Current Fellows in the Metabolic Epidemiology Branch

Clear spheres in the foreground appear in front of a brightly lit and blurry background; depicting metabolism and metabolomics

Meet the fellows in the Metabolic Epidemiology Branch (MEB) and learn about their work.

See a list of principal investigators in MEB.

  • Leila Abar, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral fellow in the Metabolic Epidemiology Branch

    Leila Abar, Ph.D.

    Dr. Abar, postdoctoral fellow in MEB, is working on lifestyle-related modifiable risk factors, mainly diet, and causal determinants of colorectal cancer risk, under the mentorship of Dr. Erikka Loftfield.

  • Prema Bhattacharjee is a predoctoral fellow in the Metabolic Epidemiology Branch

    Prema S. Bhattacharjee, Ph.D., M.P.H.

    Dr. Bhattacharjee, postdoctoral fellow in MEB, is conducting research on H. pylori infection-related premalignant and malignant gastric lesions, under the mentorship of M. Constanza Camargo, Ph.D.

  • Joshua Freeman

    Joshua R. Freeman, Ph.D., M.P.H.

    Dr. Freeman, postdoctoral fellow in MEB, investigates the role of sleep timing and circadian disruption in health outcomes—specifically, the association between sleep and circadian exposures and cancer risk. In addition, he conducts methodologic studies to better understand the variability in key exposure metrics in this area of study, and to develop new modeling approaches for investigating behavioral exposures that may lead to circadian disruption and increased cancer risk. His mentor is Charles Matthews, Ph.D.

  • Daniela Gutierrez Torres, postdoctoral fellow

    Daniela S. Gutiérrez-Torres, Sc.D., M.S.

    Dr. Gutiérrez-Torres, postdoctoral fellow in MEB, is analyzing the impact of occasional smoking on cancer risk and mortality in the United States and worldwide. Her mentor is Dr. Christian Abnet.

  • Giovanny Herrera Ossa is a postdoctoral fellow in the Metabolic Epidemiology Branch.

    Giovanny A. Herrera Ossa, Ph.D., M.Sc.

    Dr. Herrera Ossa, postdoctoral fellow in MEB, is studying the association between the human microbiome and cancer risk, especially cancers of the lung, colorectum, head/neck, and breast.

  • Michael Kebede is an iCURE predoctoral fellow in the Metabolic Epidemiology Branch.

    Michael Kebede, M.P.H.

    Mr. Kebede, pre-doctoral fellow and iCURE scholar in MEB, investigates moderate to vigorous physical activity and breast tumor microenvironment. His mentors are Charles Matthews, Ph.D., M.S., Melissa Treoster, Ph.D, M.P.H, and Jonine Figueroa, Ph.D, M.P.H.

  • Portrait of Wayne Lawrence

    Wayne Lawrence, Dr.P.H., M.P.H.

    Dr. Lawrence is a research fellow in the Metabolic Epidemiology Branch. He investigates racial/ethnic cancer disparities under the mentorship of Neal D. Freedman, Ph.D., M.H.S., and Meredith Shiels, Ph.D., M.H.S.

  • dr. Mahdi Nalini is a postdoctoral fellow in the Metabolic Epidemiology Branch.

    Mahdi Nalini, M.D., Ph.D.

    Dr. Nalini, visiting postdoctoral fellow in MEB, studies metabolomics and exposure biomarkers in cancer and other chronic diseases, within collaborations between NCI and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the International Hundred K+ Cohort Consortium. His mentors are Arash Etemadi, M.D., Ph.D., and Christian C. Abnet, Ph.D., M.P.H.

  • Alaina Shreves

    Alaina Shreves, M.S.

    Ms. Shreves, predoctoral fellow in MEB, is currently pursuing a D.Phil. through the NIH Oxford Cambridge Program. As an NIH Oxford Scholar, she works with Dr. Charles Matthews (MEB) and Oxford mentors Drs. Aiden Doherty and Ruth Travis to investigate what types of physical activity are associated with lower cancer incidence.

  • Kadiatou Traore is a Medical Research Scholar in the Metabolic Epidemiology Branch.

    Kadiatou Traore, B.S.

    Ms. Traore, Medical Research Scholar and predoctoral fellow in the Metabolic Epidemiology Branch, is investigating risk factors for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in Malawi under the mentorship of Christian Abnet, Ph.D., M.P.H.

  • Eleanor Watts, D.Phil., M.P.H.

    Eleanor L. Watts, D.Phil., M.P.H.

    Dr. Watts, postdoctoral fellow in MEB, is investigating the role of physical activity in relation to cancer, under the mentorship of Steven C. Moore, Ph.D., M.P.H.

  • Yukiko Yano, postdoctoral fellow

    Yukiko Yano, Ph.D., M.P.H.

    Dr. Yano, Independent Research Scholar and research fellow in MEB, conducts methodologic and etiologic studies of the human oral microbiome as well as studies of risk factors for esophageal and gastric cancer. Her mentors are Christian Abnet, Ph.D., M.P.H., Rashmi Sinha, Ph.D., and Emily Vogtmann, Ph.D., M.P.H.

  • Ting Zhang, Ph.D. - postdoctoral fellow

    Ting Zhang, Ph.D., M.P.H.

    Dr. Zhang, postdoctoral fellow in MEB, investigates dietary factors, metabolomics, as well as genetic components of these exposures in the etiology of pancreatic cancer in cohort studies, under the mentorship of Rachael Stolzenberg-Solomon, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.D.