DCEG People in the News

In June, Christian C. Abnet, Ph.D., M.P.H., and Sanford M. Dawsey, M.D., both of the Nutritional Epidemiology Branch (NEB), gave talks at the Golestan University of Medical Sciences and the Ardabil University of Medical Sciences in Iran. Dr. Abnet spoke on "The role of genome-wide association studies in uncovering the etiology of upper gastrointestinal cancers." Dr. Dawsey spoke on "Early detection of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma" and "Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure—A universal risk factor for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma?"

In July, Amy Berrington de González, D.Phil., Radiation Epidemiology Branch (REB), spoke on "Diagnostic radiation exposure and cancer—Updated attributable risk estimates" at the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France. Also in July, she gave a talk on "Estimated cancer risks from diagnostic medical radiation exposures" at the Symposium on Medical Diagnostic Radiation Exposure and Cancer Risk 2011 at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam.

In August, Aaron E. Blair, Ph.D., M.P.H., a scientist emeritus in the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch (OEEB), was appointed to the Ontario Independent Fact-Finding Panel on Herbicide 2,4,5-T. The purpose of the panel is to evaluate the use of this herbicide in Ontario, Canada, over the past several decades and to consider possible health effects from human exposure.

In May, Stephen J. Chanock, M.D., Chief of the Laboratory of Translational Genomics (LTG) and Director of the NCI Core Genotyping Facility, presented a talk on "The heritable component of cancer: Insights from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and the steps beyond" at the Hefei 2011 GWAS workshop, which was sponsored by Nature Genetics and the Anhui Medical University in China.

In May, several DCEG investigators gave invited talks at the European Research Organisation on Genital Infection and Neoplasia (EUROGIN) 2011 meeting in Lisbon, Portugal. Anil K. Chaturvedi, Ph.D., Infections and Immunoepidemiology Branch (IIB), spoke on the epidemiology of human papillomavirus (HPV)–associated head and neck cancers; Aimée R. Kreimer, Ph.D. (IIB), discussed HPV vaccination efficacy with less than three doses as well as oral HPV infection; and Nicolas Wentzensen, M.D., Ph.D., Hormonal and Reproductive Epidemiology Branch (HREB), spoke on several topics, including HPV natural history, HPV dysplasia and anal cancer following HPV infection, and HPV genotyping.

In June, Cher Dallal, Ph.D., and Gretchen L. Gierach, Ph.D., both of HREB, received a Supplemental Funding Award to Advance Research on Cancers in Women from the NCI Office of Science Planning and Assessment and the NIH Office of Research on Women's Health for a research proposal titled "Urinary estrogens and estrogen metabolites in relation to objective measures of physical activity among controls in the NCI Polish Breast Cancer Study." Mark E. Sherman, M.D. (HREB), received a Conference Supplement Award for his proposal to hold a workshop on "Postpartum breast remodeling, lactation and breast cancer risk: Towards improved assessment and prevention." Bu-Tian Ji, M.D., Dr.P.H. (OEEB), received a Conference Supplement Award for his proposal titled "Opportunities and changes in cancer research among women in developing countries."

In June, Eric A. Engels, M.D., M.P.H. (IIB), gave an invited talk on "Cancer risk in U.S. transplant recipients" at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.

In June, Mitchell H. Gail, M.D., Ph.D., Biostatistics Branch, gave an invited talk on "Some problems arising in the development and evaluation of models of absolute risk" at a meeting of the International Chinese Statistical Association in New York, New York.

In June, Gretchen L. Gierach, Ph.D. (HREB), spoke on "Localized volumetric mammographic density: A novel approach for understanding the molecular epidemiology of breast cancer" at the Fifth International Workshop on Breast Densitometry and Breast Cancer Risk Assessment in San Francisco, California.

In June, James J. Goedert, M.D. (IIB), gave an invited talk on "The human microbiota: Striving for health with 100,000,000,000,000 of our closest collaborators" at the Kaiser Permanente Colorado Institute for Health Research in Denver.

In September, Maureen C. Hatch, Ph.D. (REB), cochaired a symposium with Dr. Elisabeth Cardis of the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology titled "Lessons learned 25 years post-Chernobyl: Health effects of early life and later exposures" at the 2011 Congress of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology in Barcelona, Spain. At the symposium, Dr. Hatch presented a paper on "In utero exposure to Chernobyl fallout in Ukraine and subsequent risk of thyroid and non-thyroid cancers." In connection with the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident, Dr. Hatch delivered a number of presentations. She spoke at the National Academy of Medical Sciences in Kiev, Ukraine, in March; at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, New York, in April; and at both the University of Toronto in Canada (via webinar) and the Chernobyl Challenge Briefing with the U.S. Congress in Washington, D.C., in May.

Ann W. Hsing, Ph.D. (IIB), gave invited talks on "Promises and challenges of conducting epidemiologic studies in Africa" at the July NCI Cancer Health Disparities Program Meetings 2011 in Bethesda, Maryland, and on "Epidemiology of gallbladder cancer: Implication of female excess" at the Frontiers in Global Health Symposium in June in Shanghai, China.

In July, Christian Kratz, M.D., Clinical Genetics Branch (CGB), presented a poster on "Overlap between cancer and developmental syndrome genes" at the NCI Translational Science Meeting 2011 in Washington, D.C. At the same meeting, Nicolas Wentzensen, M.D., Ph.D. (HREB), presented a poster on "A framework to discover methylation markers for etiologic heterogeneity and early detection of endometrial cancers."

In June, Aimée R. Kreimer, Ph.D. (IIB), was invited to present to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer. Dr. Kreimer provided background to inform the continued decision-making process as to whether the HPV vaccine recommendation should be extended beyond females to include males.

Shih-Wen (Wenny) Lin, Ph.D., M.P.H. (NEB), received the 2011 Cancer Prevention Research Training Merit Award from the NCI Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program. The award places her in the top 10 percent of Cancer Prevention Fellows and recognizes the outstanding progress she has made during her fellowship.

In May, Yikyung Park, Sc.D. (NEB), gave a talk titled "Biomarker-based validation of diet and physical activity assessment in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study" at the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Osong, Korea.

In May, Alexander Pemov, M.D., Ph.D. (CGB), received a Merit Award from the NCI Center for Cancer Research's Pediatric Oncology Branch for his winning poster at the Branch's annual "Research Round-up." His poster, "Extensive whole-chromosome aberrations detected by SNP array in a neurofibromatosis type 1-associated glomus tumor," won the category for research nurses, biologists, chemists, and lab technicians.

In June, Vikrant Sahasrabuddhe, M.B.B.S., Dr.P.H. (HREB), gave an invited talk on "HPV and cervical cancer: Overview of epidemiology and prevention" at the Annual Meeting of the Adult AIDS Clinical Trials Group Network in Washington, D.C. Dr. Sahasrabuddhe also received a grant award through the Intramural-to-India initiative funded by the NIH Office of AIDS Research. This joint initiative seeks to develop and expand crucial research infrastructure and capacity building between U.S. and Indian biomedical research communities. In collaboration with Nicolas Wentzensen, M.D., Ph.D. (HREB), and Dr. Philip E. Castle (formerly of HREB), Dr. Sahasrabuddhe will conduct a study among HIV-infected women to evaluate two novel, lower-cost, and potentially sustainable HPV-based biomarkers for improving secondary prevention of cervical cancer.

In May, Mark E. Sherman, M.D. (HREB), presented the Paul Kneafsey Memorial Lecture, "Endometrial carcinogenesis: From progression to prevention," at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, where he also served as chief adjudicator for Pathology Research Day. In June, Dr. Sherman gave an NCI Center of Excellence in Integrative Cancer Biology and Genomics lecture titled "From etiology to molecular pathology of cancer: Opportunity for intramural collaborations" in Bethesda, Maryland.

In June, Meredith Shiels, Ph.D. (IIB), presented at the NCI HIV and AIDS Malignancy Branch Seminar on "Impact of the AIDS epidemic on the U.S. burden of Kaposi sarcoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and cervical cancer."

In February, McAnthony Tarway (LTG), a postbaccalaureate fellow mentored by Ludmila Prokunina-Olsson, Ph.D. (LTG), won a travel award for an Outstanding Oral Presentation titled "Genetic variants within JAZF1 are associated with differential binding of androgen receptor, altered mRNA expression, and risk of prostate cancer" at the 11th Annual NCI Center for Cancer Research Fellows and Young Investigators Colloquium in Williamsburg, Virginia.

In May, Philip R. Taylor, M.D., Sc.D., Genetic Epidemiology Branch (GEB), gave a talk on "Chemoprevention strategies for esophageal cancer" at the NCI Gastric and Esophageal Cancer Meeting in Bethesda, Maryland. In July, he spoke on "Clinical interventions: Studies great and small" at the NCI Principles and Practice of Cancer Prevention and Control Course in Bethesda, Maryland.

In May, Nicolas Wentzensen, M.D., Ph.D. (HREB), spoke on "The gold standard of cervical disease—Limitations of colposcopy and histology" and on "Cervical screening for the future and the role of primary HPV screening" at the Belgian Society of Cytology meeting at the University of Antwerp in Belgium.

In May, Xiaohong Rose Yang, Ph.D., M.P.H. (GEB), spoke on "Characterization of germline CNVs in melanoma-prone families with/without CDKN2A/CDK4 mutations" at the 2011 annual GenoMEL (Melanoma Genetics Consortium) meeting in Tel Aviv, Israel. In June, Dr. Yang gave a talk on "Identifying etiologic heterogeneity of melanoma and breast cancer using new technologies" at Lund University in Sweden.