Infections and Immunoepidemiology Branch Fellows
Peter Aka, MS.C., M.P.H., Ph.D., – Postdoctoral Fellow
Peter Aka, MS.C., M.P.H., Ph.D., joined the Infectious and Immunoepidemiology Branch (IIB) as a postdoctoral fellow in October 2010. He earned a Ph.D. in Cell Genetics from Vrije Universiteit Brussel in 2005. His dissertation work focused on polymorphisms in DNA repair genes, DNA repair phenotype, and genotoxicity in radiation workers in Belgium. Dr. Aka received an M.PH. from the School of Public Health, Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium, and an M.Pharm, (Pharmaceutical Medicine) in 1990 and an M.Sc. (Molecular Biology and Biotechnology) from the Vrije Universiteit Brussels in 1997. Dr. Aka is a Pharmacist, human geneticist and molecular biologist with training in epidemiology and biostatistics. Since 2006, he has been a Senior Scientific Officer with the Genetics Group at the United Kingdom Medical Research Council Unit in The Gambia, West Africa, where he was conducting studies to elucidate host genetic polymorphisms in DNA repair and cell-cycle control genes in hepatocellular carcinoma in a population exposed to Hepatitis B and Aflatoxins. Aflatoxins are naturally occurring mycotoxins that are toxic and are among the most carcinogenic substances known. As a postdoctoral fellow in IIB, Dr. Aka will conduct research on immunogenetics of malaria in Burkitt lymphoma under the mentorship of Sam Mbulaiteye, M.D., Investigator, and on host gene polymorphisms influencing control of hepatitis virus infections and liver cancer risk under Thomas O’Brien, M.D., Senior Investigator.
Dianna Buckett, B.S. – Post-baccalaureate Fellow
Dianna Buckett joined the Infections and Immunoepidemiology Branch (IIB) as a post-baccalaureate fellow in June 2010. In May 2010 she received a B.A. in chemistry from Claremont McKenna College in California and plans to pursue a career in medicine after completing her fellowship. She is working under the mentorship of Thomas O’Brien, M.D., Senior Investigator, IIB as well as Ludmila Prokunina-Olsson, Ph.D., investigator in the Laboratory of Translational Genomics. Together, they are conducting research and performing analyses to identify genetic markers associated with clearance of infection with hepatitis C virus.
(Maria) Constanza Camargo, Ph.D., M.S., M.H.A. – Postdoctoral Fellow
Constanza Camargo joined the Infectious and Immunoepidemiology Branch (IIB) as a postdoctoral fellow in July 2010. She earned a Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her dissertation work with Charles Rabkin, M.D., Senior Investigator, IIB, focused on the role of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection in gastric carcinogenesis. Dr. Camargo received an M.S. from the School of Public Health in Mexico, and an M.H.A degree from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Colombia. She was previously a member of the research group led by Pelayo Correa, M.D.’s first at Louisiana State University and then at Vanderbilt University, studying Helicobacter pylori infection and gastric cancer epidemiology. During her postdoctoral training, Dr. Camargo plans on continuing to study gastric cancer with her mentor, Dr. Rabkin. She also will be working under the direction of William Anderson, M.D., M.P.H., Investigator and Philip Rosenberg, Ph.D., Senior Investigator in the Biostatistics Branch on age-specific gastric cancer incidence and mortality trends. In addition, Dr. Camargo will continue to study cervical carcinogenesis using data from the Colombian women’s cohort study investigating the natural history of Human papillomavirus infections and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. Finally, she will also like to pursue her interest in the effect of male circumcision on oncogenic viral infections.
Felipe A. Castro, Ph.D. – Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Felipe A. Castro joined the Infections and Immunoepidemiology Branch (IIB) as a post-doctoral visiting fellow in August 2010. He studied veterinary medicine in Manizales, Colombia (B.V.M., 1998) , obtained a Master in basic science at Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia in 2005, and a doctoral degree in genetic epidemiology at the University of Heidelberg, Germany in 2009 . During his Ph. D. training, he focused on the genetic epidemiology of cervical cancer at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ); dividing his time between the Infection and Cancer Division under the tutelage of Dr. Michael Pawlita and the Genetic Molecular Epidemiology Division under Professor Kari Hemminki. In IIB, Dr. Castro will work with Aimee Kreimer , Ph.D. , Investigator, IIB and Allan Hildesheim , Ph.D., Chief and Senior Investigator, IIB to expand upon his previous research on genetic susceptibility to HPV infection and cervical cancer. He also plans to work with Ann Hsing , Ph.D., Senior Investigator, IIB to study polymorphisms of susceptibility genes and genetic interactions with lifestyle factors in biliary tract cancers, and with Dr. Anil Chaturvedi , Ph.D. Investigator, IIB in understanding the natural history of oral cancer.
Cindy Chang, Ph.D., M.P.H. – Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Chang joined the IIB as a CRTA post-doctoral fellow in October 2008. She received B.A. in biology and anthropology from the University of Virginia, an M.P.H. in epidemiology from Emory University, and a Ph.D. in epidemiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
For her dissertation, she examined risk factors for non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) molecular subtypes defined by common translocations (IGH, t(14;18), t(8;14), and BCL6). For each translocation, she ran and scored fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) assays on over 150 samples from cases enrolled in a population-based case-control study of NHL and other hemolymphatic cancers. She was also a research assistant for a pilot study on tissue microarrays (TMA) of NHL tumors, running and scoring FISH assays on 1 mm core tumor samples that were arrayed on a single slide.
As a post-doctoral fellow, Dr. Chang plans on pursuing her interests in molecular epidemiology, EBV-associated tumors, and lymphomas. Currently, she is working with her mentor Dr. Allan Hildesheim, Dr. Sam Mbulaiteye, and Dr. Kishor Bhatia on an EBV genetic diversity study and Dr. Eric Engels examining the association between blood transfusions and NHL risk. She plans on working with Drs. Sophia Wang and Lindsay Morton examining risk factors for NHL molecular subtypes defined by clinical markers. She also plans to work with Dr. Martha Linet on a feasibility study for a birth cohort study in China.
Benjamin Emmanuel, M.P.H. – Predoctoral Fellow
Benjamin Emmanuel joined the Infections and Immunoepidemiology Branch (IIB) as a special volunteer in August 2009, working under the mentorship of Sam M. Mbulaiteye, M.D., Investigator, IIB to complete his Master’s thesis project entitled, African Burkitt Lymphoma: Age-specific risk and correlations to malaria biomarkers. He then continued in IIB as a predoctoral fellow, starting in March 2010. Mr. Emmanuel graduated from Wheaton College (Illinois) in 2008 with a B.S. degree in biology and an M.P.H. in epidemiology from The George Washington University School of Public Health in 2010. During his master’s program he worked at the District of Columbia Department of Health-Division of Disease Surveillance and Investigation as an epidemiologist intern on foodborne diseases investigation, communicable disease profiles, and daily reports and projects on syndromic surveillance from hospital emergency rooms. As a public health assistant at the Coalition for Environmentally Safe Communities, a nonprofit organization, he worked on different projects including the Home Lead Assessment and D.C Environmental Health Collaborative. As a predoctoral fellow Mr. Emmanuel will continue to work with Dr. Mbulaiteye on Burkitt Lymphoma studies in Africa and is excited to pursue his interest of Burkitt Lymphoma and immunological and infectious causes of cancer in Africa.
Roberto Flores, Ph.D., M.P.H. - Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Flores received his PhD. from Arizona University in 2003. His doctoral training was in basic science with emphasis in molecular epidemiology of infectious diseases. For his MPH degree (Johns Hopkins University, 2009) Dr. Flores focused on vaccine science and public health policy. His previous employment and research experience was related to clinical studies of the natural history of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in men as well as transitional and quality control studies for molecular screening of HPV. During his dissertation work, Dr. Flores developed and validated high throughput real-time PCR assays for the absolute quantification of oncogenic HPV types. With this assay, he studied the correlation of HPV viral load status, HPV infection persistence, and the degree of cervical dysplasia. Additional studies determined the association of HPV viral load and site of infection in the anogenital area of men. Dr. Flores became the director of a molecular screening laboratory at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, where he developed quality control systems for molecular screening of HPV infection. During this time at Moffitt, Dr. Flores designed and performed several quality control studies on sample collection reproducibility and HPV testing reliability.
Dr. Flores joined the Infections and Immunoepidemiology Branch (IIB) in October 2009 as part of the Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program. In IIB, Dr. Flores will work under the mentorship of James Goedert, M.D., Senior Investigator, IIB. Dr. Flores’s current research interests are focused on the gut microbiome and its associations with cancer.
Erin Hall, M.P.H. - Special Volunteer
Dr. Hall joined the IIB as a special volunteer in May 2011. She earned a BA in Fundamentals: Issues and Texts from the University of Chicago in 2001 and went on to receive an MD from Stanford University (2007) and MPH from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2010. She is a general surgery resident at Georgetown University and is in the midst of three years of dedicated research time. For her masters work she concentrated on the effect of center level characteristics on racial disparities in time to kidney transplantation. She is now working under the mentorship of Dr. Eric Engels to characterize the cumulative incidence of post-transplant cancers and the association between induction therapy and post-transplant cancers using the Transplant Cancer Match Study.
Christine Kiruthu, B.S. -Post baccalaureate Fellow
Christine Kiruthu graduated from University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) in May 2010 with a Bachelors of Science degree in Chemistry. She participated in various summer internship programs during her undergraduate studies. In the summer of 2007 she participated in an internship program at UMES Department of Natural Sciences. In 2008 she completed a summer internship with AMGEN scholars at Howard University College of Medicine, in 2009 at Johns Hopkins University Summer Internship Program, and in 2010 at National Cancer Institute in the Nutrition and Epidemiology Branch (NEB) through the Introduction to Cancer Research Careers (ICRC) program. After completing her post-baccalaureate fellowship, Ms. Kiruthu plans to attend medical school to become a physician.
Morgan Marks,Ph.D. – Postdoctoral Fellow
Morgan Marks joined the Infections and Immunoepidemiology Branch (IIB) as an NCI post-doctoral fellow in October 2011. He earned a B.S. in Microbiology from the University of Rochester and received his PhD in Molecular Epidemiology from the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2009 where he studied the role of sex steroid hormones on the natural history of the human papillomavirus under the mentorship of Drs. Patti E. Gravitt and Sabra L. Klein. Prior to being awarded the NCI post-doctoral fellowship, he was a post-doctoral fellow in Cancer Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University where he investigated the relationship of HPV infection and immune responses of the cervical mucosa among pre/peri/post menopausal women. In addition to this primary research, Morgan was actively involved in international studies assessing the changing burden of HPV infection and HPV-related cancers in Peru, South America. His research interests focus on utilizing both population-based and experimental study designs to understand the mechanisms driving sex differences in cancer incidence and mortality. He will be working with Dr. Anil Chaturvedi and others in IIB and the Division on various projects related to sex differences in incidence and mortality of head and neck cancers, the molecular epidemiology of HPV-related oropharyngeal cancers, and the role of host immune responses on the natural history of HPV infections at multiple anatomic sites.
Leticia Nogueira, Ph.D., M.P.H. -Postdoctoral Fellow
Leticia Nogueira joined the Infections and Immunoepidemiology Branch (IIB) as a Cancer Prevention Fellow in September 2011. Dr. Nogueira earned her Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of Texas at Austin. Working with Dr. Stephen Hursting, she focused on the link between obesity and breast cancer. She also holds a Master of Public Health from Harvard School of Public Health with a focus on Quantitative Methods. Dr. Nogueira’s research interests are focused on the determinants of cancer clusters in Latin America countries and their relevance to health outcome disparities in the US population. She will be working with Dr. Jill Koshiol combining molecular biology and epidemiology methods to investigate differences in gastrointestinal cancers incidence and survival.
Bridgett Rahim-Williams, Ph.D., M.P.H. -Senior Research Fellow
Dr. Rahim-Williams is Senior Research Fellow at the NIH National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), with a joint appointment within the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG) in the Infections and Immunoepidemiology Branch (IIB). Dr. Rahim-Williams has a Ph.D. in Applied BioMedical Anthropology and two masters’ degrees; Public Health (MPH) and Health Communication (MA). Prior to joining IIB, Dr. Rahim-Williams was a Research Assistant Professor and Social and Behavioral Scientist at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. She is a member of the American Public Health Association (APHA), NIH/ NIDDK Network of Minority Research Investigators (NMRI), Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA), the American Pain Society (APS), Society for the Analysis of African American Public Health Issues (SAAPHI). Additionally, she is a Fellow of the NIH Summer Institute on Aging Research, Fellow of the Summer Institute on Community-based participatory Research and a Fellow of the RAND Summer Institute on Aging Research. Moreover, she is the Principal Investigator of a pilot study using games for health to study pain, physical activity, and functional mobility among African American and non-Hispanic White women with knee osteoarthritis, and Co-Investigator (Co-I) on a study examining pharmacotherapy to reduce hazardous drinking among African American women with HIV/AIDS.
Dr. Rahim-Williams’ primary research interests are in the areas of minority women’s health and health disparities associated with chronic disease co-morbidity. Her research at NIH is supported by a five-year career training and development grant award (DREAM, K22) from NIMHD. At the NIH, Dr. Rahim-Williams’ research will examine cancer health disparities and co-morbidities among women with HIV/AIDS using large National Cancer Institute cancer databases. In addition, she will be developing a career transition research program focusing on intramural and extramural research collaborations in minority women’s health and health disparities across the life span.
Meredith Shiels, Ph.D.- Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Shiels joined the IIB as a Cancer Research Training Award post-doctoral fellow in June 2009. She earned a B.S. in biobehavioral health from the Pennsylvania State University (2004) and both an MHS (2006) and a PhD (2009) in cancer epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. For her dissertation she examined the effect of highly active antiretroviral therapy on AIDS-defining cancers relative to other AIDS-defining events, estimated smoking-associated cancer incidence and survival among HIV+ and HIV- injection drug users and carried out a meta-analysis of non-AIDS-defining cancers among those with HIV.
During her post-doctoral training, Dr. Shiels plans on continuing to study cancer among those with HIV/AIDS with her mentor, Dr. Eric Engels, using data from the U.S. HIV/AIDS Cancer Match Study. She also plans on working with Dr. Engels and Dr. Anil Chaturvedi to study inflammation and lung cancer. Dr. Shiels was the recipient of a Sallie Rosen Kaplan Fellowship for Women Scientists in Cancer Research in 2009.
