Biography

Dr. Huang received a Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina in 1998, with concentrations on gene-environment interactions and etiologic heterogeneity of breast cancer, defined by molecular markers. She completed two years of postdoctoral research in the Epidemiology Department at Glaxo Wellcome, and joined the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG) of NCI as a Staff Scientist in 2000. Dr. Huang provides scientific consultations for nation-wide research on cancer etiology and early markers in the NCI Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial; she attends various steering, review, and management meetings for the Trial and participates in several cohort consortium and data pooling efforts. As a cancer molecular epidemiologist, her studies focus on cancer risk related to genetic, epigenetic, and other molecular markers in DNA repair, metabolic, infection, and inflammation pathways, with primary interests on colorectal and prostate tumors. Since joining NCI, Dr. Huang received the NCI DCEG Award for the Outstanding Research Paper by a Staff Scientist in 2003 and the Molecular Epidemiology Group awards. She has served as a reviewer for numerous scientific journals and been an invited speaker for international conferences.

Research Interests

• Genetic variants in DNA repair genes and susceptibility to various cancer outcomes
• Sexually transmissible infections, inflammation makers, and genetics in relation to prostate cancer risk
• Epidemiology of colorectal tumor sub-types based on tumor molecular characterization; relating epigenetic alterations with genomic instability
• Smoking-related colorectal adenoma risk modifications by genetic variants in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) metabolism-related genes

Keywords

Adenomatous polyps, alcohol, biliary tract cancer, breast cancer, cigarette smoking, colorectal cancer, DNA repair, epigenetic, gene-environment interactions, gastric cancer, genetic susceptibility, inflammation, oral cancer, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, prostate cancer, Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial, sexually transmissible infections, molecular tumor subtypes

Selected Publications

• Huang WY, et al. Newman B, Millikan RC, Schell MJ, Hulka BS, Moorman PG."Hormone-related factors and risk of breast cancer by estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor status." American Journal of Epidemiology2000;151:703-14.
• Huang WY, Newman B, Millikan RC, Conway K, Hulka BS, Schell MJ, Liu ET. "Risk of breast cancer according to the status of Her2/neu oncogene amplification."Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers Prevention 2000;9:65-71.
• Huang WY, Winn DM, Brown LM, Gridley G, Bravo-Otero E, Diehl SR, Fraumeni,Jr. JF., Hayes RB. "Alcohol concentration and risk of oral cancer in Puerto Rico. "American Journal Epidemiology 2003;157:881-7.
• Huang WY, Olshan AF, Schwartz SM, Berndt SI, Chen C, Llaca V, Chanock SJ, Fraumeni Jr. JF, Hayes RB. "DNA repair polymorphisms and risk of head and neck cancer: a pooled analysis." Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers Prevention 2005;14:1747-53.
• Huang WY, Chatterjee N, Chanock S, Dean M, Yeager M, Schoen RE, Hou LF, Berndt SI, Yadavalli S, Johnson CC, Hayes RB. "Microsomal epoxide hydrolase (EPHX1) polymorphisms and risk for advanced colorectal adenoma."Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers Prevention 2005;14:152-7.
• Huang WY, Chow WH, Rothman N, Lissowska J, Llaca V, Yeager M, Zatonski W, Hayes RB."DNA repair polymorphisms and gastric cancer in Poland. "Carcinogenesis 2005;26:1354-9.
• Huang WY, Berndt SI, Kang D, Chatterjee N, Chanock S, Yeager M, Welch R, Weissfeld JL, Bresalier RS, Hayes RB." Nucleotide excision repair gene polymorphisms and risk of advanced colorectal adenoma: XPC polymorphisms modify smoking-related risk." Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers Prevention 2006;15:306-11.
• Huang WY, Gao YT, Rashid A, Sakoda LC, Deng J, Shen MC, Wang BS, Han TQ, Zhang BH, Chen BE, Rosenberg PS, Chanock S, Hsing AW. "Selected Base Excision Repair Gene Polymorphisms and Susceptibility to Biliary Tract Cancer and Biliary Stones: A Population-Based Case-Control Study in China." Carcinogenesis. 2008;29:100-5.
• Huang WY, Hayes RB, Pfeiffer R, Viscidi RP, Lee FK, Wang YF, Reding D, Whitby D, Papp JR, Rabkin C. "Sexually Transmitted Infections and Prostate Cancer Risk." Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers Prevention 2008;17:1-8.

Collaborators

DCEG Collaborators

• Jiyoung Ahn, Ph.D.; Sonja I. Berndt, Pharm.D., Ph.D.; Stephen J. Chanock, M.D.; Nilanjan Chatterjee, Ph.D.; Wong-Ho Chow, Ph.D.; Kim N. Danforth, Sc.D.; Sarah E. Daugherty, Ph.D.; Richard B. Hayes, D.D.S., Ph.D.; Ann W. Hsing, Ph.D.; Kyoung-Mu Lee, Ph.D.; Lee E. Moore, Ph.D.; Mark Purdue, Ph.D.; Ruth Pfeiffer, M., Ph.D.; Charles S. Rabkin, M.D.; Sharon A. Savage, MD; Denise Whitby, Ph.D.

Other NIH Collaborators

• Christine D. Berg, M.D.; Paul F. Pinsky, Ph.D.; Philip C. Prorok, Ph.D.

Other Scientific Collaborators

• Eunyoung Cho, Sc.D., Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School
• Christine C. Johnson, Ph.D., Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI
• Daehee Kang, M.D., Ph.D., Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
• Francis K. Lee, Ph.D.; Yun F. Wang, M.D., Emory University School of Medicine and Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta, Ga
• Andrew F. Olshan, Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
• John R. Papp, Ph.D., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Ga
• Douglas Reding, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.P., Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, Marshfield, WI
• Robert E. Schoen, M.D., M.P.H.; Joel L. Weissfeld, M.D., M.P.H., University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
• Stephen M. Schwartz, Ph.D., University of Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA
• David Seligson, M.D., Ph.D., University of California at Los Angeles
• Jocelyn Weiss, Ph.D., International Epidemiology Institute, Rockville, MD
• Srinivasan (Vasan) Yegnasubramanian, M.D., Ph.D.; Raphael P. Viscidi, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Md
• Fang Fang Zhang, Ph.D., University of North Texas Health Science Center