Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences Program
(Powel Brown, Ph.D., Leader;
Amelie Ramirez, Dr.P.H., Co-Leader)
Program Description
The Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences Program consists of 25 members from several departments including Medicine, Pathology, Pediatrics, Genetics, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Family Practice, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Urology. There are four main areas of research, including: carcinogenesis research focusing on using mouse models of cancer to investigate novel prevention strategies, clinical cancer prevention and genetic research, and population-based research studies focusing on identifying molecular markers of cancer risk and susceptibility, and cancer education and outreach.
Examples of research studies within this program include using mouse models of breast cancer to test promising agents for the prevention of estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer, clinical testing of cancer prevention agents in humans to prevent breast and prostate cancer, molecular epidemiologic studies to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms that are associated with increased risk of brain cancer and pediatric cancers, and studies of strategies to increase screening of high risk individuals for breast, prostate and colon cancer.
Intra programmatic collaboration is now being stimulated by monthly program meetings and lectures, being held each month. We are also currently recruiting additional epidemiologic researchers to expand molecular epidemiologic research within the Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences Program.
Programmatic Interactions
Intraprogammatic Interactions
The program currently is grouped into the above four research areas. Researchers within these different areas are highly collaborative. Examples include collaborations between Drs. Daniel Medina and Jeffrey Rosen and Norman Greenberg in studies of mouse models; between Drs. Brown and Medina in studies of novel strategies to prevent ER-negative breast cancer, between Drs. Susan Hilsenbeck and Sharon Plon in cancer genetic research in the Cancer Genetics Network, and between Drs. Stephen Elledge and Brown in conducting Phase II breast cancer prevention trials, and between Drs. Amelie Ramirez, Armin Weinberg, and Leif Peterson in studies of cancer outreach research.
The formation of this program has recently stimulated additional intraprogrammatic interactions across the four research groups. Examples of this include collaborations between Dr. Jibaya and Dr. Brown in Dr. Jibaya's studies of breast cancer risk assessment in minority populations.
Interactions are currently facilitated by specific meetings of the Program Project grants, SPORE grants, and U19 grant. We will promote increased interactions through monthly Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences meetings and a yearly Cancer Prevention retreat. In these meetings the program members present their current research and to promote collaborations and interactive grants such as program project grants.
Interprogrammatic Interactions
Because many of the investigators in this program are also in other programs (such as the Breast Cancer Program, the Urology Program, and the Basic Sciences programs) we already have strong interprogrammatic interactions. These include Dr. Brown's studies of breast cancer prevention agents and the Phase II breast cancer prevention studies done in collaboration with Dr. Elledge; Dr. Bondy's interactions with the Pediatric Cancer program in her studies of epidemiology of pediatric cancers; Dr. Peterson's interactions with the Prostate Cancer group in his studies of prostate cancer molecular biomarkers.
Such interactions are greatly facilitated by having our members active in other Cancer Center programs. This cross appointment in several different programs allows for frequent interactions, and has worked well for us.
Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences Members
| Investigator | Department | Research Interests |
| Bondy, Melissa, Ph.D. | Pediatrics | Epidemiology / Mol Epidemiology |
| Brown, Powel H., M.D., Ph.D. | Medicine | Cancer prevention / Chemoprevention |
| Chang, Jenny, M.D. | Medicine | Breast cancer / Clinical cancer prev. |
| Elledge, Richard, M.D. | Medicine | Breast cancer / Clinical cancer prev. |
| El-Serag, Hashem, M.D., M.P.H. | Medicine | Colon cancer / Clinical cancer prevention |
| Ford, Marvella, Ph.D. | Medicine | Cancer screening / Psychology |
| Freidman, Lois, M.D. | Psychiatry | Cancer Genetics / Behavioral research |
| Hays, Jennifer, Ph.D. | Public Affairs | Public Health, Cancer Prevention |
| Hilsenbeck, Susan G., Ph.D. | Medicine | Cancer prevention / risk assessment |
| Jibaja, Maira, Ed.D. | Family Practice | Breast cancer / Decision tools |
| Kadmon, Dov, M.D. | Urology | Prostate Cancer prevention |
| Kaplan, Alan, M.D. | Gyn Oncology | Ovarian Cancer |
| Kramer, Rita, M.D. | Medicine | Breast cancer / Cancer genetics |
| Laufman, Larry, Ed.D. | Medicine | Educational development |
| Medina, Dan, Ph.D. | Molecular & Cellular Biology | Animal models of breast cancer |
| Mohsin, Syed, M.D. | Pathology | Premalignant lesions / breast cancer |
| Neff, Nancy, M.D. | Family Practice | Breast cancer / Minority health |
| Peterson, Lief, Ph.D. | Medicine | Molecular Epidemiology |
| Plon, Sharon, M.D., Ph.D. | Pediatrics | Cancer Genetics |
| Ramirez, Amelie, M.D. | Medicine | Cancer Control / Minority health |
| Richardson, Barbara, Ph.D. | Urology | Cancer Epidemiology |
| Suarez-Almazor, Maria, M.D., Ph.D. | Medicine | Placebo effects and minority populations |
| Weinberg, Armin, M.D. | Medicine | Outreach / Cancer genetics |
| Weiss, Heidi, Ph.D. | Medicine | Cancer Biostatistics |
| Yeoman, Lynn, M.D. | Medicine | Cancer Prevention Education |