Clinical Genetics Branch Fellows
Shahinaz Gadalla earned a medical degree from Ain Shams University, Egypt, where she also completed her clinical internship. In 2003, Dr. Gadalla joined the epidemiology program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore where she earned a master’s degree in 2005, followed by a Ph.D. in 2008. Dr. Gadalla completed her Ph.D. research project in the Infections and Immunoepidemiology Branch (IIB), DCEG, NIC, under the mentorship of Dr. James Goedert, Senior Investigator, IIB. In that project, she evaluated breast cancer risk among women with systemic rheumatic autoimmune diseases, using the SEER-Medicare linked database. Dr. Gadalla joined the Clinical Genetics Branch (CGB) in September 2008 as a Cancer Prevention Fellow, and her mentors are Drs. Sharon Savage, Investigator, CGB and Mark H. Greene, Chief and Senior Investigator, CGB. Her main research interests include identifying populations at high risk of developing cancer, evaluating cancer prevention strategies, and identifying determinants of cancer outcomes.
Key Publications:
- • Gadalla SM, Amr S, Langenberg P, Baumgarten M, Davidson WF, Schairer C, Engels EA, Pfeiffer RM, Goedert JJ.
Breast cancer risk in elderly women with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases: a population-based case-control study.
Br J Cancer 2009 Mar 10;100(5):817-21.
- • Anderson LA, Pfeiffer RM, Landgren O, Gadalla S, Berndt SI, Engels EA. Risk of myeloid malignancies in persons with autoimmune conditions. Br J Cancer, in press.
- • Anderson LA, Gadalla S, Morton LM, Landgren O, Pfeiffer R, Warren JL, Berndt SI, Ricker W, Parsons R, Engels EA. Population-based study of autoimmune conditions and the risk of specific lymphoid malignancies. Int J Cancer, in press.
Lindsey Hoskins is a pre-doctoral fellow in the Clinical Genetics Branch (CGB) and a doctoral candidate at the University of Maryland, College Park. For her doctoral dissertation, Ms. Hoskins is working with Drs. Mark H. Greene, Chief and Senior Investigator, CGB and Jennifer Loud, Staff Scientist, CGB and Ms. June Peters, Genetic Counselor, CGB on the impact of a positive BRCA1/2 mutation test on young women’s decision-making regarding couple formation and maintenance, childbearing and family planning, and risk-reducing (prophylactic) surgeries.
Ms. Hoskins published a pilot study describing preliminary observations in young female mutation carriers in Family Systems and Health, which provided the foundation for her dissertation research. She was also a co-author in a Journal of Genetic Counseling report describing the evolution of the Colored Eco-Genetic Relationship Map (CEGRM), a new tool for assessing social and relational functioning among women in Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer (HBOC) families, and participated in two publications (Psycho-Oncology; American Journal of Public Health) describing the application of social network analysis to CEGRM data. She is currently involved in research and manuscript preparation in the area of domestic violence, with her mentors in the Department of Family Studies at the University of Maryland.
Ms. Hoskins received her B.S. in Family Studies and Psychology at the University of Arizona in 2002. She holds a master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) from the University of Maryland and is a licensed MFT in the state of Maryland. She has been a collaborator on Clinical Genetics Branch-related research since February of 2005.
Key Publications:
- • Koehly LM, Peters JA, Kenen R, Hoskins LM, Ersig AL, Kuhn N, Loud J, Greene MH. Characteristics of health information gatherers, disseminators, and blockers within families at risk of hereditary cancer: implications for family health communication interventions. Am J Public Health, in press.
- • Hoskins LM, Roy K, Peters JA, Loud JT, Greene MH. Disclosure of positive BRCA1/2-mutation status in young couples: the journey from uncertainty to bonding through partner support. Families Systems and Health 2008;26:296-316.
- Koehly LM, Peters JA, Kuhn N, Hoskins L, Letocha A, Kenen R, Loud J, Greene MH.
Sisters in hereditary breast and ovarian cancer families: communal coping, social integration, and psychological well-being.
Psychooncology 2008 Aug;17(8):812-21.
- Peters JA, Hoskins L, Prindiville S, Kenen R, Greene MH.
Evolution of the colored eco-genetic relationship map (CEGRM) for assessing social functioning in women in hereditary breast-ovarian (HBOC) families.
J Genet Couns 2006 Dec;15(6):477-89. Review.
Lisa Mirabello joined the Clinical Genetics Branch (CGB) as a post-doctoral Cancer Genetics Research Fellow in September 2007. Dr. Mirabello received her Bachelor's of Science degree in animal science and pre-medicine at Cornell University. She completed work for her Master's of Science degree in experimental pathology at New York Medical College in 2003, and then earned her Ph.D. in molecular population genetics at the School of Public Health, State University of New York, Albany in 2007. Dr. Mirabello is working with Sharon A. Savage, M.D., Investigator, CGB on a (1) SEER analysis of osteosarcoma incidence and survival in the U.S. and worldwide; (2) Meta-analysis of the association between height and birth-weight with osteosarcoma risk; (3) Association between growth pathway SNPs and osteosarcoma risk using iSelect data; (4) Children’s Oncology Group Retrospective study of osteosarcoma genetic risk factors; (5) Population genetics and bioinformatics study of genes important in telomere biology using data from the CGF’s SNP500 and Worldwide Human Diversity Panel, and HapMap data sets; (6) Telomere length as a prostate and ovarian cancer risk factor; and (7) Global DNA methylation analysis among family members from multiple-case Familial Testicular Cancer families.
Key Publications:
- • Mirabello L, Huang WY, Wong JYY, Chatterjee N, Reding D, Crawford ED, DeVivo I, Hayes RB, Savage SA. The association between telomere length and cigarette smoking, dietary and physical variables, and risk of prostate cancer. Aging Cell, in press.
- • Mirabello L, Troisi RJ, Savage SA.
International osteosarcoma incidence patterns in children and adolescents, middle ages and elderly persons.
Int J Cancer 2009 Jul 1;125(1):229-34.
- • Mirabello L, Troisi RJ, Savage SA.
Osteosarcoma incidence and survival rates from 1973 to 2004: data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program.
Cancer 2009 Apr 1;115(7):1531-43.
- • Savage SA, Gerstenblith MR, Goldstein AM, Mirabello L, Fargnoli MC, Peris K, Landi MT.
Nucleotide diversity and population differentiation of the melanocortin 1 receptor gene, MC1R.
BMC Genet 2008 Apr 10;9:31.
Ingrid Wentzensen is a postdoctoral cancer genetics fellow in the Clinical Genetics Branch (CGB). She is working with Dr. Sharon Savage, Investigator, CGB on the etiology of Ewing Sarcoma, on genetic risk factors for osteosarcoma, and on studies of telomere length and cancer risk. In addition, she will use her clinical experience to initiate a new effort related clinical genetic studies of the Li-Fraumeni Syndrome.
For her M.D. thesis, Dr. Wentzensen designed and conducted a study to detect disseminated tumor cells in primary breast cancer patients by immunomagnetic labeling in blood and bone marrow samples at the Division of Applied Tumor Biology, Institute of Pathology, University of Heidelberg. In medical school, she received additional training in molecular genetics. She has a special interest in hereditary cancer syndromes and has participated in establishing a clinical, pathological, and molecular database for a large study of Hereditary Nonpolyposis Colorectal Cancer (HNPCC) and Familiar Adenomatous Polyposis (FAP) families at the Department of Surgery of the University of Heidelberg.
Dr. Wentzensen received her M.D. degree from the University of Heidelberg, Germany, in 2003. She completed four years of general surgery residency at the University Hospital of Heidelberg and the General Hospital of Weinheim, Germany, with a strong focus on surgical oncology. She recently received her ECFMG certification in the U.S., and is working towards her medical license. Ingrid joined the Clinical Genetics Branch in February of 2009.
Key Publications:
- • Solomayer EF, Lacroix J, Metz IM, von Knebel Doeberitz M, Bastert G, Diel I. Tumor Cell Detection in Peripheral Blood and Bone Marrow in Patients with Primary Breast Cancer. Proc Am Soc Clin Oncol 2001:20;A1854. (ASCO Annual Meeting)
- • Lacroix J, Metz IM, Diel I, von Knebel Doeberitz M, Solomayer EF. Evaluation of immunomagnetic enrichment techniques for the sensitive detection of disseminated breast cancer cells in blood and bone marrow. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 2001:127 Suppl.1;S39. (AEK Annual Meeting)
- • Metz IM. Detection of disseminated tumor cells in primary breast cancer patients by immunomagnetic labelling in comparison with CK20-RT-PCR in blood and bone marrow. Dissertation at the Medical Faculty, University of Heidelberg 2004: http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/frontdoor.php?source_opus=4682
