with a specific focus on the roles of two pathways: CXCL12/CXCR4 and HGF/c-Met/bFGF. Dr. Felix’s research interests include the molecular epidemiology of gynecologic malignancies as a means to identify biomarkers related to etiology and survival outcomes. During her fellowship in HREB, Dr. Felix is continuing to pursue her interests in the etiologic heterogeneity of endometrial cancer as well as expanding her expertise to a variety of tissue markers for endometrial, ovarian, and breast cancers. She is working with several HREB investigators, including Dr. Louise Brinton (Chief and Senior Investigator), Dr. Mark Sherman (Senior Investigator), Dr. Nicolas Wentzensen (Tenure Track Investigator), and Dr. Gretchen Gierach (Tenure Track Investigator.



Barbara Fuhrman, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow

Barbara Fuhrman Barbara Fuhrman joined the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics as a post-doctoral fellow in September of 2007. She received a Ph.D. in Epidemiology and Community Health at the University at Buffalo in 2006, a M.S. in Epidemiology from the University at Buffalo, and a B.A. in Spanish from Yale University. Her doctoral research was a study of associations between soy intake, isoflavone metabolism, and mammographic density in a sample of postmenopausal women in Western New York. She is interested in the molecular epidemiology of hormonal cancers and in particular, in biomarkers of breast cancer risk and what they may reveal about the causes of this disease. As a fellow in the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Program, she worked on studies of estrogen metabolism in Asian-American women in relation to westernization and to dietary factors, and on a nested case-control study of circulating estrogen metabolites and breast cancer risk in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO) cohort. In September of 2009 she joined the Hormonal and Reproductive Epidemiology Branch. She is currently working with Dr’s Louise Brinton, Gretchen Gierach, Nicolas Wentzensen, Ruth Pfeiffer, Roberto Flores and Jim Goedert on projects related to risk of hormonal cancers, estrogen metabolism and mammographic density. Current work includes a study of estrogen metabolism and endometrial cancer, and a cross-sectional study of hormonal predictors of mammographic density in postmenopausal women.



Key Publications:

Hisani Horne, M.P.H., Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow

Hisani Horne

Hisani Horne joined the Hormonal and Reproductive Epidemiology Branch as a Cancer Prevention Fellow in September, 2011. Dr. Horne received her Ph.D. in Pathology in 2010 from Duke University where her doctoral research focused on identifying and characterizing genetic and epigenetic markers for the early detection, prognosis and prediction of breast and ovarian cancer. While at Duke University, Dr. Horne was awarded a pre-doctoral Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health. In 2011 Dr. Horne completed her Master’s in Public Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health where she trained in epidemiology and biostatistics and received a Certificate in Health Disparities and Health Inequality. Her master’s research focused on examining the utility of a health coordinator in increasing cancer screening rates among disparate populations. Dr. Horne also holds a B.S. in Biology from Hampton University. At HREB, Dr. Horne is continuing to explore her interests in breast and ovarian cancer biology through molecular epidemiologic studies working primarily with Drs. Jonine Figueroa and Mark Sherman.



Lauren Houghton, M.Sc., Predoctoral Fellow

Lauren Houghton

Lauren Houghton is a predoctoral fellow in the Wellcome Trust-NIH Graduate Partnership Program. She is progressing through her dissertation research, entitled the ABBY (Adrenarche among Bangladeshi and British Youth) Project, with mentors Drs. Bob Hoover, Hormuzd Katki, Rebecca Troisi and Regina Ziegler in the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Program at NCI; and supervisors Prof. Gillian Bentley, Drs. Mark Booth and Kate Hampshire in the Department of Anthropology at Durham University, UK. ABBY explores associations between the early life environment and breast cancer risk by focusing on hormonal variation before puberty in Bangladeshi and British girls. Lauren received her MSc from Durham University in Biological Anthropology for which she evaluated field-based methodology and measured correlations between salivary and serum steroid hormones in women. She continues to be involved in assay development for measuring steroid hormones. For the past two years, she has been conducting fieldwork with over 500 school-aged girls living in London, England and Sylhet, Bangladesh to gather biomarker and ethnographic data from populations with markedly different breast cancer rates. Her research takes a life course approach to understanding the intersection of environmental and hormonal factors in breast cancer carcinogenesis. These factors differ between and within populations as more children are growing up in nutritionally and epidemiologically transitioned environments. This research will contribute to understanding how developmental environments affect reproductive health and related diseases.



Laura Linville, B.S., Post-baccalaureate Fellow

Laura Linville Laura Linville joined the Hormonal and Reproductive Epidemiology Branch (HREB) as a post-baccalaureate CRTA in September, 2010. Ms. Linville received her B.S. in Biology from Georgetown University in May 2010. As an undergraduate, Ms. Linville carried out molecular biology research at the Georgetown University Hospital Lombardi Cancer Center. She investigated hormone-independent regulation of the progesterone receptor (PR) by environmental metals and growth factors such as insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), and its implications in breast cancer etiology and progression. Her prior experience in laboratory research involving hormone pathways in breast carcinogenesis has led Ms. Linville to join the team of HREB investigators studying the molecular epidemiology of breast cancer. She is currently working with Drs. Jonine Figueroa and Mark Sherman on molecular genetic analyses of the Polish Breast Cancer Study, and with Drs. Gretchen Gierach and Mark Sherman on the BREAST Stamp Project.



Tricia Luhn, Ph.D.,M.P.H., Postdoctoral Fellow

Tricia Luhn Tricia Luhn joined the Hormonal and Reproductive Epidemiology Branch as a Cancer Prevention Fellow in September of 2010. She received her Ph.D. from Emory University in the Biochemistry Cell and Developmental Biology Program in 2006 where her work focused on the regulation of protein-protein interactions in signal transduction pathways. Following her graduate work, she transitioned to clinical research in her first postdoctoral fellowship where her project focused on the identification of serum proteomic profiles that could distinguish women at high risk of developing breast cancer. From this position, she joined the Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program where she received a Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in May 2010. Currently, Dr. Luhn’s research interests are in molecular epidemiology and biomarker discovery and validation. During her fellowship, she is working with Dr. Nicolas Wentzensen looking at biomarkers, such as methylation, in cervical cancer and precancerous lesions.



Sarah Nyante, M.S.P.H.,Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow

Sarah Nyante Sarah Nyante joined the Hormonal and Reproductive Epidemiology Branch as a postdoctoral fellow in November 2009. She received her MSPH and PhD degrees in epidemiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. For her doctoral dissertation, Dr. Nyante worked with Dr. Robert Millikan to assess relationships between single nucleotide polymorphisms in adipocytokine and estrogen-related genes and the basal-like and luminal A breast cancer subtypes in the Carolina Breast Cancer Study. As a fellow in DCEG, Dr. Nyante’s research focuses on identification of breast cancer risk factors, and the relationship of these risk factors to different breast cancer types. Collaborations include: an analysis of common genetic variation and breast cancer risk in the Polish Breast Cancer Study under the mentorship of Dr. Jonine Figueroa; an investigation of whether declines in mammographic density are associated with improved outcomes among ER-positive breast cancer patients treated with tamoxifen, with Drs. Gretchen Gierach, Mark Sherman, and Amy Berrington; and analysis of risk factors for different histologic subtypes of breast cancer in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study, with Drs. Cher Dallal and Louise Brinton. Dr. Nyante is also involved in research related to ovarian cancer screening in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO) (with Drs. Mark Sherman and Amanda Black) and sex hormone trends in US men (with Dr. Katherine McGlynn).



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