2025 DCEG Fellows' Awards for Research Excellence
, by Elise Tookmanian, Ph.D.
The DCEG Fellows’ Award for Research Excellence (DFARE) recognizes the outstanding scientific research performed by DCEG fellows and provides funding for travel to scientific meetings or conferences. These contributions may include formulating research ideas, developing study designs, conducting fieldwork and analysis, or interpreting results. Each of the recognized fellows also must have played a major role in drafting a manuscript. Winners were awarded based on the scientific quality of their proposal and the significance of the contribution made by the fellow.
2025 DFARE Winners
Tae-Eun Kwon, Ph.D. - “New personal radiation dose estimates for the USRT Cohort from 1916 to 2020”
Rebecca Landy, Ph.D. - “Impact of screening for HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancers: A microsimulation-based modeling study”
Fangya Mao, Ph.D. - “A novel two-phase design for cost-effective evaluation of screening tests”
Paloma Mitra, B.A. - “Prenatal diethylstilbestrol (DES) exposure and risk of benign breast disease in the NCI DES Follow-Up Study”
Brenen Papenberg, Ph.D. - “Epidemiology meets epitranscriptomics: exploring the cancer-related role of a novel TERT-antisense transcript and its regulation by RNA methylation”
Fei Qin, Ph.D. - “Leveraging single-cell RNA sequencing data for enhanced cancer gene discovery: Insights from TWAS of six cancers using cell type-specific gene expression models”
Monjoy Saha, Ph.D. - “Deep learning-based molecular characterization of lung cancer in never smokers using hematoxylin and eosin-stained whole slide images”
Rohit Thakur, Ph.D. - “RAPGEF1 is a novel melanoma and nevus susceptibility gene on chromosome 9q34.13 with a potential role in RAS activation”
Yuehan Wang, Ph.D., M.Sc. - “Chemotherapy and subsequent thyroid cancer risk among childhood cancer survivors: A report from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study”
Eleanor L. Watts, D.Phil., M.P.H. - “Physical activity, metabolites, and breast cancer associations”
Xueyao Wu, B.Med. - “Investigating the relationship between breast cancer risk factors and AI-generated mammographic texture feature in the Nurses’ Health Study II”
Ting Zhang, Ph.D., M.P.H. - “Association between pre-diagnostic serum metabolites and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma risk in two prospective cohorts”