Hormonal and Reproductive Epidemiology Branch Fellows
Clara Bodelon, M.P.H., Ph.D. Postdoctoral Fellow
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 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:
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Dallal CM, Sullivan-Halley J, Ross RK, Wang Y, Deapen D, Horn-Ross PL, Reynolds P, Stram DO, Clarke CA, Anton-Culver H, Ziogas A, Peel D, West DW, Wright W, Bernstein L.
Long-term recreational physical activity and risk of invasive and in situ breast cancer: the California teachers study.
Arch Intern Med 2007;167(4):408-15.
Jennifer Drahos, M.P.H., Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow
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 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 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:
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Fuhrman BJ, Pfeiffer R, Xu X, Wu AH, Korde L, Gail MH, Keefer LK, Veenstra TD, Hoover RN, Ziegler RG.
Stability of 15 estrogens and estrogen metabolites in urine samples under processing and storage conditions typically used in epidemiologic studies.
Int J Biol Markers 2010;25:185-94.
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Fuhrman BJ, Xu X, Falk RT, Hankinson SE, Veenstra TD, Keefer LK, Ziegler RG.
Soy Intake is Associated with Increased 2-Hydroxylation and Decreased 16α-Hydroxylation of Estrogens in Asian-American Women.
Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009;18(10):2751-60.
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Fuhrman BJ, Smit E, Crespo CJ, Garcia-Palmieri MR.
Coffee intake and risk of incident diabetes in Puerto Rican men: results from the Puerto Rico Heart Health Program.
Public Health Nutr 2009;12(6):842-8.
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Fuhrman BJ, Teter BE, Barba M, Byrne C, Cavalleri A, Grant BJ, Horvath PJ, Morelli D, Venturelli E, Muti PC.
Equol status modifies the association of soy intake and mammographic density in a sample of postmenopausal women.
Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2008;17(1):33-42.
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Fuhrman B, Barba M, Schünemann HJ, Hurd T, Quattrin T, Cartagena R, Carruba G, Muti P.
Basal growth hormone concentrations in blood and the risk for prostate cancer: a case-control study.
Prostate 2005;64(2):109-15.
Hisani Horne, M.P.H., Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow
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 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 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 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 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).
Key Publications:
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Nyante SJ, Faupel-Badger JM, Sherman ME, Pfeiffer RM, Gaudet MM, Falk RT, Andaya AA, Lissowska J, Brinton LA, Peplonska B, Vonderhaar BK, Chanock S, Garcia-Closas M, Figueroa JD.
Genetic variation in PRL and PRLR, and relationships with serum prolactin levels and breast cancer risk: results from a population-based case-control study in Poland.
Breast Cancer Res. 2011 Apr 6;13(2):R42.
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Nyante SJ, Black A, Kreimer AR, Duggan MA, Carreon JD, Kessel B, Buys SS, Ragard LR, Johnson KA, Dunn BK, Lamerato L, Commins JM, Berg CD, Sherman ME.
Pathologic Findings Following False-Positive Screening Tests for Ovarian Cancer in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial.
Gynecol Oncol. 2011 Mar;120(3):474-9.
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Nyante SJ, Gammon MD, Kaufman JS, Bensen JT, Lin DY, Barnholtz-Sloan J, Hu Y, He Q, Luo J, Millikan RC.
Common genetic variation in adiponectin, leptin, and leptin receptor and association with breast cancer subtypes.
Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2011 Sep;129(2):593-606.
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Nyante SJ, Gammon MD, Malone KE, Daling JR, Brinton LA.
The association between oral contraceptive use and lobular and ductal breast cancer in young women.
Int J Cancer. 2008 Feb 15;122(4):936-41.
Christina Persson,Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow
Christina Persson joined the Hormonal and Reproductive Epidemiology Branch as a Post-doctoral Fellow in January 2010. Her initial interest in environmental exposures, infectious agents and gene-environment interactions and cancer etiology was stimulated by her M.S. degree in biology from Linköping Institute of Technology in Sweden. In November 2009 she defended her thesis at the department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Karolinska Institute Sweden, entitled “Roles of Helicobacter pylori infection, host genetic variation, and other environmental exposures in gastric carcinogenesis”. The PhD projects included in the thesis were under the supervision of Professors Weimin Ye, Olof Nyrén and Lars Engstrand. While receiving this training, she also spent time at the National Cancer Centre in Tokyo (under the mentorship of Drs. Shoichiro Tsugane and Manami Inoue), where she assessed the role of reproductive factors and carotenoids on gastric cancer risk and at the University of Leeds, where she conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis on gastric cancer and interleukins (Professor David Forman). Dr Persson is working with Dr. Katherine McGlynn Senior Investigator, on several liver cancer projects and she is also working with Dr. Eric Engel Senior Investigator, Dr. Wong-Ho Chow Senior Investigator on gastric and esophageal cancer projects. Her aims is to extend her multidisciplinary training with further study of descriptive epidemiologic analyses, project conception and mentoring.
Key Publications:
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Persson C, Canedo P, Machado JC, El-Omar EM, Forman D. Polymorphisms in inflammatory response genes and their association with gastric cancer: A HuGE systematic review and meta-analyses.Am J Epidemiol. 2011; 173(3):259-70.
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Persson C, Jia Y, Pettersson H, Dillner J, Nyrén O, Ye W. H. pylori Seropositivity before Age 40 and Subsequent Risk of Stomach Cancer: A Glimpse of the True Relationship?PLoS One. 2011; 6(3):e17404.
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Persson C. Roles of Helicobacter pylori infection, host genetic variation, and other environmental exposures in gastric carcinogenesis. Karolinska institute. 2009 Nov, ISBN: 978-91-7409-692-7
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Jia Y, Persson C, Hou L, Zheng Z, Yeager M, Lissowska J, Chanock SJ, Chow WH, Ye W. A comprehensive analysis of common genetic variation in MUC1, MUC5AC, MUC6 genes and risk of stomach cancer. Cancer Causes Control. 2009 Nov 19.[e pub]
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Persson C, Engstrand L, Nyrén O, Hansson LE, Enroth H, Ekström AM, Ye W.
Interleukin 1-beta gene polymorphisms and risk of gastric cancer in Sweden.Scand J Gastroenterol. 2009;44(3):339-45.
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Persson C, Inoue M, Sasazuki S, Kurahashi N, Iwasaki M, Ye W, Tsugane S; JPHC Study Group. Female reproductive factors and the risk of gastric cancer in a large-scale population-based cohort study in Japan (JPHC study).
Eur J Cancer Prev 2008; 17(4):345-53.
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Persson C, Sasazuki S, Inoue M, Kurahashi N, Iwasaki M, Miura T, Ye W, Tsugane S; JPHC Study Group. Plasma levels of carotenoids, retinol and tocopherol and the risk of gastric cancer in Japan: a nested case-control study.Carcinogenesis 2008; 29(5):1042-8.
Vikrant Sahasrabuddhe,M.B.B.S., M.P.H., Dr.P.H., Guest Scientist
Dr. Vikrant Sahasrabuddhe joined the Hormonal and Reproductive Epidemiology Branch (HREB) as a Guest Scientist in September 2010. He received his medical training from University of Pune in India, and his Master’s and Doctorate in Public Health from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is currently on an academic leave of absence from the faculty at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee, where his research has focused on the natural history of HPV and prevention of cervical cancer in HIV-infected women in the developing world. He has worked with ministries of health, academic institutions, research organizations, and non-profit agencies in Asia and Africa to develop, implement, and evaluate cervical cancer prevention services for HIV-infected women. His interdisciplinary collaborative work has shown the high prevalence and diversity of HPV, the high burden of cervical precancerous lesions, the utility of simplified 'see-and-treat-or-refer' prevention protocols, and the need for undertaking innovative health care delivery approaches for HIV-infected women who are living longer as a result of access to affordable antiretroviral therapy.
At HREB, Dr. Sahasrabuddhe is working with Dr. Louise Brinton (Chief and Senior Investigator, HREB), Dr. Nicolas Wentzensen (Investigator, HREB), and Dr. Katherine McGlynn (Deputy Chief and Senior Investigator, HREB) in the areas of molecular epidemiology and etiopathogenesis of anogenital and hepatobiliary cancers, with a goal of informing cancer prevention practices for underserved populations.
Key Publications:
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Sahasrabuddhe VV, Luhn P, Wentzensen N. Human papillomavirus and cervical cancer: biomarkers for improved prevention efforts.
Future Microbiol 2011; 6(9):1083-98.
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Sahasrabuddhe VV, Bhosale RA, Kavatkar AN, Nagwanshi CA, Joshi SN, Jenkins CA, Shepherd BE, Kelkar RS, Sahay S, Risbud AR, Vermund SH, Mehendale SM. Comparison of visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) and cervical cytology to detect high grade cervical neoplasia among HIV-infected women in India.
Int J Cancer 2012; 130(1): 234-40.
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Mwanahamuntu MH, Sahasrabuddhe VV, Kapambwe S, Pfaendler KS, Chibwesha C, Mkumba G, Mudenda V, Hicks ML, Vermund SH, Stringer JS, Parham GP.
Advancing cervical cancer prevention initiatives in resource-constrained settings: insights from the cervical cancer prevention program in Zambia.
PLoS Med 2011; 8(5):e1001032.
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Chen Z, Schiffman M, Herrero R, Desalle R, Anastos K, Segondy M, Sahasrabuddhe VV, Gravitt PE, Hsing AW, Burk RD. Evolution and Taxonomic Classification of Human Papillomavirus 16 (HPV16)-Related Variant Genomes: HPV31, HPV33, HPV35, HPV52, HPV58 and HPV67.
PLoS One 6(5), e20183, 2011.
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Bratcher LF, Sahasrabuddhe VV. The impact of antiretroviral therapy on HPV and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia: current evidence and directions for future research.
Infect Agent Cancer 2010:5(1), 8, 2010.
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Sahasrabuddhe VV, Bhosale RA, Joshi SN, Kavatkar AN, Nagwanshi CA, Kelkar RS, Jenkins CA, Shepherd BE, Sahay S, Risbud AR, Vermund SH, Mehendale SM. Prevalence and Predictors of Colposcopic-Histopathologically Confirmed Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia in HIV-Infected Women in India.
PLoS One 2010;5(1), e8634.
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Mwanahamuntu MH, Sahasrabuddhe VV, Pfaendler KS, Mudenda V, Hicks, ML, Vermund, SH, Stringer JS, Parham GP. Implementation of ''see-and-treat'' cervical cancer prevention services linked to HIV care in Zambia.
AIDS 2009:23(6), N1-5.
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Sahasrabuddhe VV, Mwanahamuntu MH, Vermund SH, Huh WK, Lyon MD, Stringer JS, Parham GP. Prevalence and distribution of HPV genotypes among HIV-infected women in Zambia.
Br J Cancer 2007:96(9), 1480-3.
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Sahasrabuddhe VV, Vermund SH. The Future of HIV Prevention: Control of Sexually Transmitted Infections and Circumcision Interventions.
Infect Dis Clin North Am 2007: 21(1), 241-57.
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Parham GP, Sahasrabuddhe VV, Mwanahamuntu MH, Shepherd BE, Hicks ML, Stringer EM, Vermund SH. Prevalence and predictors of squamous intraepithelial lesions of the cervix in HIV-infected women in Lusaka, Zambia.
Gynecol Oncol 2006: 103(3), 1017-22.
Britton Trabert, M.S., Ph.D., Research Fellow
Britton Trabert joined the Hormonal and Reproductive Epidemiology Branch (HREB) as a Sallie Rosen Kaplan Postdoctoral Fellow in October, 2009. She received her Ph.D. in epidemiology from the University of Washington in 2009, a Master of Science in biostatistics from the University of Michigan in 2005 and a Master of Science in Public Health in epidemiology from Emory University in 2003. Her dissertation research focused on genetic variability related to hormone metabolism and whether genetic variants modify the association between dietary and environmental risk factors for endometriosis risk. Dr. Trabert’s research interests include the study of early life exposures, hormonal factors and inflammation markers as they relate to ovarian, endometrial and testicular cancers as well as gaining a better understanding of the etiology of testicular and ovarian dysgenesis syndromes. During her fellowship in HREB, Dr. Trabert is involved in projects evaluating the influences of pre- and post-natal risk factors of cancer, assessing infertility-related gynecologic conditions and cancer risk, and exploring the relationships of inflammation-related biomarkers and risk of ovarian, endometrial and testicular cancers with several investigators, including Dr. Katherine McGlynn, Dr. Louise Brinton and Dr. Nicolas Wentzensen.
Key Publications:
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Trabert B, Sigurdson AJ, Sweeney AM, Amato RJ, Strom SS, McGlynn KA.
Baldness, acne and testicular germ cell tumours.
Int J Androl. 2010; Dec 3 (Epub).
Lauren Wilson, Sc. M., Predoctoral Fellow
Lauren Wilson joined the Hormonal and Reproductive Epidemiology Branch (HREB) as a pre-doctoral CRTA fellow in August 2009. She received a B.A. in Biology from Hamilton College, and a Master's Degree (ScM) in Epidemiology with a concentration in infectious disease from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2009. She is currently a Ph.D. student in the department of Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins. Her master's research examined the effect of adult male circumcision on HPV high risk type viral load in a randomized clinical trial of circumcision for HIV prevention in Uganda. At HREB, Lauren works with Dr. Nicolas Wentzensen and Dr. Louise Brinton on research questions pertaining to the molecular epidemiology of human papillomavirus and carcinogenesis. Her dissertation work focuses on HPV seroepidemiology in cervical cancer, and she is also currently involved in projects investigating HPV serology in other anogenital cancers.
Key Publications:
Hannah Yang, Ph.D., Sc.M., Research Fellow
Hannah Yang joined the Hormonal and Reproductive Epidemiology Branch as a Pre-Doctoral Fellow in January 2007 as part of the collaborative doctoral training partnerships in cancer epidemiology and biostatistics with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She completed her Ph.D. in epidemiology at Hopkins in May 2009. Dr. Yang continued in HREB as Post-Doctoral Fellow and was subsequently promoted to Research Fellow in March 2011. Dr. Yang has a B.A. in biology and history and sociology of science from the University of Pennsylvania and a Sc.M. in epidemiology from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her primary research interests include women’s health, obesity epidemiology, molecular epidemiology, genetic susceptibility, translational research, and methodological issues in cancer epidemiology. She is currently working on endometrial, ovarian, and cervical cancer projects under the guidance of several investigators in HREB, including Drs. Nicolas Wentzensen, Louise Brinton, and Mark Sherman.
Key Publications:
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Yang HP, Walmer DK, Merisier D, Gage JC, Bell L, Rangwala S, Shrestha N, Kobayashi L, Eder PS, Castle PE. A pilot study of a prototype human papillomavirus (HPV) 16, 18, and 45 triage test for carcinogenic HPV-positive women.
J Virol Methods. 2011 Sep 176(1-2): 112-4. Epub 2011 May 27.
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Yang HP, Black A, Falk R, Brinton LA, Potischman N, Wentzensen N, Faupel-Badger JM, Sherman ME. Association of serum sex steroid hormone hemodilution and body mass index among healthy postmenopausal women.
Ann Epidemiol. 2011 June 21(6): 466-471. Epub 2011 Mar 23.
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Yang HP, Gierach GL, Danforth KN, Sherman ME, Park Y, Wentzensen N, Hollenbeck A, Schatzkin A, Brinton LA.
Alcohol and endometrial cancer risk in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study.
Int J Cancer. Jun 128(12):2953-61. Epub 2010 Oct 8.
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Yang HP, Brinton LA, Platz EA, Lissowska J, Lacey JV Jr, Sherman ME, Peplonska B, Garcia-Closas M. Active and passive cigarette smoking and the risk of endometrial cancer in Poland. Eur J Cancer. 2010; 46:690-6.
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Yang HP, Bosquet JG, Li Q, Platz EA, Brinton LA, Sherman ME, Lacey JV Jr, Gaudet MM, Burdette L, Figueroa JD, Ciampa J, Lissowska J, Peplonska B, Chanock S, Garcia-Closas M. Common genetic variation in the sex hormone metabolic pathway and endometrial cancer risk: pathway-based evaluation of candidate genes. Carcinogenesis. 2010; 31:827-33.
