DCEG News Updates
The latest news and research findings from the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics.
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Constanza Camargo and Steve Moore presented their research; Mia Gaudet received the Women Scientist Advisors (WSA) Mentoring Award and investigators presented posters, engaged in small-group discussions, and learned about the research of their colleagues in the Center for Cancer Research.
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Atuahene Adu-Gyamfi, Quiera Booker, Macy Corley, Michael Kebede, Mona Miraftab, Paloma Mitra, and Erica Stephens are the 2023 incoming NCI Intramural Continuing Umbrella of Research Experiences (iCURE) Program Scholars.
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By-products of combustion—from pollution, cooking, heating, or other sources—were associated with elevated risk of esophageal cancer in a population without occupational exposure and where tobacco use is not common. Researchers from the Metabolic Epidemiology Branch, in collaboration with the Food and Drug Administration, and laboratories at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Ultrafine particulate matter found in traffic-related air pollution—particularly long-term exposure—is associated with elevated risk of lung cancer, particularly adenocarcinoma of the lung. Rena Jones and Debra Silverman in the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch (OEEB) conducted the study in a population of residents in California.
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On October 6, 2023, investigators, fellows, and staff across DCEG met in person and online for a discussion of the future of health disparities and health equity research in the Division. A new video about this research portfolio was launched the same week.
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Several awards were announced at the Fall 2023 hybrid Town Hall Meeting. They included DCEG Appreciation Award; Distinguished Scientific Service, and Outstanding Paper by a Staff Scientist and by a Fellow.
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Jiyeon Choi, Haoyu Zhang, and Jessica Madrigal received 2024 NCI Director’s Intramural Innovation Awards, which supports the development of highly innovative approaches and technology aimed at significant cancer–related problems.
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In October 2023, Payal Khincha, M.B.B.S., M.S.H.S., was appointed the first Lasker Clinical Research Scholar in DCEG, a tenure-track position in the CGB. She is an internationally recognized expert in diagnostic methods and clinical management of Li-Fraumeni Syndrome.
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Alexandra Harris receives two intramural research funding awards: the Center for Cancer Research Health Disparities Award and the Transdisciplinary Fellowship Research Award Supplement.
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Paul Albert, senior investigator and Director of the Biostatistics Branch, was elected as President of the Eastern North American Region of the International Biometrics Society. His three-year term begins in 2024.
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Kathryn A. Kundrod, Ph.D., M.P.H., Cancer Prevention Fellow in the Clinical Genetics Branch received the 2023 Cancer Health Disparities Fellows' Research Award.
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Using data from the Multiethnic Cohort Study, researchers in the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch led the first study to explore the relationship between blood levels of PFAS and risk of kidney cancer in different racial and ethnic groups.
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A multidisciplinary and international team of scientists from academia, industry, and government, has developed a new statistical method for generating polygenic risk scores for heritable traits and diseases that improves performance across diverse populations.
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Drs. Courtney Dill, Alexandra Harris, and Jessica Madrigal received the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Scholar-in-Training Award for the 2023 AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved.
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Three projects were funded through the 2023 DCEG Informatics Tool Challenge.
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Tongwu Zhang has been appointed as an Earl Stadtman investigator in the Biostatistics Branch. Dr. Zhang studies the genetics and genomics of cancer risk and etiology using the tools of computational biology, bioinformatics, biostatistics, and mathematics.
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Courtney Dill, postdoctoral fellow in the Biostatistics Branch, was selected for the 2023-2024 FDA-AACR Oncology Educational Fellowship. This fellowship is designed to promote scientific progress through exchange of scientific knowledge in oncology education, collaborative learning, and research.
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Steven Moore has been appointed as DCEG’s principal investigator for the Prostate, Lung, Colon, and Ovary (PLCO) Cohort Study.
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Sarah Jackson, Earl Stadtman investigator in the Infections and Immunoepidemiology Branch, was selected for the competitive 2023 NIH Distinguished Scholars Program.
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Researchers at the National Institutes of Health found that living in an area with high levels of particulate air pollution was associated with an increased incidence of breast cancer. The study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, is one of the largest studies to date looking at the relationship between outdoor air pollution, specifically fine particulate matter, and breast cancer incidence. The research was done by scientists at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Cancer Institute.