DCEG News Updates
The latest news and research findings from the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics.
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Dr. Stewart et al. found that VEXAS syndrome, a novel medical disorder, was more prevalent than previously reported, especially among women. This study shows the power of the genome-first approach and the need to expand genetic panel testing.
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The GWAS Explorer PLCO Atlas was created to serve as an interactive tool to facilitate data sharing to the public, which enables researchers to search for, visualize, and download aggregated association results from the PLCO genome-wide association analyses (GWAS).
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Camyrn Cohen and colleagues found that, despite having the lowest incidence of cervical adenocarcinoma, Black women also experience the highest mortality rate of this cervical cancer subtype.
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Drs. Oscar Florez-Vargas and Eleanor L. Watts were selected for the 2023 NCI Career Development Program which seeks to empower talented postdoctoral trainees to achieve their full potential as research scientists.
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Investigators describe the value of a Virtual Pooled Registry (VPR) for population-based cohort studies in the United States. The VPR would increase the completeness of data, and decrease the time and costs associated with linking to multiple cancer registries.
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The NCI Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology (CBIIT) posted to their Cancer Data Science Pulse blog on training opportunities at the NCI for data scientists. “Growing the Field—NCI Fellowship Opportunities in Data Science” describes different programs across the Institute, including the DCEG Data Science Research Group, and features a quote from Dr. Monjoy Saha, Research Fellow in the Integrative Tumor Epidemiology Branch.
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Dr. Jacqueline B. Vo led a study using SEER data that observed increased cardiovascular disease mortality risk in breast cancer survivors if they lived in lower socioeconomic and more rural counties at the time of their breast cancer diagnosis compared to those living in higher socioeconomic and more urban counties.
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Dr. Morton is an international expert on cancer risks among individuals exposed to ionizing radiation, mechanisms of radiation carcinogenesis, and the etiology and outcomes for patients with hematologic malignancies.
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The 6th International Li Fraumeni Syndrome Association Symposium was held at in Maryland October 13-16, 2022.
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Hormuzd Katki, senior investigator in the Biostatistics and Branch, and Anil Chaturvedi, senior investigator in the Clinical Genetics Branch, discuss their research on lung cancer screening with the NIH’s Intramural Research Program blog, I am Intramural.
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Drs. Batel Blechter, Jennifer McGee-Avila, Lola Étiévant, and Courtney Dill were selected for the 2022 Sallie Rosen Kaplan Fellowship program. The program helps prepare female postdoctoral fellows for the transition to independent biomedical research careers.
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Dr. Jacqueline B. Vo was appointed assistant clinical investigator in the Radiation Epidemiology Branch. She is the first assistant clinical investigator nurse in NCI.
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DCEG investigators have identified six germline susceptibility loci for the rare myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) myelofibrosis; four overlap with loci previously identified for overall MPN. The findings were published September 8, 2022, in Nature Communications.
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Enhancing the scientific workforce benefits everyone in an organization. DCEG is focused on recruitment, training, and retention, advancing health disparities research.
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Dr. Mustapha Abubakar was appointed Ealr Stadtman tenure-track investigator in the Integrative Tumor Epidemiology Branch in September 2022. He integrates computational pathology methods with epidemiological studies to better understand the role of tissue ecosystem disruption in screen-detectable cancers.
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Dr. Hurwitz's project on serum organochlorine insecticide levels and risk of aggressive prostate cancer in African men will be supported by the NIMHD Coleman Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Award.
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DCEG welcomed three new scholars from the NCI Intramural Continuing Umbrella of Research Experiences (iCURE) Program in 2022: Muzzammil Ahmadzada, Maxwell Hogshead, and Jazmyn Bess for postbaccalaureate training. Dr. Corey Young has transitioned to a postdoctoral iCURE scholar.
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The Center for Cancer Research Health Disparity Steering Committee, DCEG Cancer Health Disparities Working Group, and Fellows Cancer Health Disparities Interest Group co-organized a workshop to communicate expectations of health disparity research, identify research resources, highlight opportunities for collaborations, and outline future directions.
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Dr. Sharon Savage received awards from her two alma maters, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine.
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Appointed in August 2022, Dr. Zhang will develop scalable statistical methods and software to analyze large-scale multi-ancestry genetic data to address questions related to health disparities and to advance genetic research in diverse populations.