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Staff Recognized for Excellence at Town Hall Meeting

, by Jennifer K. Loukissas, M.P.P.

DCEG Division Director Stephen Chanock announced several awards in February at the first DCEG hybrid Town Hall.

Unsung Hero Award 

Kathleen Wyatt, M.S., Office of the Director, for stepping into multiple roles to ensure the successful launch of biospecimen collections in the Connect for Cancer Prevention Study.

2021 Distinguished Scientific Service Awards 

Cecilia Higgs, M.H.S., scientific program manager, Clinical Genetics Branch, for developing and leading an effective transition to new ethical review processes following NIH’s move to a centralized IRB

Todd Gibson, Ph.D., staff scientist, Radiation Epidemiology Branch, for leadership in establishing the long-term study of childhood patients treated with proton versus photon radiotherapy. 

2021 Outstanding Paper Award by a Staff Scientist / Staff Clinician

Li C. Cheung, Ph.D., Earl Stadtman investigator, Biostatistics Branch, “Risk-based selection of individuals for oral cancer screening" Journal of Clinical Oncology

Mai Xu, Ph.D., staff scientist, Laboratory of Translational Genomics, “A UVB-responsive common variant at chromosome band 7p21.1 confers tanning response and melanoma risk via regulation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor, AHRAmerican Journal of Human Genetics

Tongwu Zhang, Ph.D., staff scientist, Integrative Tumor Epidemiology Branch, “Genomic and evolutionary classification of lung cancer in never smokersNature Genetics

Danielle Karyadi, Ph.D., staff scientist, Laboratory of Genetic Susceptibility, “Radiation-related genomic profile of papillary thyroid carcinoma after the Chernobyl accidentScience

2021 Outstanding Paper Award by a Fellow

Mustapha Abubakar, M.D., Ph.D., Earl Stadtman investigator, Integrative Tumor Epidemiology Branch, “Tumor-associated stromal cellular density as a predictor of recurrence and mortality in breast cancer: Results from ethnically diverse study populationsCancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention 

Rouf Banday, Ph.D., Laboratory of Translational Genomics, “Targeting natural splicing plasticity of APOBEC3B restricts its expression and mutagenic activityCommunications Biology 

Charles Breeze, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow, Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, “Epigenome-wide association study of kidney function identifies transethnic and ethnic-specific lociGenome Medicine

Kelvin C. de Andrade, Ph.D., M.Sc., research fellow, Clinical Genetics Branch, “Cancer incidence, patterns, and genotype-phenotype associations in individuals with pathogenic or likely pathogenic germline TP53 variantsThe Lancet Oncology 

Rebecca Landy, Ph.D., research fellow, Clinical Genetics Branch, “Using prediction models to reduce persistent racial and ethnic disparities in the draft 2020 USPSTF lung cancer screening guidelinesJournal of the National Cancer Institute 

ShuHong Lin, Ph.D., Integrative Tumor Epidemiology Branch “Hematopoietic mosaic chromosomal alterations increase the risk for diverse types of infectionNature Medicine 

2023 Maryland Public Health Association (MdPHA) Leadership Award

Francine S. Baker, M.S., for her leadership as the MdPHA President in 2020 during the pandemic. She organized the association's first virtual annual meeting and student poster competition, brought in experts to revamp the MdPHA webpage, and worked to improve the MdPHA internship program.

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