November 14, 2005
Noon - 1 p.m. |
 |
The Multiethnic Cohort Study: Diet, Genes,
and More
Dr. Laurence
(Larry) N. Kolonel, Cancer Research Center of Hawaii
Executive Plaza North
6130 Executive Boulevard
Conference Room H
Rockville, Md.
Dr. Kolonel is Center Deputy Director and Director,
Cancer Etiology Program, Cancer Research Center of Hawaii. He
has been principal investigator of EGRP-funded Multiethnic/Minority
Cohort Study since it was established in Hawaii and Los Angeles
in 1993-1996. The cohort study was initiated to explore the
relationship of diet and other lifestyle factors to cancer. It
is comprised of more than 215,000 men and women primarily of African-American,
Japanese, Latino, Native Hawaiian, and Caucasian origin, and is
unique among existing cohort studies in its ethnic diversity and
representation of minority populations.
The Multiethnic/Minority Cohort Study also is one
of the 6 large prospective cohorts that are pooling data and biospecimens
for the Breast and Prostate Cancer and Hormone-Related
Gene Variants Cohort Consortium (BPC3 Study). The study
combines the resources of these large prospective cohorts, three
genomic facilities, and epidemiologists, population geneticists,
and biostatisticians from multiple institutions.
|
June 13,
2005
Noon - 1 p.m. |
 |
Endogenous
Hormones and Risk of Breast Cancer
Dr. Susan Hankinson, Associate Professor of Epidemiology, Harvard
School of Public Health
Executive Plaza North
6130 Executive Boulevard
Conference Room G
Rockville, Md.
Dr. Hankinson's research focuses on the relationships between
circulating hormone levels, tumor receptor status, and invasive
versus in situ tumor status in pre- and post-menopausal women.
She is part of the Nurses'
Health Study (NHS) group at Harvard, and is principal investigator
of the NHS research project "Premenopausal Hormone Levels
and Risk of Breast Cancer" that is funded through EGRP. More
information about Dr. Hankinson and her research is available from Harvard's and NCI's Web
sites.
|
March
28, 2005
Noon - 1 p.m. |
 |
The California Teachers Study: The First Five
Years of Follow-Up
Leslie Bernstein, Ph.D., University of Southern California
Executive Plaza North
Conference Room G
6130 Executive Boulevard
Rockville, Md.
Dr. Bernstein is Vice Provost for Medical Affairs; Professor,
Preventive Medicine; and AFLAC, Inc., Chair in Cancer Research,
USC; and Scientific Director, Los Angeles County Cancer Surveillance
Program.
The California Teachers
Study (CTS), a geographically defined prospective study of
133,479 women who are public school teachers or professionals,
was initiated in 1995 by a consortium of five California research
centers with expertise in epidemiology, biostatistics, and environmental
health. In its short history, the CTS has provided information
on a variety of risk factors and geographic predictors of breast
cancer, including diet, alcohol, cigarette smoking, use of pain
relieving drugs, physical activity, and residential proximity
to agricultural pesticide exposure and regional variation. Substudies
have been conducted to validate the dietary questionnaire and
self-reports of cancer diagnoses and hospitalizations, compare
approaches to assessing exercise histories, describe the attributes
of women who use vitamin supplements, and assess residential
mobility and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke.
The study was designed to focus initially on the etiology and
prevention of breast cancer. The initiation of the cohort was supported
by California tobacco taxes targeted to breast cancer research.
Members of the cohort were identified through their participation
in the California State Teachers Retirement System (STRS), a quasi-public
retirement system to which all public school teachers and administrators
must belong. Ongoing cohort activities have been funded by the
National Cancer Institute (NCI) through a consortium Research Project
Grant (R01) since 1998.
The participating research centers are the University of Southern
California, University of California at Irvine, Northern California
Cancer Center, and the Environmental Health Investigations Branch
and Cancer Surveillance Section of the California Department of
Health Services. |
