Previously Spotlighted Fellows
Elizabeth Bluhm, M.D., M.P.H.
Elizabeth Bluhm, M.D., M.P.H., joined the Radiation Epidemiology Branch in September, 2004, as an NCI Cancer Prevention Fellow. Her research interests include both childhood cancer etiology and late effects after cancer therapy. Following medical school and residency training in internal medicine, she pursued Master’s Degree in Public Health in Epidemiology, writing a thesis evaluating prenatal drug exposures as risk factors for neuroblastoma, a cancer of infancy. In REB, Elizabeth has had the opportunity to work in both areas of interest, studying hair dye exposure and polymorphisms of NAT-1 and NAT-2 metabolic genes as risk factors for adult-onset glioma, meningioma, and acoustic neuroma; and risks for mortality and second cancers after pediatric non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Ongoing work using data from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study includes an investigation of the prevalence of chronic illnesses after high dose radiation and chemotherapy treatments for childhood NHL.
Benefits of working in REB include opportunities to develop proficiency in analyzing data from cohort and case-control studies and access to data from well-designed studies and large patient populations as well as mentoring by senior investigators. Given the emphasis on evidence-based medicine (EBM) in medical education, the hands-on experience in epidemiology will be invaluable in designing and interpreting research relevant to the health of the adult population in an academic medical setting.
An alumna of Williams College, Elizabeth received an M.D. from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and a Master’s degree in Public Health in Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She was a resident in Internal Medicine at UNC Hospitals, and is board-certified in internal medicine. Elizabeth lives in Washington, DC, where she is renovating a row house in Columbia Heights. Prior to entering medical school, she was a Watson Fellow and a counselor at the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, a summer camp for children with chronic illnesses.
Elizabeth Bluhm's publications
Deukwoo Kwon, Ph.D.
Deukwoo Kwon, Ph.D., has joined REB as a visiting postdoctoral fellow. Dr. Kwon earned a B.A. in economics at Yonsei University in 1994 and a M.B.A. at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in 2000. Between two periods he worked in an investment trust management company as an investment banker for 4 years in Korea. At that time he was intersted in financial engineering such as Black-Scholes option pricing and interest rate derivatives. He received a M.S. in statistics in 2002 and a Ph.D. in statistics in 2005 from Texas A&M University. In his dissertation he applied Bayesian classification method with variable selection to finding biomarkers in prostate cancer using SELDI-TOF MS. Dr. Kwon will work on uncertainty analysis and measurement error models in dose-response relation and genetics study for U.S. radiologic technologists cohort study. His research interests are functional data analysis, longitudinal analysis, and multilevel modeling. Dr. Kwon also tries to develop variable selection with advanced Bayesian computation techniques.
Deukwoo Kwon's publications
Stefan Lönn, Ph.D.
Stefan Lönn joined REB as a postdoctoral fellow in 2006. He received his Ph.D. from Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden in 2004. For his doctoral dissertation, Stefan investigated the association between mobile phone use and intracranial tumors. His dissertation work was part of the Interphone study, an international collaboration study coordinated by IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer). After graduation, Stefan worked as a post-doc at the Institute for Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, investigating various etiology factors for brain tumors. During his pre- and post-doctoral time at the Karolinska Institutet, Stefan was also a teacher in university courses in Epidemiology and Environmental Medicine.
At REB, Stefan is working with the U.S. Radiologic Technologists cohort investigating risk factors for thyroid cancer and a case-control study of brain tumor investigating various risk factors. Stefan is also interested in second primary cancers and radiation related health effect.
The international atmosphere, availability to work with many projects, the outstanding research, and flexibility of the work schedule are a few of many positive aspects Stefan appreciates at the REB and he thinks the branch is an excellent place for postdoctoral training.
Stefan Lönn's publications
Gabriel Chodick, Ph.D.
Gabriel Chodick joined REB as a post-doctoral fellow after graduating his PhD program in Epidemiology at the Tel Aviv University (Israel). Although his MSc and PhD theses concentrated on infectious diseases, Gabriel has developed a growing interest in prevention efforts not only against infections but also against chronic diseases, and particularly cancer, the leading cause of death in Israel. Prior to coming to NCI, he was involved in a study on the effects of ionizing radiation on the risk for malignant and non-malignant diseases performed on patients who were x-rayed to scalp for the treatment of tinea capitis (ring worm) during the 1940’s and 1950’s. One of the leading investigators in this study was Dr. Elaine Ron, who had been the first person to graduate the PhD program in Epidemiology from Tel Aviv University, and later had become the head of REB. As of May 2005, Gabriel has been employed as Dr. Ron’s mentoree in REB.
Gabriel has spent the first months of his fellowship working with several senior investigators in the branch on studies of cancer and non-cancer risks related to both ionizing and non-ionizing radiation exposure. The excellent experience of REB in international collaborations, allowed Gabriel to become a part of a group of researchers from the NCI and epidemiologists from the UK who are planning a cohort study to evaluate cancer risk associated with radiation exposure from pediatric and adolescent CT. They will assemble a cohort of 200,000 children and adolescents who received CT scans during 1985-1998 using electronic patient listings in large radiology departments in the UK. In addition, the availability of unique data from REB’s large studies, such as the radiation technologists’ cohort study, provided him an exceptional opportunity to have a hands-on experience of analyzing large datasets to examine different effects of ionizing radiation on human health, such as earlier formation of cataract.
Gabriel received his undergraduate training in Biology from Ben-Gurion University and his two Masters in Epidemiology and Health Management from Tel Aviv University. Gabriel and Nurit, his wife, are living in Rockville, which has a large foreign population, including many from Israel, who enjoy rich cultural activities, such as Israeli and Jewish movie festivals, frequent shows of Israeli known artists, and daily supply of Israeli newspapers to the local grocery store.
Gabriel Chodick's publications
Preetha Rajaraman, Ph.D.
Preetha Rajaraman joined REB as a pre-doctoral fellow while enrolled in the PhD program in Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. For her doctoral dissertation, Preetha investigated the role of lead and genotype in the etiology of adult brain tumors, using data from REB’s case-control study of adult brain tumors. Her dissertation work involved developing a rigorous exposure assessment strategy for lead, applying this strategy to subjects in the brain tumor case-control study, arranging for genotyping of blood samples from study subjects, and performing statistical analyses of the relationships between lead, genotype, and risk of brain tumors. After graduation from Johns Hopkins, Preetha accepted a post-doctoral position in REB in order to build upon her dissertation work, and to avail of the many research opportunities here. While she continues to investigate the etiology of brain tumors and the possible carcinogenicity of lead, Preetha is also interested in occupational radiation exposure (in U.S. Radiologic Technologists), late effects of childhood radiation, and health effects of medical radiation.
The availability of outstanding researchers and resources, the friendliness and open-door policy of branch members, and the flexibility of the work schedule are all aspects of REB which Preetha has enjoyed. Having lived in many countries (including Botswana, Zambia, and the U.S), she also appreciates the international nature of the Radiation Epidemiology Branch.
Preetha received her undergraduate training in Biology from Reed College and her Master’s in Environmental Health (Industrial Hygiene) from the University of Washington. Prior to entering the field of epidemiology, she worked for two years as a research industrial hygienist at the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries. When Preetha is not working she enjoys reading, hiking, dance/theatre, and exploring the city and the outdoors with her husband and two children.
Preetha Rajaraman's publications
