Brittny Davis Lynn and Joe Shearer Receive Coleman Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Innovation Award
, by DCEG Staff
In November 2019, Brittny Davis Lynn, Ph.D., M.P.H., independent research scholar in the Integrative Tumor Epidemiology Branch, and Joseph Shearer, Ph.D., M.P.H., postdoctoral fellow in the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, received the 2020 William G. Coleman Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Innovation Award. The grants, sponsored by the NIH National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, will support their investigations for the upcoming year.
Dr. Davis Lynn studies breast cancer etiology and progression in minority women. Her proposal, “The breast milk microbiome and its relationship with breast cancer risk factors among black and white women” aims to understand racial differences in breast cancer incidence and to identify risk factors that influence breast cancer subtype-specific incidence trends at the international and local level. Results from this work may guide breast cancer prevention practices tailored to specific groups of women.
Dr. Shearer studies the molecular mechanisms through which agricultural exposures may influence cancer risk. His proposal, “Evaluating the impact of concentrated animal feeding operations on Campylobacter jejuni infections in rural agricultural communities,” aims to understand how residential proximity to concentrated animal feeding operations may impact the health of rural communities. Results of this work may inform regulation of these operations to improve protection from unintended exposures.
The Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Innovation Award is a competitive award program designed to support the development of innovative research ideas and concepts contributed by post-doctoral fellows, staff scientists and staff clinicians within the NIMHD Intramural Research Program, who have the potential for high impact in any area of minority health and health disparities research.