This novel, three-year postdoctoral CPRIT Epidemiology training program is broad, flexible and provides a personalized multidisciplinary team of mentors for each fellow. Mentors represent Baylor College of Medicine, Rice University, MD Anderson Cancer Center and Texas A&M University. They are:
Baylor College of Medicine
Margaret Spitz, M.D., M.P.H.
Dr. Spitz’s research focuses on gene-environment interactions in lung cancer and in genetic susceptibility to lung cancer.
Philip Lupo, Ph.D.
Dr. Lupo’s research focuses on the role of genes and prenatal exposures in risk for childhood cancer, and identification of risk factors for long-term complications of cancer therapies.
Michael Scheurer, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Dr. Scheurer’s research focuses on viruses and immune function as risk factors for cancer development and progression.
Chris Amos, Ph.D.
In addition to serving as the Director of the Institute for Clinical & Translational Research at Baylor College of Medicine, Dr. Amos studies the genetic epidemiology of lung and colorectal cancers, autoimmune diseases, and liver diseases
Elizabeth Chiao, M.D., M.B.A.
Dr. Chiao focuses on the epidemiology of HIV-associated cancers.
Jessica Davila, Ph.D.
Dr. Davila focuses on the epidemiology of colorectal cancer and adherence to HIV and HCC surveillance.
Matthew Ellis, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Ellis focuses on breast cancer genetics; clinical trials. He directs the Breast Cancer Center.
Hashem El-Serag, M.D., M.P.H.
Dr. El-Serag’s research focuses on screening and surveillance of GI and liver cancer, and epidemiology and comparative effectiveness research of digestive disorders.
Suzanne Fuqua, Ph.D.
Dr. Fuqua’s research interests lie in hormone receptors, hormone responsiveness, gene expression profiling, and predictive markers for breast cancer.
Richard Gibbs, Ph.D.
Dr. Gibbs is director of the Human Genome Sequencing Center. His focus is on developing tools for generating, manipulating, and analyzing genome data and molecular evolution.
Susan Hilsenbeck, Ph.D.
Dr. Hilsenbeck runs the Biostatistics and Informatics Core and focuses on the design and analysis of prognostic and predictive biomarker studies in clinical trials.
Mike Ittman, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Ittman focuses on the molecular genetics of rare tumors and directs the Human Tissue Acquisition and Pathology Core Resource.
Li Jiao, M.D.
Dr. Jiao focuses on the epidemiology of GI cancers, insulin resistance and obesity.
Maria Jibaja-Weiss, Ed.D.
Dr. Jibaja-Weiss directs the Office of Outreach and Health Disparities and focuses on Implementation Science.
Deborah Johnson, Ph.D.
Dr. Johnson’s research interests include regulation and roles of transcription factors in oncogenic transformation.
Suzanne Leal, Ph.D.
Dr. Leal is a statistical geneticist with a focus on methods development and gene mapping.
Wei Li, Ph.D.
Dr. Li’s research is focused on the design and application of bioinformatics algorithms to large scale genomic and epigenomics analysis. He directs the Computational and Integrative Biomedical Research Center.
Oliver Lichtarge, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Lichtarge focuses on computational approaches to multi-scale data integration and network perturbations; and systems biology.
Yanhong Liu, Ph.D.
Dr. Liu focuses on the role of genetic susceptibility to lung cancer and exome sequencing.
Susan Marriott, Ph.D.
Dr. Marriott’s lab focuses on transcription control and viral transformation.
Dr. Martha Mims, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Mims' research concentrates on genetic markers of prostate cancer risk in African Americans.
Donald Parsons, M.D.
Dr. Parsons focuses on the clinical application of genomic technologies in pediatric cancer care, specializing in pediatric neuro-oncology.
Laura Petersen, M.D., M.P.H.
Dr. Petersen is director of the Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety and focuses on health outcomes and cost effectiveness analysis.
Joseph Petrosino, Ph.D.
Dr. Petrosino’s lab focuses on microbiomics and metagenomics. He directs the Center for Metagenomics and Microbiome Research.
Jeffrey Rosen, M.D.
Dr. Rosen's cancer biology lab aims to elucidate the mechanisms regulating mammary gland development and to determine how these regulatory mechanisms have deviated in breast cancer. He is principal investigator of the CPRIT training program in cancer biology.
Chad Shaw, Ph.D.
Dr. Shaw focuses on bioinformatics and systems biology.
Arun Sreekumar, Ph.D.
Dr. Sreekumar's lab focuses on metabolomics, and he directs the Metabolomics Core Resource.
Aaron P. Thrift, Ph.D.
Aaron Thrift, Ph.D. is a genetic epidemiologist with interests in Barrett’s esophagus, esophageal adenocarcinoma, and risk prediction and screening and surveillance of GI cancers.
James Versalovic, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Versalovic’s lab research seeks to understand the nature of the mammalian gut microbiome and how gut bacteria impact mucosal immunity and intestinal inflammation with focus on microbial genomics, human microbiome and metagenomics, mucosal immunity, gut inflammation and intestinal neoplasia.
Thomas Westbrook, Ph.D.
Dr. Westbrook focuses on functional genomics and RNAi-based strategies for gene discovery. He directs the Cell-Based Assay Screening Service.
Donna White, Ph.D.
Dr. White focuses on the epidemiology of hepatitis C infections and meta-analyses.
Cheryl Walker, Ph.D.
Dr. Walker focuses on the molecular genetics and epigenetics of environmental causes of cancer. She directs the NIEHS Center for Translational Environmental Health Research (CTEHR).
Lee-Jun Wong, Ph.D.
Dr. Wong research focuses on the understanding of mitochondrial genetics and function in disease, cancer, and aging.
David A. Wheeler, Ph.D.
Dr. Wheeler is Director of Cancer Genomics in the Human Genome Sequencing Center, who oversees large-scale national and international cancer genome sequencing projects such as TCGA.
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Dr. Brewster is a medical oncologist with a focus on the roles of tumor biology, genetic susceptibility, ethnicity and obesity in risk and survival of breast cancer.
Dr. Cinciripini focuses on smoking cessation and nicotine psychopharmacology with an emphasis on studies developing novel behavioral and pharmacological treatments for nicotine dependence.
Dr. Giordano uses large databases to study quality of health care delivery, disparities, and outcomes for cancer patients, with a focus on comparative effectiveness research.
Dr. Huse is a neuropathologist who studies the pathophysiology of primary brain tumors, particularly diffuse gliomas.
Dr. Scheet is a statistical geneticist with interests in clinical, population and evolutionary genetics, and cancer genomics. He develops methods for GWAS, for inferring haplotypes from unphased genotype data and imputation-based association mapping.
Dr. Shete is a Genetic Epidemiologist and Quantitative Behavioral Statistician with interests in developing statistical methods for genetic, population, and behavioral data.
Dr. Shih applies methods of health economics, health services research, and pharmacoeconomics in medical research, in particular cancer research
Rice University
Dr. Ho is a leading international authority in Health Economics, with a focus on the association between hospital market competition and/or regulation with patient costs and quality of care.
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Margaret Spitz M.D., M.P.H.,
Principal Investigator
Post-Graduate Cancer Center Training Program in Integrative Cancer Epidemiology
Baylor College of Medicine
One Baylor Plaza, Houston, Texas 77030
