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National Cancer Institute U.S. National Institutes of Health www.cancer.gov
About DCEG

Michele Morin Doody, M.S.

Epidemiologist (Expert Research Administration Officer)

Location: Executive Plaza South, Room 7040
Phone: 301-594-7203
Fax: 301-402-0207
E-mail: doodym@exchange.nih.gov

Biography

Captain Doody received a B.S. in Biology from Stonehill College in 1977 and an M.S. in Epidemiology from the University of Massachusetts School of Public Health in 1980. She joined the Environmental Epidemiology Branch in the Division of Cancer Causes and Prevention in 1980 as a Commissioned Officer in the U.S. Public Health Service, and transferred to the Radiation Epidemiology Branch shortly after its inception in 1984. Captain Doody earned the U.S. Public Health Service Outstanding Service Medal in 2001 for her leadership of unique and important epidemiologic studies that have quantified risks of breast cancer among women exposed to ionizing radiation. She also received the PHS Citation in 1995, Commendation Medal in 1991, Unit Commendation in 1990, and Achievement Medal in 1989 for epidemiologic investigations that provided new information on the role of low-level radiation in carcinogenesis.

Research Interests

  • breast cancer dose-response relationship following occupational exposure to ionizing radiation
  • breast cancer following diagnostic x-rays
  • thyroid and other cancers following radioactive iodine therapy

Research

Cancer Risk in Radiologic Technologists

Although cancer risks following radiation exposure have been widely studied, to date quantitative estimates of risk have been derived largely from studies of the Japanese atomic bomb survivors who received a single acute exposure. To quantify the risk of radiogenic cancers following protracted low-to-moderate-dose radiation exposures that occur in occupational and environmental settings, and to clarify mechanisms of radiation carcinogenesis, a nationwide cohort of over 145,000 radiologic technologists has been evaluated from the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists. This cohort is predominantly female (73%), affording a unique opportunity to quantify breast cancer risk associated with low-dose-rate (protracted) exposures which animal studies have shown to be less carcinogenic than high-dose-rate (acute) exposures because of the opportunity for DNA repair. Results to date have shown that breast cancer risk is significantly increased among technologists who first worked before 1940, when radiation exposures were likely high, compared to those who first worked in 1970 or later. Preliminary dose-response analyses reveal a statistically significant linear trend of increasing risk with increasing radiation dose. Genetic and molecular studies are focusing on the role of genetic polymorphisms and molecular variants in DNA repair and other genetic pathways that may be functionally important in radiation carcinogenesis.

Breast Cancer Following Diagnostic Radiography

Radiation exposure to the chest, especially at young ages, is associated with increased breast cancer risk. Few epidemiologic studies can address potentially susceptible stages of breast development. A cohort of 5,600 women with scoliosis who underwent routine diagnostic x-rays of the spine during childhood and adolescence are being evaluated to quantify the breast cancer radiation dose-response relationship, to assess whether known breast cancer risk factors modify dose-response, and to explore possible age intervals of increased radiation sensitivity. Scoliosis patients were found to have a statistically significant 70% excess risk of dying from breast cancer compared to women in the general population and risk increased significantly with increasing radiation dose to the breast (Doody et al., 2000). An analysis of radiation-related breast cancer incidence, adjusting for major breast cancer risk factors, was recently completed and submitted for publication (Ronckers et al.). A further follow-up of this cohort is in the planning stages.

Keywords

radiation, ionizing; dose-response relationship, radiation; neoplasms, radiation-induced; breast neoplasms; thyroid neoplasms

Selected Publications

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Collaborators

DCEG Collaborators

  • Alice Sigurdson, Ph.D., Martha Linet, M.D., Michal Freedman, Ph.D., Michael Hauptmann, Ph.D., Kiyohiko Mabuchi, M.D., Elaine Ron, Ph.D., Deirdre Hill, Ph.D., Jay Lubin, Ph.D., Nilanjin Chatterjee, Ph.D., Steve Simon, Ph.D., Patricia Stewart, Ph.D., Andre Bouville, Ph.D., Sowyma Rao, Ph.D., Barry Graubard, Ph.D., Charles Land, Ph.D., Cecile Ronckers, Ph.D.

Other NCI Collaborators

  • Jeffery Struewing, M.D.

Other Scientific Collaborators

  • Bruce Alexander, Ph.D., University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
  • Marlene Goldman, Sc.D., Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
  • John Lonstein, M.D., Minnesota Spine Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
  • Joni Rutter, Ph.D., National Institute on Drug Abuse, Bethesda, Maryland
  • Marilyn Stovall, Ph.D., The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
  • Bob Tarone, Ph.D., International Epidemiology Institute, Rockville, Maryland
  • Shinji Yoshinaga, Ph.D., National Institutes of Radiological Sciences, Chiba, Japan
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