Dr. Harold Freeman, Director of the NCI Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities, addressed DCEG during the annual town meeting held in April. In his talk, Dr. Freeman examined the continuum of biomedical discovery, development, and delivery, noting that a “critical disconnect” seems to occur between scientific development and health care delivery, which contributes to health disparities in cancer incidence and mortality. He also shared his vision for the Center, which was created in 2001 with the aim of decreasing the unequal racial and ethnic burden of cancer.

The town meeting also honored the service and scientific contributions of DCEG staff members. Elyse Wiszneauckas again served as the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) coordinator, leading DCEG to a highly successful campaign that earned the Division a CFC Presidential Award for the fifth year in a row. The CFC team included branch key workers Jennifer Connor, Sandra Coopersmith, Tonya Dedmond, Michelle Fitzpatrick, Kit Fox, Sadie Holmes, Faith Prigal, Claudine Samanic, Sandy Rothschild, Julie Russell, and Geoff Tobias.

Gloria Rasband, of the NCI Division of Cancer Prevention, received the DCEG Special Recognition Award for managing the Executive Plaza South library for DCEG and other Divisions in the Executive Plaza complex.With extraordinary expertise and dedication, she has overseen the introduction of new technology into an expanding collection of books and journals, creating an electronic database of library resources and coordinating information retrieval services.

Awards for “Outstanding Research Paper” are selected for impact, innovation, and clarity of thought and language. Among DCEG fellows, Philip Castle, Ph.D., M.P.H., was recognized for his paper entitled “A prospective study of high-grade cervical neoplasia risk among human papillomavirusinfected women,” published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The winner among the staff scientists was Qing Lan, M.D., Ph.D., for her paper on “Household stove improvement and risk of lung cancer in Xuanwei, China,” also published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The “Fellowship Achievement Awards” honor fellows who are nominated by their Branch Chiefs on the basis of scientific productivity, as demonstrated by high-quality scientific publications and ongoing research projects. In addition to a plaque, the fellows receive a two-step increase in their stipend pay. Recipients this year were Juan Alguacil, M.D., Ph.D., Michelle Althuis, Ph.D.,and Sowmya Rao, Ph.D.

This year, DCEG fellows chose Debra Silverman, Sc.D., as the “Outstanding Mentor.” Fellows noted that Dr. Silverman “provides invaluable advice and direction on how to realistically and practically approach work while looking out for each fellow’s interests and professional development, encourages independence through writing papers and developing ideas and projects, and facilitates collaboration throughout the Division and with extramural scientists."

Dr. Silverman provides invaluable advice and direction on how to realistically and practically approach work while looking out for each fellow's interests and professional development

Dr. Rothman was recognized as an international leader in the field of molecular epidemiology and as a key investigator and philosophic force behind the molecular components for a number of the Division's major epidemiologic investigations. He also has devoted a significant portion of his time to mentoring junior staff members. In addition to organizing the first DCEG Molecular Epidemiology Course, Dr. Rothman has chaired the Cohort Review Group, currently serves on the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Steering Committee and the Biorepository Committee, and chairs the Molecular Epidemiology Review Committee.

Brochures detailing DCEG's research projects won several awards at the NIH Third Annual Plain Language Ceremony, held April 23. DCEG researchers Debra Silverman, Sc.D., and Dalsu Baris, M.D., Ph.D., received an award in the "excellent" category for the New England Study of Environmental Health participant brochure. Drs. Silverman and Baris worked with Westat staff members Vanessa Olivo, Anna McIntosh, and Paul Hurwitz to develop the pamphlet, which accompanied an introductory recruitment letter sent to potential study subjects. Joanne Colt, M.S., M.P.H., and Wong-Ho Chow, Ph.D., also were recognized in the "excellent" category for a brochure on the Kidney Cancer Study, a case-control research project focusing on racial disparities in renal cell cancer incidence. Dr. Chris Handler, from Matthews Media Group, assisted DCEG staff in developing the kidney cancer brochure, which is part of a campaign to educate Detroit- and Chicago-area residents about the study.

DCEG won two awards in the category of "honorable mention." Elaine Ron, Ph.D., and Ruth Kleinerman, M.P.H., were acknowledged for Radiation and Pediatric Computer Tomography, a newsletter sent to 160,000 health care providers, that alerted them to the potential radiation risks from the use of computed tomography in children and explained why and how to minimize radiation exposure. Mark H.Greene, M.D., and Joan Kramer, M.D., along with Rhonda DeJoice and Hong Vo from NCI's Office of Communication, were recognized for the Familial Testicular Cancer-General Information brochure. The pamphlet provides information for patients and referring physicians regarding DCEG's new multidisciplinary study of families with multiple cases of testicular cancer. This brochure and related materials have been used in a series of nationwide mailings to urologists and medical oncologists in North America, soliciting referral of new families to join DCEG's clinical study.

NIH launched the Plain Language Initiative in 1999, following a White House memorandum calling for clearer writing throughout the Federal government. Plain language documents should have logical organization, easy-to-read design features, and use personal pronouns, short sentences and common, everyday words. This year, the NIH Plain Language award committee received 271 nominations and gave a total of 60 awards. NCI received 9 of the 40 awards given in the excellent or outstanding category and 8 of the 20 honorable mentions.

-Maria Sgambati, M.D.

EPIINFORMATICS WORKING GROUP FORMED

DCEG investigators from several branches recently formed EpiInformatics, a working group aimed at stimulating research and development in informatics to support population studies of cancer causation. Co-chaired by Patricia Hartge, Sc.D., and Mitchell Gail, M.D., Ph.D., and facilitated by Chitra Mohla, M.S., the group meets monthly and has about 10 members as well as liaisons to other NCI and NIH groups involved in bioinformatics. The group discusses the informatics challenges being encountered in cancer epidemiology, particularly in large-scale studies evaluating the role of susceptibility genes and environmental exposures, as well as their interactions in the initiation and progression of cancer. Through seminars, panel discussions, and workshops, the group plans to engage investigators throughout the Division and NIH to develop and apply new technologies in this rapidly evolving area. The EpiInformatics web site (http://dcegod.nci.nih.gov/epi/index.htm) contains a list of publications related to informatics in cancer epidemiology. Plans are underway to add other features that will assist researchers as they grapple with the informatics challenges posed by the application of

Exploring the Etiology of Brain Tumors

Experts in brain tumor research gathered at NCI during February to discuss the current status and future directions in uncovering the etiology of neurological tumors. Approximately 45 investigators from five countries attended. Organized by Peter Inskip, Sc.D., of the Radiation Epidemiology Branch, the meeting provided a forum for interaction, exchange, and collaboration among investigators interested in exploring the formation of a brain tumor consortium.

Part of the meeting was devoted to scientific presentations on a wide range of topics, including tumor classification, descriptive epidemiology, and potential risk factors, such as environmental, reproductive and hormonal factors, infectious agents, immune status, and genetic mechanisms.

Many brain tumor studies have been limited by small sample size, which does not always provide adequate statistical power to study gene-environment and gene-gene interactions, particularly for the less common tumor subtypes. Furthermore, as some of these epidemiologic studies begin to conduct genotyping on a large scale, it can be expected that a large number of false positive findings will be generated.

Presentations on other NCI-supported collaborative endeavors, including the Cohort Consortium and Interlymph, the non-Hodgkin's lymphoma case-control consortium, helped shed light on the challenges of studies conducted through such coalitions and possible solutions, including potential funding mechanisms and proper allocation of credit to individual investigators.

"Innovative,multidisciplinary approaches coupled with international collaboration, should help dissect the genetic and environmental components of brain tumors, provide new pathways to prevention, and open the door to answer questions that are beyond the reach of single studies," remarked Joseph Fraumeni, Jr., M.D., DCEG Director. "And while NCI has hosted this first meeting, we hope that a brain tumor consortium will be a self-organizing, self-directing body that empowers rather than restrains investigators." consortium would allow for coordination and parallel analyses of epidemiological and genetic data that would lead to rapid replication of findings. In addition, a collaborative approach would enable pooled analyses that exploit the genetic and environmental variation available for study, helping to quantify risk factors as well as the mechanisms through which environmental exposures operate.

The workshop concluded with the establishment of eight working groups focused on tumor pathology and classification, family history, genotyping and candidate genes, immunologic and infectious agents, diet and nutrition, radiation and occupational exposures, and clinical outcomes. The group also made plans to meet at future scientific meetings, including those of the American Association for Cancer Research and the Society for Neuro-Oncology.

-Maria Sgambati, M.D.

Identifying Research Needs

DCEG played a major role in a recent NCI workshop on Early Reproductive Events and Breast Cancer, held during February in Bethesda, Maryland. The workshop grew out of the need for an integrated scientific assessment of the association between reproductive events and the risk of breast cancer. Louise Brinton, Ph.D., Chief of DCEG's Hormonal and Reproductive Epidemiology Branch (HREB) and Robert Hoover, M.D., Sc.D., Director of the DCEG's Epidemiology and Biostatistics Program, were prime organizers of the meeting, which gathered over 100 experts in the field of breast cancer, including epidemiologists, clinicians, basic scientists, and advocates.Mark Sherman, M.D., a pathologist in the HREB, participated in the planning process as well.

Population studies have demonstrated profound relationships between reproductive events and risk of breast cancer. "Some of these risk factors have been known for over 150 years," noted Dr.Hoover, who gave the keynote address for the meeting. "Yet attempts to develop practical preventative measures based on this knowledge have been stymied by insufficient understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying these associations." The workshop aimed to create a dialogue and forge collaborations between epidemiologists and basic scientists to develop strategies to close this gap.

Recently, cancer researchers have concentrated on translating promising clues from the laboratory into clinical and epidemiologic investigations. The area of reproductive events and breast cancer, however, clearly illustrates the need for the reverse-translating epidemiologic findings into laboratory and interdisciplinary studies.

The opening session of the workshop evaluated past research in this area, including how various aspects of pregnancy alter a woman's subsequent risk of breast cancer and the biologic changes resulting from pregnancy that may underlie this modification in risk. Participants ranked research findings on risk factors according to four categories based on the "strength of evidence."

...attendees identified gaps in knowledge and future research directions for epidemiologic, clinical, and basic science investigations.

The categories included evidence that is well-established; favored by the weight of evidence; suggested from research findings, but speculative; and suggested from theoretical or laboratory evidence, but essentially unevaluated in humans. While much of the workshop was devoted to published literature, time was also given to discussion of unpublished materials and new scientific data. Based on these discussions, attendees identified gaps in knowledge and future research directions for epidemiologic, clinical, and basic science investigations.

DCEG runs an intramural and collaborative research program investigating potential risk factors for cancer, including reproductive and other factors that may affect hormonally related tumors, the measurement of endogenous hormones, the effects of exogenous hormones, the hormonal correlates of risk factors, and the conditions associated with marked hormonal changes, such as infertility. More information about the workshop may be found online at http://www.cancer.gov/cancerinfo/ere.

MAUREEN HATCH ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY FOR EPIDEMIOLOGIC RESEARCH

Maureen Hatch, Ph.D., who directs the Chornobyl Research Unit, was recently elected President of the Society for Epidemiologic Research (SER). Dr. Hatch will begin her term in June 2003 and serve for three years (president-elect, president, past-president). Established in 1968 as a forum for sharing the latest epidemiology research, SER now includes more than 2,300 members worldwide and sponsors the publications American Journal of Epidemiology and Epidemiologic Reviews.

NCI Director Andrew von Eschenbach, M.D., visited DCEG in February to learn more about Divisional research. The visit was one of many that Dr. von Eschenbach has been making to stay up-to-date on NCI's work. At the meeting, the following DCEG scientific staff gave presentations. Biostatistics Branch: Mitchell Gail, M.D., Ph.D. (overview and use of the Gail Model to estimate risks and benefits of tamoxifen); Clinical Genetics Branch: Mark H.Greene, M.D. (overview), and Blanche Alter, M.D., M.P.H. (risk of cancer among Fanconi anemia patients); Genetic Epidemiology Branch: Margaret Tucker, M.D. (overview), and Lynn Goldin, Ph.D. (familial CLL: linkage analysis and a new international consortium); Hormonal and Reproductive Epidemiology Branch: Louise Brinton, Ph.D. (overview), and Mark Schiffman, M.D., M.P.H. (primary HPV screening: implications for etiologic studies); Nutritional Epidemiology Branch: Arthur Schatzkin, M.D.,Dr.P.H. (overview), and Dominique Michaud, Sc.D. (energy balance and cancer); Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch: Aaron Blair, Ph.D. (overview), and Nathaniel Rothman, M.D., M.P.H.(molecular epidemiology of benzene-exposed workers); Radiation Epidemiology Branch:Martha Linet, M.D., M.P.H. (overview), and Lois Travis, M.D., Sc.D. (lung cancer risk following Hodgkin's disease); Viral Epidemiology Branch: James Goedert, M.D. (overview), and Robert Biggar, M.D. (trends in AIDS-related malignancies).

JENNIFER RUSIECKI CALLED TO ACTIVE DUTY IN THE COAST GUARD

Jennifer Rusiecki, Ph.D., was recalled to active duty in the Coast Guard from January to May 2003. Dr. Rusiecki, who is a postdoctoral fellow in the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, was on active duty in the Coast Guard from 1985 to 1995, when she worked as a Marine Inspector examining ships for compliance with safety and marine environmental regulations. Since 1995, she has been a member of the Coast Guard Reserves. During her recent tour of duty, Dr. Rusiecki was assigned to the 5th District Headquarters in Portsmouth, Virginia, in the Coast Guard Atlantic Area, where she monitored the movement of all U.S. merchant ships taking supplies to the Persian Gulf and all foreign flag ships entering any ports in the 5th District, which stretches from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the north to Wilmington, North Carolina, in the south.

Ann Hsing, Ph.D., of the Hormonal and Reproductive Epidemiology Branch, was appointed to the NIH tenured faculty in May. Since joining NCI as a postdoctoral fellow in 1989, she has built an active research program focused largely on defining risk factors for prostate cancer, including assessing the reasons for racial differences in incidence. Dr. Hsing's innovative approaches as a molecular epidemiologist have led to an improved understanding of the causes of prostate cancer.

In an important descriptive epidemiology project, Dr. Hsing and her colleagues demonstrated an increasing incidence of prostate cancer worldwide, with a more rapid increase in developing countries despite the lack of screening in low risk populations. She has also led the development of a number of complex, international, interdisciplinary studies, including ones that have explored the roles of obesity, insulin resistance, and genetic susceptibility in prostate cancer. While her focus has been primarily on prostate cancer, she also conducted the largest and most comprehensive multidisciplinary population-based study of biliary tract cancer, which recently finished data collection and is now yielding valuable etiologic clues.

Dr. Hsing has authored more than 81 publications and is frequently invited to present at national and international meetings. She was the lead editor for a "highly acclaimed" monograph on prostate cancer published in Epidemiology Reviews.

Dr. Hsing serves on the Biological Specimen Advisory Board of the American Cancer Society as well as on various NCI committees, and she co-chairs the DCEG Prostate Cancer Working Group. She holds an adjunct appointment at The George Washington University, where she has been voted "best lecturer" several times by her students and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Medical Center.

MICHAEL LEITZMANN WINS INTRAMURAL RESEARCH AWARD

Michael Leitzmann, M.D., Dr.P.H., who joined NCI in 2002, won DCEG’s Intramural Research Award for his proposal on “Physical activity and its components in relation to plasma inflammatory markers of cancer risk among Chinese adults.” This project involves developing a comprehensive physical activity questionnaire and assessing its validity and reliability. It will also evaluate links between types and parameters of physical activity and circulating levels of specific inflammatory markers that have been associated with cancer risk, including C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, and soluble tumor necrosis factor alpha. The project will be carried out in two prospective populationbased cohorts: the Shanghai Women’s and Men’s Studies, each of which have data on more than 70,000 participants.

The Intramural Research Award encourages tenure-track investigators and fellows to develop innovative research projects that cross the usual organizational boundaries. Proposals must demonstrate a potential for significant scientific or public health impact, innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and relevance to the missions of DCEG and NCI.

In February, Katherine Chen retired from DCEG after a 30-year career in the Federal government. Ms. Chen joined DCEG in 1983 as a computer programmer and a Chinese language translator. With her experience in several computing languages, one of her first projects was to develop a series of FORTRAN and PL/1 programs that analyzed data from the cohort study of U.S. veterans initiated by Dr. Harold Dorn. The results from these analyses provided the basis for several important publications.

A native speaker of Cantonese, Ms. Chen studied hard to learn Mandarin and proved to be an invaluable translation resource to DCEG. In 1990, she assisted Dr. Abby Ershow by translating the Chinese Food Composition Tables from Chinese to English. These tables were later published in the Journal of Food Composition and Analysis. In addition, for the past 10 years she has collaborated with Gloria Gridley, M.S. (Biostatistics Branch), on several case-control studies conducted in Shanghai, China, on digestive, prostate, and biliary cancers. Ms. Chen again contributed her invaluable translation skills to this research by interpreting and analyzing the dietary sections of these studies. Ms. Chen also enhanced Ms. Gridley's research efforts by demonstrating certain Chinese dietary habits. "Katherine dedicated many hours of effort to teaching me about botany, identifying dozens of Chinese vegetables and bringing in samples fresh from the market, her own garden, and seed packets," remarked Ms. Gridley. "She took our Shanghai colleagues, Dr. Gao and Dr. Deng, and me on trips to local restaurants to be sure I understood the Shanghai cooking methods."

Ms. Chen also worked in the Radiation Epidemiology Branch (REB), and contributed to the lung cancer and radon exposure study in Gansu, China. She recognized the research potential of the Gansu cave dwellers, a uniquely exposed population with high radon levels, and brought it to the attention of REB researchers. In addition, she helped design the dietary history section of the questionnaire, edited the Chinese version, and back-translated it into English. She also translated the Chinese pathology forms into English. Ms. Chen served as a liaison with the Chinese collaborators involved in this study and was a coauthor on two publications, "Residential radon and lung cancer risk in a highexposure area of Gansu Province, China" (American Journal of Epidemiology, March 2002) and "Previous pulmonary diseases and risk of lung cancer in Gansu Province, China" (International Journal of Epidemiology, February 2001). In a separate but important contribution, Ms. Chen compiled the electronic version of the Radiation Research Bibliography.

For the last few years, Ms. Chen has continued her efforts with Chinese translations and worked with Ms. Gloria Rasband in the Executive Plaza South Library. Upon retirement, Ms. Chen hopes to spend more time pursuing her passion for gardening and botany.

-Sandy Rothschild

NIH RESEARCH FESTIVAL ADDS EPIDEMIOLOGY SESSION

The NIH Research Festival, an annual event held to highlight intramural research, will add a poster session devoted to epidemiology and a mini-symposium related to molecular epidemiology and clinical genetics. This year the festival takes place October 14-17 on the main NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland, and is co-chaired by DCEG Director, Joseph Fraumeni, Jr., M.D.

The Festival will kick off with an all-day symposium celebrating the Clinical Center's 50th anniversary and will feature presentations by current and former NIH scientists. There will also be an NIH job fair aimed at postdoctoral fellows as well as special exhibits on NIH Resources and the technical sales association scientific equipment booths.

More information can be found online at: http://festival03.nih.gov.

To prepare for the latest developments in biospecimen collection, processing, and analysis and for the resulting effect on NCI's intramural research program, the NCI Epidemiology and Carcinogenesis Faculty, chaired by Richard Hayes, D.D.S., Ph.D., convened a specimen processing workshop on February 24. Organized by DCEG's Repository Committee, the daylong event attracted 98 attendees, including extramural scientists, investigators from NCI's intramural research programs, NCI repository and laboratory contract managers, and representatives from several commercial vendors.

The workshop addressed practical questions concerning specimen preservation, tissue handling, DNA extraction, storage, and specialized collections and techniques, and the workshop also promoted the development of standardized protocols. The morning presentations were given by DCEG investigators and invited guest speakers on blood and tissue processing, applications of new techniques, and microarrays. The afternoon was devoted to four breakout sessions focused on blood and buccal cell processing, tissue processing, nucleic acids, and proteomics. These sessions resulted in recommendations for developing new methods and quality assurance protocols, as well as plans for continuing discussions.

DCEG's biospecimen program has grown tremendously in recent years. Currently, biorepositories store and process more than 7,000,000 specimens from about 500 studies. The present goal is to efficiently collect and process specimens for genomics-based applications. During the next two years, more than 80,000 samples are expected to enter the queue for DNA extraction at contract laboratories, followed by genotyping analyses, which will primarily be carried out at the NCI Core Genotyping Facility.With technologies developing at a rapid pace, the biospecimen program is also preparing for post-genomics applications such as the large-scale development of tissue microarrays and protein profiling. DCEG continues to improve its capabilities for collecting,maintaining, and analyzing standard biologic specimens such as blood and nucleic acids; however, proficiency is needed in the collection and processing of different tissue types for advanced applications. Even now, multiple DCEG projects propose to take advantage of newer analytical strategies and technologies, including nanotechnology, proteomics, tissue microdissection, DNA and tissue microarrays, and expression arrays.

Overall, the attendees were pleased with the quality of the presentations, lively participation, and productive discussions during the workshop. DCEG investigators are already following up on several ideas generated during workshop discussions, including potentially useful methods for processing blood and buccal cells and for evaluating whole genome amplification technology. Jim Vaught, Ph.D., who chairs the DCEG Repository Committee, will work with other committee members on a summary of the workshop proceedings for publication. In addition, Dr.Vaught anticipates the formation of several specimen processing working groups based on workshop recommendations.

-Alyssa Voss, M.P.H., and Jim Vaught, Ph.D.

In May, Ms. Catherine Bernadette Fox retired from DCEG's Office of the Director. Ms. Fox, better known as "Kit," had been the Secretary for DCEG's Deputy Director, Dr. Shelia Zahm, for the past five years.

"Kit is a true gem," notes Dr. Zahm. "Not only has she been outstanding in managing a wide range of challenging and demanding administrative responsibilities, but she has done it all with the most amazing attitude. She is always cheerful, encouraging, reliable, and motivated...the ultimate professional, yet incredibly personable and a joy to be around. It has been a privilege to work with her and count her as a friend." Likewise, Ms. Fox's mutual admiration for Dr. Zahm is made clear because she refers to her supervisor as the "treasure of DCEG."

Ms. Fox's government service started in 1975, when she held a position with the Securities and Exchange Commission. She joined the National Cancer Institute in 1988, spent a brief period working at the Food and Drug Administration in the mid-1990's, and returned to DCEG in 1998. As a troubleshooter, organizer, communicator, and the right-hand person to the DCEG Deputy Director, Ms. Fox viewed her main role as making her boss's job easier.

During her career at the National Cancer Institute, Ms. Fox received numerous work performance awards and several special service awards. The award justifications note that she has "provided the highest quality of executive administrative support to the DCEG Director and Deputy Director." Ms. Fox chaired DCEG's Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) for several years, collecting accolades for running extremely successful drives. Her colleagues are quick to observe that she always divided her CFC Special Service Award money among the other DCEG campaign workers.

Those who meet Ms. Fox quickly learn that her personal strength and perseverance are rooted in her sense of spirituality, which many people referred to when they spoke about her. "What a pleasure and privilege it has been to work with Kit," remarked DCEG Director, Dr. Joseph Fraumeni, Jr. "All of us in the Division have benefited greatly from her high level of competence, her kind spirit and warm personality, and her terrific sense of humor."

A lifelong learner and a member in two academic honor societies, Phi Theta Kappa and Psi Beta, Ms. Fox received a Bachelor of Science in Business Management degree with minors in English and Psychology from the University of Maryland in 1993. She plans to continue her education by studying ancient history during her retirement.

When asked what she considers to be her greatest achievement, with a laugh, Ms. Fox instantly responded, "Raising three children!"

Ms. Fox described her career as a secretary as very rewarding, emphasizing the vital importance of a secretary's role. "I am very fortunate to have been recognized by all the people I served in DCEG," she acknowledged, pointing out that the most important aspect of her career has been the opportunity to serve other people. Ms. Sandy Rothschild,

Those who meet Ms. Fox quickly learn that her personal strength and perseverance are rooted in her sense of spirituality.

Ms. Fox plans to divide her time between volunteering with her church, traveling, and taking university courses.

-Kris Kiser, M.H.A.

DCEG RESEARCHERS ELECTED TO AMERICAN EPIDEMIOLOGY SOCIETY

In March, Arthur Schatzkin, M.D., Dr.P.H., Margaret Tucker, M.D., and Sholom Wacholder, Ph.D., were elected into the American Epidemiology Society (AES). Founded in 1927, AES is composed of distinguished leaders in epidemiology, and has more than 240 active and 130 emeritus members. Each year, AES hosts an important scientific meeting at which significant research papers are presented and discussed.

BREAST CANCER

Oral Contraceptives and Breast Cancer Risk Among Young Women [ full text ]
The risk of breast cancer and recent oral contraceptive use was evaluated in a U.S. population-based study of 1,640 breast cancer cases aged 20–44 years and 1,492 controls.Women who recently used oral contraceptives containing more than 35 µg of ethinyl estradiol per pill had a higher risk of breast cancer than users of lower dose preparations when compared to never users (relative risks [RR] = 2.0 and 1.3, respectively, p for trend < 0.01). This relationship was more marked among women younger than age 35, among whom risks associated with high- and low-dose ethinyl estradiol use were 3.6 and 1.9 (p for trend < 0.01), respectively. Significant trends of increasing breast cancer risk for pills with higher progestin and estrogen potencies were also observed and were most pronounced among women younger than age 35. Newer lowpotency/ low-estrogen dose oral contraceptives may impart a lower risk of breast cancer than that associated with earlier high-potency/high-dose preparations. (Althuis MD, Brogan DR, Coates RJ, Daling JR, Gammon MD, Malone KE, Schoenberg JB, Brinton LA. Hormonal content and potency of oral contraceptives and breast cancer risk among young women. Br J Cancer 2003;88:50–57)

Benefit Estimates for Breast Cancer Chemoprevention With Tamoxifen [ full text ]
Weighted data from the year 2000 National Health Interview Survey Cancer Control Module were used to estimate the total number of U.S. women aged 35–79 years who were eligible for tamoxifen chemoprevention based on the FDA eligibility criteria and a positive benefit/risk index. Among the 65,826,074 women aged 35–79 years without reported breast cancer in the United States in 2000, 10,232,816 women (15.5 percent) would be eligible for tamoxifen chemoprevention. Eligibility varied dramatically by race; 18.7 percent of white women, 5.7 percent of black women, and 2.9 percent of Hispanic women were eligible. Of the 50,104,829 white U.S. women aged 35–79 years, 2,431,911 (4.9 percent) would have a positive benefit/risk index for tamoxifen chemoprevention. Of the 7,481,779 black U.S. women aged 35–79 years, only 42,768 (0.6 percent) would have a positive benefit/risk index. Among white women, 28,492 breast cancers would be prevented or deferred if those women who have a positive net benefit index took tamoxifen over the next five years. (Freedman AN, Graubard BI, Rao SR, McCaskill-Stevens W, Ballard-Barbash R, Gail MH. Estimates of the number of U.S. women who could benefit from tamoxifen for breast cancer chemoprevention. J Natl Cancer Inst 2003;95:526–532)

CERVICAL CANCER

COLORECTAL CANCER

GENETICS

Cancer Incidence Among Individuals With Down Syndrome [ full text ]
Mortality and cancer incidence were evaluated in a combined cohort of 4,872 individuals in Sweden or Denmark with a diagnosis of Down syndrome (DS). Individuals with DS had an increased risk of incident acute lymphocytic (standardized incidence ratio [SIR] = 24.2, CI = 15.2–36.6) and acute nonlymphocytic (SIR = 28.2, CI = 15.7–48.3) leukemias. Risks of testicular cancer (SIR = 3.7, CI = 1.0–9.4, n = 4) and liver cancer (SIR = 6.0, CI = 1.2–17.5, n = 3) were also elevated. Individuals with DS also experienced elevated mortality attributed to stomach cancer (SMR = 6.4, CI = 1.7–16.4; n = 4), dementia and Alzheimer disease, epilepsy, ischemic heart disease, other heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, infectious diseases, and congenital anomalies. These results provide clues regarding chromosome 21 gene involvement in diseases that complicate DS. (Hill DA, Gridley G, Cnattingius S,Mellemkjaer L, Linet M, Adami HO, Olsen JH, Nyren O, Fraumeni JF Jr. Mortality and cancer incidence among individuals with Down syndrome. Arch Intern Med 2003;163:705–711)

Misspecification of Genetic Random Effects in Family Studies [ full text ]
Family studies to identify disease-related genes frequently collect only families with multiple cases. If risk factors known to influence disease risk in the general population also play a role in the study families, these factors should be incorporated into the genetic analysis to control for confounding. Pfeiffer and colleagues (Biometrika 2001;88:933–948) proposed a variance components or random effects model to account for common familial effects and for different genetic correlations among family members. After adjusting for ascertainment, maximum likelihood estimates of the measured exposure effects were calculated.While this model accounts for genetic correlations as well as for the ascertainment of families, the distribution of random genetic effects also need to be specified. An investigation of the robustness of the proposed model with respect to various misspecifications of genetic random effects in simulations found that when the true underlying genetic mechanism is polygenic with a small dominant component, or Mendelian with low allele frequency and penetrance, the effects of misspecification on the estimation of fixed effects in the model are negligible. (Pfeiffer RM, Hildesheim A, Gail MH, Pee D, Chen CJ, Goldstein AM, and Diehl SR. Robustness of inference on measured covariates to misspecification of genetic random effects in family studies. Genet Epidemiol 2003;1:14–23)

Choice of Score in Trend Tests for Case-Control Studies [ full text ]
When applying the Cochran-Armitage (CA) trend test for an association between a candidate allele and a disease in a case-control study, a set of scores must be assigned to the three genotypes. Sasieni (Biometrics 1997;53:1253–1261) suggested scores for the number of “A” alleles that are appropriate for the recessive, additive, and dominant models but did not examine their statistical properties. In this analysis, the use of the criteria of minimizing the required sample size of the CA trend test to achieve prespecified type I and II errors showed that the scores given by Sasieni are optimal for the recessive and dominant models and are locally optimal for the additive one. The additive scores are shown to be locally optimal for the multiplicative model. (Zheng G, Freidlin B, Zhaohai L, Gastwirth J. Choice of score in trend tests for case-control studies of candidate gene associations. Biometrical Journal 2003;45:335–348)

Variations in Cytokine Genes and Risk of Gastric Cancer [ full text ]
Polymorphisms in the interleukin (IL)-1 beta gene cluster and four other cytokine genes were assessed in a population-based study of upper gastrointestinal cancers, including gastric cardia (n = 126) and noncardia adenocarcinoma (n = 188), esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (n = 53) and adenocarcinoma (n = 108), and controls (n = 212). Proinflammatory genotypes of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-á) and IL-10 were each associated with more than doubling of the risk of noncardia gastric cancer. Carriage of multiple proinflammatory polymorphisms of IL-1Bo IL-1 receptor antagonist, TNF-á, and IL-10 conferred greater risk, with odds ratios (CI) of 2.8 (1.6–5.1) for 1, 5.4 (2.7–10.6) for 2, and 27.3 (7.4–99.8) for 3 or 4 high-risk genotypes. These polymorphisms were not consistently related to the risks of esophageal or gastric cardia cancers. Polymorphisms in IL-4 and IL-6 were not associated with any of the cancers studied. A proinflammatory cytokine genetic profile increases the risk of noncardia gastric adenocarcinoma but not other upper gastrointestinal cancers, possibly by altering response to gastric Helicobacter pylori infection. (El-Omar EM, Rabkin CS, Gammon MD, Vaughan TL, Risch HA, Schoenberg JB, Stanford JL, Mayne ST, Goedert J, Blot WJ, Fraumeni JF Jr, Chow WH. Increased risk of noncardia gastric cancer associated with proinflammatory cytokine gene polymorphisms. Gastroenterology 2003;124:1193–1201)

INFECTIOUS AGENTS

HHV8 Infection Among Injection Drug Users [ full text ]
The association between injection drug use and human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8) was examined among 1,905 injection drug users (IDUs) enrolled in a crosssectional study in San Francisco. Subjects were tested for K8.1 antibodies to HHV8 lytic antigen; HHV8 seroprevalence was 10 percent among women, 10 percent among heterosexual men, and 23 percent among men who have sex with men. HHV8 seroprevalence increased with longer duration of injection drug use for each of these groups (p = 0.01, p = 0.03, and p = 0.049 for trend, respectively). HHV8 infection was relatively common among IDUs in San Francisco, and longer duration of injection drug use was associated with an increase in the risk of HHV8 infection that could not be explained by sexual behavior or demographic differences. These results are consistent with the occurrence of bloodborne transmission of HHV8 among IDUs. (Atkinson J, Edlin BR, Engels EA, Kral AH, Seal K, Gamache CJ, Whitby D, O’Brien TR. Seroprevalence of human herpesvirus 8 among injection drug users in San Francisco. J Infect Dis 2003;187:974–981)

Cancer Risk After Exposure to Poliovirus Vaccine Contaminated with SV40 [ full text ]
Cancer incidence in three Danish birth cohorts was examined to clarify whether simian virus (SV) 40 infection increases risk of mesothelioma, ependymoma, choroid plexus tumors, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma or the risk of childhood cancers. SV40 exposure at the time when the polio vaccine contained SV40 was not associated with these specific tumors of interest. (See Figure 2.) After 69.5 million person-years of follow-up, individuals exposed to SV40-contaminated poliovirus vaccine as infants or children had lower overall cancer risk (relative risk [RR] = 0.86, CI = 0.81–0.91 and RR = 0.79, CI = 0.75–0.84, respectively; p < 0.001 for both) than unexposed individuals. Ependymoma incidence was higher during the exposed period than during the unexposed period (RR = 2.59, CI = 1.36–4.92; p = 0.004 versus the period before contamination); however, incidence peaked in 1969, after the vaccine was cleared of SV40. (Engels EA, Katki HA, Nielsen NM, Winther JF, Hjalgrim H, Gjerris F, Rosenberg PS, Frisch M. Cancer incidence in Denmark following exposure to poliovirus vaccine contaminated with simian virus 40. J Natl Cancer Inst 2003;95:532–539)

AIDS-Related Immune Deficiency and Cancer Risk [ full text ]
The relationship between cancer risk and AIDS-related immunosuppression was studied among 82,217 adults who had a CD4 count measured at AIDS onset and had survived into the followup period. Data were obtained using linked records from AIDS and cancer registries in 11 U.S. regions. The standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) for AIDS-defining Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS), non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), and cervical cancer were 258, 78, and 8.8, respectively. For each fall of 100 CD4 cells/mm3, relative risks were 1.36 (CI = 1.29–1.43) for KS and 1.48 (CI = 1.37–1.59) for NHL. Among NHL subtypes, the association with lower CD4 counts was strongest for immunoblastic lymphoma (relative risk [RR] = 1.64, CI = 1.37–1.96, per decline of 100 CD4 cells/mm3) and central nervous system lymphoma (RR = 2.29, CI = 1.95–2.69). (See Figure 3.) The SIR for cervical cancer did not vary with CD4 count. For non-AIDS-defining cancers, neither the combined risk nor the risk of specific types were associated with declining CD4 counts. (Mbulaiteye SM, Biggar RJ, Goedert JJ, Engels EA. Immune deficiency and risk for malignancy among persons with AIDS. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 2003;32:527–533)

LEUKEMIA

LUNG CANCER

Selenium and Risk of Lung Cancer [ full text ]
Among 250 incident lung cancer cases and 250 controls within the Alpha-Tocopherol Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention cohort, a protective association was suggested for higher selenium status among men who entered the trial early (when the range of selenium values included very low levels). For men with adjusted toenail selenium concentrations at the 75th percentile compared to those with the lowest selenium concentrations, the odds ratios (CI) ranged between 0.2 (0.1-0.4) for men randomized earliest in the trial and 0.6 (0.3-1.4) for men randomized in the fifth year. Low selenium status may be associated with increased risk for lung cancer. (Hartman TJ, Taylor PR, Alfthan G, Fagerstrom R, Virtamo J, Mark SD, Virtanen M, Barrett MJ, Albanes D. Toenail selenium concentration and lung cancer in male smokers (Finland). Cancer Causes Control 2002;13:923-928)

OCCUPATION

Pesticide Use Increases Risk of Prostate Cancer [ full text ]
A prospective cohort of 55,332 male pesticide applicators from Iowa and North Carolina in the Agricultural Health Study was examined for associations between 45 agricultural pesticides and prostate cancer incidence. Pesticide use data were collected by means of selfadministered questionnaires completed at enrollment. Prostate cancer risk was increased among cohort members (standardized incidence ratio = 1.14; CI = 1.05-1.24). Chlorinated pesticide use among applicators over 50 years of age and methyl bromide use were significantly associated with prostate cancer risk. Several other pesticides showed a significantly increased risk of prostate cancer among study subjects with a family history of prostate cancer but not among those without a family history. (Alavanja MCR, Samanic C, Dosemeci M, Lubin J, Tarone R, Lynch CF, Knott C, Thomas K, Hoppin JA, Barker J, Coble J, Sandler DP, Blair A. Use of agricultural pesticides and prostate cancer risk in the Agricultural Health Study cohort. Am J Epidemiol 2003;157:800-814)

Cancer Risk Among Dry Cleaners [ full text ]
To evaluate cancer risks associated with organic solvents, mortality was evaluated among a cohort of 5,369 members of a dry cleaner union. Adjusted total mortality was similar to that of the U.S. population (standardized mortality ratio [SMR] = 1.0, N = 2,351, CI = 1.0-1.1). Excess cancer mortality was observed for Hodgkin's disease (SMR = 2.0, CI = 0.6-4.6) and cancers of the esophagus (SMR = 2.2, CI = 1.5-3.3), larynx (SMR = 1.7, CI = 0.6-3.7), lung (SMR = 1.4, CI = 1.1-1.6), and cervix (SMR = 1.6, CI = 1.0-2.3). Small increases were noted for bladder cancer among white men and women and for kidney cancer among black men and women. Relative risks for cancers of the larynx, lung, and kidney were larger among subjects estimated to have higher levels of exposure and risks from bladder cancer and chronic nephritis were greater among persons who entered the dry cleaner union after 1960. (Blair A, Petralia SA, Stewart PA. Extended mortality follow-up of a cohort of dry cleaners. Ann Epidemiol 2003;1:50-56)

ORAL CANCER

PROSTATE CANCER

RADIATION

Demetrius Albanes, M.D., Nutritional Epidemiology Branch (NEB), spoke on “Vitamin E: epidemiological and experimental evidence in support of a role in prostate cancer” at the First International Conference on Chemoprevention of Prostate Cancer held during March in San Antonio, Texas. Dr. Albanes also spoke on “Randomized trials with vitamin supplements—the ATBC Study” at the “Selenium and vitamin E cancer prevention trial (SELECT) workshop” held during the Southwest Oncology Group’s annual meeting during April.

Aaron Blair, Ph.D., Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch (OEEB), gave an invited seminar at The George Washington University School of Public Health in January on the Agricultural Health Study.

Louise Brinton, Ph.D., Hormonal and Reproductive Epidemiology Branch (HREB), recently became a Senior Editor for the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, and Prevention.

Linda M. Brown, Dr.P.H., Biostatistics Branch (BB), was appointed as DCEG’s representative to the Cancer Health Disparities Progress Review Group Steering Committee, which includes representatives from all NCI Divisions, selected agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Office of the Secretary. Dr. Brown was also selected to serve on the “Champion” Team for Cancer Health Disparities, which will draft the section on Cancer Health Disparities for the NCI Director’s 2005 Bypass Budget.

Kenneth Cantor, Ph.D. (OEEB), taught a class on “Design issues in case-control studies” for an advanced course in epidemiologic methods at Yale University.

Since December, Philip Castle, Ph.D., M.P.H. (HREB), has given eight invited talks on “Human papillomavirus (HPV) and the development of cervical precancer and cancer” to various audiences, including Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Gynecologic Oncology Group. Dr. Castle also spoke on “HPV infection and immunity” for the HIV and Cancer Virology Faculty and vaccine working group meeting on “Future vaccines for papilloma and AIDS viruses” held at NCI during February.

Jinbo Chen, Ph.D.(BB), gave an invited talk on “Updating the Gail Model by incorporating mammographic density as a risk predictor” at the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium Meeting held in Portsmouth,New Hampshire, during April.

In November, Mary Fraser, R.N., M.A., Genetic Epidemiology Branch (GEB), gave an invited talk on “Advances in genetics research: evolving challenges and clinical implications for hereditary cancers” at the 108th Annual Meeting of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States in Louisville, Kentucky. Ms. Fraser served as a co-guest editor for the February 2003 issue of Seminars in Oncology Nursing, which was devoted to melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers. Ms. Fraser was also recently appointed to the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s People Living With Cancer (www.plwc.org) web site advisory panel on skin cancer and melanoma. In addition, Ms. Fraser represents the Dermatology Nurses’ Association on the National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention and on the American Academy of Dermatology’s Melanoma/Skin Cancer Committee.

Patricia Hartge, Sc.D., Epidemiology and Biostatistics Program (EBP), lectured on “Genes and environment interactions in cancer” at Yale University in April.

The Chornobyl Research Unit of the Radiation Epidemiology Branch (REB) held a workshop during March entitled “Working meeting on quality control and interviewing techniques.” The workshop, held in preparation for the third screening cycle for thyroid disease, was attended by close to 20 Ukrainian members of the Ukrainian-American Thyroid Study.

Robert Hoover, M.D., Sc.D. (EBP), gave Grand Rounds at the Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth College, on “Hormonal etiology of breast cancer: 1700–2003.”Dr. Hoover also chaired a symposium on genetic epidemiology at the American Society for Preventative Oncology meeting held in Philadelphia during March.

In December, Ann Hsing, Ph.D. (HREB), gave two talks in Taipei, Taiwan. The first, entitled “Racial differences in prostate cancer risk: implications for etiology,” was at the Department of Urology,Veterans General Hospital, and the second,“Molecular epidemiology of prostate cancer,” was at the National Defense Medical College.While in Taipei, Dr. Hsing also received an award from the National Scientific Council in Taiwan for “Outstanding Overseas Researcher.”

Peter Inskip, Ph.D. (REB), gave an invited talk on the “Epidemiology of brain tumors in adults: possible clues to etiology” at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute Clinical Oncology Grand Rounds during January.

Manolis Kogevinas, M.D., Ph.D. who is on sabbatical in the OEEB, gave several invited talks this year including “Occupational asthma in Europe: the European Community Respiratory Health Survey—ECRHS” at the University of Texas School of Public Health and at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville. He also spoke on “Disinfection by-products in drinking water and bladder cancer” at the Emory School of Public Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Center for Environmental Health Sciences at Dartmouth University. He also addressed the Center for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences at Dartmouth University on “The Human health effects of dioxins and the IARC classification process.”

Mary Lou McMaster, M.D. (GEB), spoke at the International Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia Foundation Annual Patient Education Forum held in April. Dr.McMaster spoke on “Understanding Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia: the power of family.”

Pauline Mysliwiec, M.D., M.P.H. (NEB), gave two talks on her work on “Surveillance colonoscopy for colorectal polyps: recommendations by U.S. gastroenterologists and general surgeons.” The first was an oral presentation at the Digestive Disease Week meeting held during May in Orlando, Florida, and the second was an invited talk given to the Department of Clinical Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, during April. Dr.Mysliwiec was also invited to give Gastrointestinal Grand Rounds at the University of California at Davis during December on “Characteristics of baseline adenomas as predictors of adenoma recurrence.”

Roxana Moslehi, Ph.D., M.S. (GEB), gave two invited talks: one in March at The George Washington University on “Genetics of breast and ovarian cancer” and one in April at Georgetown University on “Genetic studies of ovarian cancer.” Dr.Moslehi was also selected from an international competition of postdoctoral fellows to attend the World Life Sciences Forum Meetings held in Lyon, France, during April. The meetings honored the 50th anniversary of the discovery of DNA’s double helix structure by Drs. James Watson and Francis Crick.

Jay Nuckols, Ph.D. (OEEB), gave an invited presentation on “Using GIS for exposure assessment” at the 2003 International Conference on Health and Environment held by the European Health and Environment Information System for Disease and Exposure Mapping and Risk Assessment/Small Area Health Statistics Unit in Ostersund, Sweden, during March.

Tanuja Rastogi, Ph.D. (NEB), addressed the Society for Epidemiologic Research on “Physical activity and risk of coronary heart disease in India” during a spotlight session at the annual meeting held in Atlanta, Georgia, during June.

Cécile Ronckers, Ph.D. (REB), received the Inglenook Scholarin-Training Award for the 2003 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting in July. Dr. Ronckers will present her work on “Multiple diagnostic x-rays and risk of breast cancer: findings from the U.S. Scoliosis Cohort Study.”

Nathaniel Rothman, M.D., Ph.D.(OEEB), gave an invited talk in January on "Methodological issues in the study of common polymorphisms in cancer epidemiology studies" for the Georgetown University Medical School Tumor Biology Seminars. Dr. Rothman also spoke at an AACR-sponsored meeting on Molecular and Genetic Epidemiology of Cancer, held in Hawaii during January on "False positive reports in studies of genetic risk factors in epidemiologic studies: problem, analytic solution, and implications" and at the Environmental Mutagen Society annual meeting, held in Miami during May on "Application of new technologies to epidemiologic studies."

Arthur Schatzkin, M.D., Dr.P.H. (NEB), gave an invited talk entitled "Will multifactorial measures of dietary intake solve our problems?" at the 5th International Conference of Dietary Assessment Methods held in Chaing Rai, Thailand, during January. In April, he spoke at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology meeting held in San Diego on "Food frequency questionnaires:What is the problem for large-scale epidemiologic studies?" Dr. Schatzkin served on a working group that is preparing an International Agency for Research in Cancer monograph on fruits and vegetables.

Mark Sherman, M.D. (HREB), received an NCI Breast Cancer Faculty Infrastructure Award for his proposal on a "Study to collect normal breast tissue from organ and tissue donors." In December, Dr. Sherman gave three presentations on cervical pathology and human papillomavirus infection to the Michigan Society of Pathology in Ann Arbor. Additionally, Dr. Sherman spoke on "Non-endometrioid types of endometrial carcinoma" as part of a symposium on endometrial carcinoma at the annual meeting of the International Society of Gynecological Pathologists held in Washington during March.

Rashmi Sinha, Ph.D. (NEB), gave an invited talk in May on "Impact of the environment on colon cancer" at the International Scientific Conference organized by the Environmental Mutagen Society in Miami. Dr. Sinha also chaired a biorepository session at the AACR Molecular and Genetic Epidemiology of Cancer meeting in Hawaii.

In December, Rachael Stolzenberg-Solomon, M.P.H., Ph.D. (NEB), gave an invited talk on "Dietary methyl donors, biochemical indicators of methyl group availability, and pancreatic cancer risk" at a meeting on Nutritional Links to Possible Mechanisms Underlying Pancreatic Cancer sponsored by the Nutritional Sciences and Cancer Biomarkers Research Groups of NCI's Division of Cancer Prevention.

Jorge Toro, M.D. (GEB), gave an invited talk in May on "Mutations in the fumarate hydratase gene cause hereditary leiomyomatosis and renal cell cancer" at the International Society of Investigative Dermatology annual meeting held in Miami Beach and at the Washington Dermatological Society in Bethesda. He has also been selected to participate in the World Health Organization's classification of skin tumors. Dr. Toro gave an oral presentation on "Birt-Hogg-Dube syndrome and hereditary leiomyomatosis and renal cell carcinoma" at the World Congress of Dermatology meeting held in Paris.

Roel Vermeulen, Ph.D. (OEEB), gave an invited seminar at The George Washington University in February on "Exposure assessment: dealing with variability." In March, Dr.Vermeulen addressed the Dutch Occupational Hygiene Society in the Netherlands, on "Trends in occupational exposures: who gets the credit?"

Mary Ward, Ph.D. (OEEB), gave an invited seminar at The George Washington University in March on "Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as a tool for exposure assessment in cancer epidemiology studies."

Margaret Wright, Ph.D., a fellow in NEB, successfully defended her doctoral dissertation at Yale University School of Public Health. Her thesis was titled "An epidemiological investigation of the role of dietary antioxidant nutrients, fruits and vegetables, and residential radon exposure in the etiology of lung cancer."

Shelia Zahm, Sc.D., Office of the Director, recently joined the Editorial Board of Cancer Causes and Control.

NEW BRANCH NAMES TAKE EFFECT

To better reflect the type of research being conducted, two DCEG branches underwent name changes in March. The Environmental Epidemiology Branch became the Hormonal and Reproductive Epidemiology Branch and the Occupational Epidemiology Branch became the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch.

Michael Bradshaw left the Office of the Director (OD) in April. Over the last three years, Mike assumed many responsibilities including serving as the sub-custodian for property management for the office, assisting in the development of DCEG directories, and updating databases for Linkage distribution. He is finishing his undergraduate degree in Finance from the University of Maryland and has accepted a position as a Pastoral Intern at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg,Maryland.

Shih-Chen Chang, Ph.D., joined the Nutritional Epidemiology Branch (NEB) as a visiting postdoctoral fellow. Dr. Chang received an M.S. in nutritional biochemistry from National Taiwan University in 1995 and then worked at the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center in Taiwan. In 1997, he joined the doctoral program in the Center for Human Nutrition at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. For his thesis, he examined the impact of dietary and lifestyle factors as well as hemoglobin concentrations on fetal growth and birth outcomes in pregnant African American adolescents.He will work with Dr.Michael Leitzmann in investigating the association of diet and physical activity with breast and colon cancer risk.

Andrew Flood, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in the NEB, joined the University of Minnesota School of Public Health faculty in April as an assistant professor in the Division of Epidemiology. He will also be a member of the University of Minnesota Cancer Center. During his DCEG fellowship, Dr. Flood examined dietary factors and risk factors of colorectal cancer.

Srmena Krstev, M.D., Ph.D., is spending a year as a visiting scientist in the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch. She currently serves as Head of the Center for Development in Occupational Health and International Relations at the Clinical Center of Serbia in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. During her visit, Dr. Krstev is collaborating with DCEG staff to evaluate occupational risks for stomach cancer in a Polish case-control study and for asthma and chronic bronchitis in the Shanghai women's cohort study.

Unhee Lim, Ph.D., has joined the NEB as a visiting fellow. Dr. Lim obtained a bachelor's degree in food and nutrition from Hanyang University, South Korea, in 1992. She received graduate training at Cornell University, completing a master's degree in maternal and child nutrition in 1996, a dietetic certification program in 1997, and a Ph.D. in nutritional epidemiology in 2002. Dr. Lim's dissertation research was on folate nutrition, genetic susceptibility, and the occurrence of cardiovascular disease. She will work with Dr. Rachel Stolzenberg-Solomon, and others in determining the role of folate and one-carbon metabolism in carcinogenesis with integration of hereditary polymorphisms in regulatory enzymes.

Tania Mara Welzel, M.D., Ph.D., has joined the Viral Epidemiology Branch as a visiting fellow. Dr.Welzel, a native of Stuttgart, Germany, received her medical and doctoral degrees from the Heidelberg Medical School. For her thesis, she characterized the stable expression of hantavirus nucleocapsid proteins. She had a one-year rotation at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and completed an internal medicine residency at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich. Dr.Welzel will be working with Drs. Denise Whitby, Thomas O'Brien, and James Goedert on studies related to hepatitis B and C infection. She also will be participating in the NIH/Duke University Clinical Epidemiology Training Program.

Alyssa Voss, M.P.H., a health communications fellow in the OD, left DCEG in March to accept a position with The George Washington University Biostatistics Center as a research associate. Ms. Voss worked on a variety of communications issues during her 15-month stay, including writing articles for Linkage, developing web-based communication models for various studies, and training staff to handle press activities. Ms.Voss received a technology transfer award for her work on media communications for human papillomavirus studies and for developing several Quick Reference Guides for DCEG staff.

Katrina Wahl, who had been the Office Program Specialist for the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Program since February 2000, left this past March to move to Ohio. Ms.Wahl also worked on the Interlymph Case-Control Consortium and helped several branches prepare for site visits.

Dr. Gilbert Wheeler Beebe, an NCI epidemiologist and statistician famed for his monumental studies of populations exposed to ionizing radiation, died on March 3, 2003, at the age of 90. Until the two days before his death, Dr. Beebe was a daily fixture at DCEG, working as a Scientist Emeritus after retiring from his official duties as head of the Chornobyl Research Unit in spring 2002.

During a research career spanning nearly 70 years, he had an enormous and lasting influence on generations of fellow scientists as a leader, mentor, colleague, and friend. "One way to measure the merit of a person's life is by the magnitude and persistence of fond memories in the minds of that person's family, his colleagues, his peers, and his friends," reflected Dr. Evan Douple, Director of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Board on Radiation Effects Research. "By that metric, Gil was a giant."

Dr. Beebe studied Sociology and Statistics at Columbia University and received a doctorate in 1942. During World War II, he worked in the office of the Surgeon General of the Army with Dr. Michael DeBakey to create the Medical Follow-Up Agency, which Dr. Beebe directed until 1977. "The Medical Follow-Up Agency is a living testimony to the worth of an idea conceived many years ago by Gil and Mike," commented Mr. Seymour Jablon of NAS at the memorial service. Mr. Jablon worked with Dr. Beebe on a major reorganization of another NAS program, the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC), which documented the effects from the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Dr. Beebe spent a total of seven years in Japan as ABCC's Statistics Chief. The program still flourishes today under ABCC's successor, the binational Radiation Effects Research Foundation. In 1977, Dr. Beebe joined the National Cancer Institute in what later became the DCEG.

During a research career spanning nearly 70 years, [Gil Beebe] had an enormous and lasting influence on generations of fellow scientists as a leader, mentor, colleague, and friend.

In the spring of 2002, the Department of Energy, the National Cancer Institute, and the NAS Board on Radiation Effects Research honored Dr. Beebe by establishing the Gilbert W. Beebe Fellowship in Radiation Sciences. The fellowship provides support for recipients to work at the Radiation Epidemiology Branch (REB) and the Radiation Effects Research Foundation. The NAS commemorated the occasion last summer by sponsoring the first annual Gilbert Beebe Scientific Symposium; the second symposium will be held in July 2003. Following Dr. Beebe's death, the REB started a memorial fund in his name, which will be used for travel awards for young investigators attending the Radiation Research Society Annual Meeting.

Dr. Beebe is survived by his wife of 69 years, Ruth, four children, Alfred, Beatrice, Brian, and Christopher, and five grandchildren.

-Kris Kiser, M.H.A.