DCEG's Spring Town Hall Meeting 2018
, by DCEG Staff
In June, DCEG Director Stephen Chanock, M.D., welcomed staff to the spring town hall meeting to talk about new developments in the Division, and to recognize accomplishments over the past six months. He gave special tribute to staff who have made substantial scientific contributions and service to the Division.
Fellowship Achievement Awards
From left to right: Zhiwei Liu, Mustapha Abubakar, Stephen Chanock, David Borrego, Daphnée Villoing, Jiaqi Huang
Fellowship Achievement Awards, which come with a stipend increase at the next appointment renewal, honored fellows who excelled during the past year. Recipients include: Mustapha Abubakar, M.D., Ph.D., David Borrego, Ph.D., Catherine Callahan, Ph.D., M.A., Jiaqi Huang, Ph.D., Jung Kim Ph.D., Zhiwei Liu, Ph.D., Parag Mahale, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., Daphnée Villoing, Ph.D., and Jason Wong, Sc.D.
Outstanding Research Papers of 2017
Awards for DCEG Outstanding Research Papers of 2017 were given to fellows and staff scientists or staff clinicians. The DCEG Senior Advisory Group judged the competition based on the papers' impact, innovation, and clarity of thought and language.
Outstanding Research Paper by a Fellow
From left to right: Daphnée Villoing, Diana Withrow, Stephen Chanock, Arash Etemadi, Leandro Colli, and Jiyeon Choi
Jiyeon Choi, Ph.D.
“A common intronic variant of PARP1 confers melanoma risk and mediates melanocyte growth via regulation of MITF.” Nature Genetics
Leandro Colli, M.D., Ph.D.
“Landscape of combination immunotherapy and targeted therapy to improve cancer management.” Cancer Research
Kelvin de Andrade, M.Sc.
“Higher-than-expected population prevalence of potentially pathogenic, germline TP53 variants in individuals unselected for cancer history.” Human Mutation
Arash Etemadi, M.D., Ph.D.
“Mortality from different causes associated with meat, heme iron, nitrates, and nitrites in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study: Population-based cohort study.” British Medical Journal
Daphnée Villoing, Ph.D.
“Estimated organ doses to patients from diagnostic nuclear medicine examinations over five decades: 1960-2010.” Health Physics
Gabriella Andreotti recieves Outstanding Research Paper by Staff Scientist from DCEG Director, Stephen Chanock.
Diana Withrow, Ph.D.
“Radiotherapy for ductal carcinoma in situ and risk of second non-breast cancers.” Breast Cancer Research and Treatment
Outstanding Research Paper by a Staff Scientist or Staff Clinician
Gabriella Andreotti, M.P.H., Ph.D.
“Glyphosate use and cancer incidence in the Agricultural Health Study.” Journal of the National Cancer Institute
DCEG Intramural Research Awards
Intramural Research Awards (IRAs) are competitive funding opportunities designed to foster creative, high-impact research by fellows and tenure-track investigators. Proposals are evaluated on their potential for significant scientific or public health impact, innovation, interdisciplinary nature, ability to achieve the objectives within the proposed time frames and with the proposed resources, and programmatic relevance to DCEG’s mission. Out of the many excellent proposals submitted, six proposals were selected. Read more about the winning 2018 IRA proposals.
DCEG Informatics Tool Challenge
From left: Kai Yu, Sung Duk Kim, Stephen Chanock, Steven Moore, Daphnée Villoing, Mitchell Machiela. (Not shown: Ruth Pfeiffer, David Check, Paul Albert, Jianxin Shi, Danping Liu, Christian Abnet, Geoffrey Tobias, Choonsik Lee, Joshua Sampson, Han Zhang)
The DCEG Informatics Tool Challenge was designed to stimulate awareness and adoption of new internet and informatics technologies to improve effectiveness and efficiency throughout DCEG’s research portfolio. Proposals were evaluated for their innovative use of technology to address a specific research need, the ability for the project to be completed within one year of initiation, and the cost, which was not to exceed $20,000. Proposals were reviewed by a DCEG committee for utility to epidemiologic and genetic research; six were selected. Read more about the winning proposals for the 2018 Informatics Tool Challenge.
Outstanding Mentor Award
Douglas Stewart and Mai Xu
Mentoring is a core value of the Division; DCEG fellows nominate and vote for the Outstanding Mentor Award annually. This year, Mai Xu, Ph.D., and Douglas Stewart, M.D., were selected in recognition of their exceptional commitment to the growth and productivity of junior scientists.
Mai Xu, Ph.D., is a dedicated researcher who dynamically employs a hands-on approach to teaching, while also leading by the example of her drive and rigor in the lab. She is proof that high-impact research can be accomplished by harmoniously working with people of different talents. Dr. Xu freely offers her vast expertise and intellectual critique of fellows’ data and methods, making the science sound and balanced. She actively fosters the value of thinking critically and cultivates the independence of her trainees.
Douglas Stewart, M.D., conducts outstanding science and makes the career development of his fellows a priority. He empowers women scientists to strive for leadership roles through his demonstrated genuine respect for the leadership and scientific expertise of the Division’s women scientists. He not only has a drive for scientific excellence in his own work but also provides opportunities for his fellows to collaborate with renowned experts in cancer genetics.
Special Appreciation Award
Each year, the Division recognizes individuals who have gone above and beyond the regular call of duty and provided a tremendous service to their office, branch, or the Division as a whole. This year, Margaret Tucker, M.D., Director of the DCEG Human Genetics Program, was recognized for her 40 years of service. She has made extraordinary contributions to epidemiological and genetic research to improve prevention, early detection, and cancer care in high-risk populations, and stands out as a generous mentor of more than 100 women and many men who have gone on to develop extraordinary careers.
Distinguished Scientific Service Award
DCEG Director, Stephen Chanock awards Wen-Yi Huang for Distinguished Scientific Service
This year, the Division announced an inaugural award for Distinguished Scientific Service by a Fellow/Staff Scientist/Clinician. This award recognizes a postdoctoral, predoctoral, or postbaccalaureate fellow, or a Staff Scientist/Clinician who has made significant contributions to facilitating research and creating or managing resources. Scientific activities include but are not limited to, fieldwork, methods development to inform field activities, and collection of data and samples. Wen-Yi Huang, Ph.D., M.S.P.H., received this year’s award in recognition of her splendid work managing and facilitating the genotyping of nearly 90,000 participants in the Prostate, Lung, Colon, and Ovary (PLCO) Cohort Study.