Linkage Newsletter - News Updates
Linkage, the newsletter from the NCI Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG), highlights the latest research findings, longer-format articles that go in-depth on a specific topic, staff and fellowship news, job openings, and the Inclusivity Minute, written by DCEG fellows. Issues are delivered to your inbox at the beginning of March, July, and November.
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Connect for Cancer Prevention: Update on the Cohort
The Connect for Cancer Prevention Study is a new prospective cohort seeking to enroll 200,000 adults in the United States. Connect is designed to further investigate the etiology of cancer and its outcomes, which may inform new approaches in precision prevention and early detection. We will update the research community as to the progress of Connect across multiple topics of interest.
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Power of Cohorts: Public Health Advances from Prospective Cohort Studies
Prospective cohort studies have informed our understanding of cancer, directing scientific inquiries in basic and clinical laboratory science, as well as translational studies and treatment trials, and led to the development of guidelines and regulatory actions to protect public health. Learn about the different DCEG cohort studies based in the United States and the major accomplishments they have achieved to date.
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Elizabeth Cahoon and Environmental Radiation Research: Investigator Profile
Elizabeth Cahoon, Earl Stadtman investigator in the Radiation Epidemiology Branch and principal investigator of DCEG Research on Chernobyl, helms an innovative research program that uses the power of epidemiology to investigate how environmental radiation affects human health.
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Update from Jackie Lavigne, DCEG Training Director
Dr. Jackie Lavigne shares news from the Fellowship Program in the Division, including the launch of a new series of videos describing the advantages of training in DCEG.
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Clinical Director’s Corner: New Infrastructure for Family Studies’ Data
Sharon Savage, M.D., DCEG Clinical Director, describes the new, modern infrastructure for Family Studies conducted by the Clinical Genetics Branch. CHARMS is an interactive patient- and provider-facing platform for the recruitment and management of participants in CGB studies. "Clinical Director's Corner" is a new, recurring feature of Linkage, DCEG's newsletter. It will alternate with updates from Pete Kraft, Ph.D., Director of the Trans-Divisional Research Program, and Jackie Lavigne, Ph.D., M.P.H., Director of the Office of Education.
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PFAS and Cancer: Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch Research on “Forever Chemicals”
Researchers in the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch (OEEB) investigate potential cancer risks associated with exposure to PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals.” Learn about the findings from recent publications.
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Health Equity Retreat: Opportunity to Envision DCEG Research Infrastructure
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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Payal Khincha Appointed First Lasker Clinical Research Scholar in DCEG
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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Tongwu Zhang Appointed Earl Stadtman Investigator
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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Sarah Jackson Appointed Earl Stadtman Investigator in IIB
Dr. Sarah Jackson was appointed Earl Stadtman tenure-track investigator in the Infections and Immunoepidemiology Branch in July 2023. She studies sex differences in cancer incidence and survival as well as cancer risk, screening, and outcomes. Also in 2023, she was selected for the competitive NIH Distinguished Scholars Program.
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Collaborations Around the World: DCEG Research in Latin America
Research projects in DCEG span the globe. Studies in Latin America have allowed us to develop data-rich and well-powered studies to investigate often highly lethal cancers that occur with lower frequency in the U.S. Studying populations in Latin America is particularly important for cancer prevention in the U.S., given the growing number of Americans who identify as Latino and the small proportion of Latino individuals within existing studies.
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Celebrating Fifty Years of SEER
In 2023, the NCI SEER Program celebrates its 50th anniversary. DCEG is grateful for this incredible NCI resource which underpins nearly everything we do. Data from SEER are central to the day-to-day work of researchers in DCEG.
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Investing in our Future: DCEG’s Path to Enhancing the Scientific Workforce
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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Mustapha Abubakar Appointed Earl Stadtman Investigator
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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Haoyu Zhang Appointed Earl Stadtman Investigator
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.
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Diptavo Dutta Appointed Earl Stadtman Tenure-track Investigator
Diptavo Dutta, Ph.D., joined DCEG as an Earl Stadtman tenure-track investigator in the Integrative Tumor Epidemiology Branch and affiliate member of the Biostatistics Branch. Dr. Dutta will integrate genetic and ‘omics’ data to understand the contribution of ancestry and genetic factors to cancer etiology.
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Alexander Keil Appointed Earl Stadtman Investigator
Dr. Keil was appointed Earl Stadtman tenure-track investigator in the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch in May 2022. He studies occupational and environmental exposures that consider exposure across the life course as well as the complex interactions between exposures and health.
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Bringing the Pieces Together: CCR-DCEG FLEX Awards
To capitalize on the complementary research approaches of the Center for Cancer Research (CCR) and DCEG, the CCR-DCEG FLEX award was established in 2015 to fund collaborative projects. Seven years later, Drs. Constanza Camargo, Charles Rabkin, Eric Engels, Neelam Giri, and Laufey Amundadottir, discuss how their projects came about and their progress toward understanding the causes of cancer and the means of prevention.
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Advancing RASopathies Research: A Conversation with Drs. Gina Ney and Douglas Stewart
The lead investigators of the RASopathies study, Douglas Stewart, M.D., senior investigator, and Gina Ney, M.D., Ph.D., staff clinician in the Clinical Genetics Branch, discuss the goals of the study and reflect upon its inaugural year.
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Federal Cervical Cancer Collaborative for Safety-net Settings of Care
DCEG has partnered with the Health Resources and Services Administration Office of Women’s Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other agencies and offices to bring cervical cancer prevention and management guidelines into safety-net settings of care, an offshoot of the Cancer Moonshot.