NIH Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Blog Features Post by Jongeun Rhee
, by Jongeun Rhee, Sc.D., M.S.
The NIH Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion featured Jongeun Rhee, Sc.D., M.S., research fellow in the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, for her research and commitment within the Asian American (AA) and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) community. The blog post aims to spotlight research efforts and introduce AA & NHPI researchers at NIH. The post was entitled, "Investigating disparities in exposure to potential environmental carcinogens in Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Populations."
Dr. Jongeun Rhee
Every day we use various products without realizing how often we are exposed to chemicals. Many of these chemicals are hazardous to human health and associated with cancer. In the United States, cancer is the second most common cause of death with an estimated 85% of cases thought to be driven by environmental and lifestyle factors.
As a research fellow in the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch at the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics at the National Cancer Institute, my research focuses on investigating the effects of environmental water and air pollutants on cancer risk. I am deeply committed to investigating this relationship within understudied racial and ethnic minority groups, including Asian American and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AA and NHPI) populations. My motivation stems from the limited data and understanding of environmental exposure profiles and their associated cancer risk within racial and ethnic minority communities. This knowledge gap hinders our ability to fully comprehend the true population patterns of environmental pollutants and associated health risks.