Previously Spotlighted Staff

Spotlight on Staff

Rochelle Curtis

Rochelle Curtis, a research statistician in the Radiation Epidemiology Branch, was the lead editor on a recently published NCI monograph. The report, entitled New Malignancies Among Cancer Survivors: SEER Cancer Registries, 1973-2000 is the first to provide a comprehensive analysis of the risk of developing a new malignancy in the U.S. population. The 500-page monograph utilized data from nine cancer registries participating in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program from 1973 to 2000. More than 50 adult and 18 childhood cancer sites were included in the new report which provides detailed data on the risk of subsequent cancer by time since diagnosis, gender, age at initial diagnosis, and for certain cancer sites, by treatment and histologic type. Each chapter focuses on a specific initial cancer, presents the risk of second cancers, and discusses potential causal mechanisms. “The monograph provides a resource that will be useful to clinicians, researchers, policy makers, and cancer survivors, especially in tailoring appropriate guidelines and strategies for prevention and early detection of new malignancies,” said Ms. Curtis. Other studies have evaluated risk of subsequent cancers for individual cancer types or groups of cancers, usually related to the late effects of treatment, but this report provides the first complete evaluation of subsequent cancer risk in the U.S.

Ms. Curtis is also the lead investigator on an international study of second cancers following bone marrow transplantation (BMT), involving 350 transplant teams from around the world, and nearly 30,000 transplant recipients. This unique study quantifies the late cancer effects of whole-body irradiation, intensive chemotherapy, and severe immune suppression. Her other research studies have focused on risk factors for multiple primary cancers and therapy-related second cancers, with particular emphasis on breast cancer and childhood cancers.

Ms. Curtis' biography

Ms. Curtis' publications

Ethel Gilbert

Dr. Gilbert, a biostatistician in the Radiation Epidemiology Branch, served as a member of the National Academy of Sciences Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR VII) Committee, which recently published an extensive report on health risks from exposure to low levels of ionizing radiation. As part of her work on the committee, Dr. Gilbert used data on Japanese atomic bomb survivors and from studies of persons exposed for medical reasons to develop models for estimating risks of cancer from low level radiation exposure. She notes that “It was a rewarding experience to work with scientists in many disciplines on a subject that is of considerable public interest.”

Dr. Gilbert also studies workers at the Mayak nuclear plant in Russia. These workers were exposed to both protracted external radiation and to plutonium at levels that were much higher than those from similar operations in the U.S. and other countries. She also analyzes data from studies of second cancers after radio- and chemotherapy.

Summary of BEIR VII report (pdf, 163kb)

Full text of the BEIR VII report

News conference upon publication of findings (videocast)

Biography of Dr. Ethel Gilbert