This is the second and final resubmission to seek renewal of funding for the R25 education program, Nutritional Epidemiology of Cancer. The previous review summary concluded that """"""""This is a very strong and unique program. Dr. Stampfer appears to have addressed most of the problems raised in the earlier application. This is an outstanding program."""""""" The original proposal was submitted with the encouragement and advice of the NCI Training Branch. Advancing nutrition research through expanded education and training programs is a high priority of the Division of Cancer Prevention at the National Cancer Institute. This program includes provision of sustained leadership, dedicated faculty time, a well-defined specialized curriculum, interdisciplinary research environments, and two (or more) mentors for each trainee. This interdisciplinary, yet focused, program is based on the interface of nutrition and epidemiology. It is led by Dr. Meir Stampfer, with Dr. Walter Willett as co-Principal Investigator, Dr. Edward Giovannucci as Education Director and Dr. Stephanie Smith-Warner as Associate Education Director, and addition of Dr. Lorelei Mucci. The ultimate goal is to train researchers to discover new ways in which changes in diet can reduce the risk and burden of cancer. The program, now in its sixth year (through a no-cost extension), already has established a solid record of achievement. It has drawn on the wealth of other resources from the Departments of Epidemiology and Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, which has long been a recognized center for didactic and practical training in epidemiologic methods, cancer epidemiology in general, and nutritional epidemiology. This educational program also draws on diverse research opportunities within the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DH/HCC), a matrix cancer center representing cancer research across seven Harvard-affiliated institutions. The R25 draws upon major developments in the area of diet and cancer such as the creation of three large cohorts comprising over 250,000 men and women followed for as long as 28 years with repeated measures of diet. Through this training grant, we have brought together the various elements already in place, and created new elements to build a coherent and focused interdisciplinary program in the nutritional epidemiology of cancer. The Nutritional Epidemiology of Cancer program provides a unique niche, while being complementary and synergistic with the other training grants in order to foster a strong environment, based on sound biology, for cancer prevention and control. This new program has already demonstrated remarkable success in attracting outstanding candidates. Trainees who have completed the program have uniformly embarked on promising careers in this area.

Public Health Relevance

This training grant in Nutritional Epidemiology of Cancer is a multidisciplinary program to provide specialized training, through a unique curriculum and intensive personalized mentoring, to highly selective doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows. The goal of this program is to continue to train researchers to discover new ways in which changes in diet can reduce the risk of cancer.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Education Projects (R25)
Project #
5R25CA098566-08
Application #
8131903
Study Section
Subcommittee G - Education (NCI)
Program Officer
Perkins, Susan N
Project Start
2002-12-01
Project End
2014-08-31
Budget Start
2011-09-01
Budget End
2012-08-31
Support Year
8
Fiscal Year
2011
Total Cost
$315,350
Indirect Cost
Name
Harvard University
Department
Public Health & Prev Medicine
Type
Schools of Public Health
DUNS #
149617367
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02115
Bertrand, Kimberly A; Eliassen, A Heather; Hankinson, Susan E et al. (2018) Circulating Hormones and Mammographic Density in Premenopausal Women. Horm Cancer 9:117-127
Houghton, Lauren C; Sisti, Julia S; Hankinson, Susan E et al. (2018) Estrogen Metabolism in Premenopausal Women Is Related to Early Life Body Fatness. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 27:585-593
Cook, Erin E; Gershman, Susan T; Kim, Jane J et al. (2018) Trends of two HPV-associated cancers in Massachusetts: cervical and oropharyngeal cancer. Cancer Causes Control 29:435-443
FitzGerald, L M; Zhao, S; Leonardson, A et al. (2018) Germline variants in IL4, MGMT and AKT1 are associated with prostate cancer-specific mortality: An analysis of 12,082 prostate cancer cases. Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis 21:228-237
Bao, Wei; Song, Yiqing; Bertrand, Kimberly A et al. (2018) Prepregnancy habitual intake of vitamin D from diet and supplements in relation to risk of gestational diabetes mellitus: A prospective cohort study. J Diabetes 10:373-379
Hirko, Kelly A; Chai, Boyang; Spiegelman, Donna et al. (2018) Erythrocyte membrane fatty acids and breast cancer risk: a prospective analysis in the nurses' health study II. Int J Cancer 142:1116-1129
Graff, Rebecca E; Sanchez, Alejandro; Tobias, Deirdre K et al. (2018) Type 2 Diabetes in Relation to the Risk of Renal Cell Carcinoma Among Men and Women in Two Large Prospective Cohort Studies. Diabetes Care 41:1432-1437
Feldman, Sarah; Cook, Erin; Davis, Michelle et al. (2018) Cervical Cancer Incidence Among Elderly Women in Massachusetts Compared With Younger Women. J Low Genit Tract Dis 22:314-317
Wegrzyn, Lani R; Tamimi, Rulla M; Rosner, Bernard A et al. (2017) Rotating Night-Shift Work and the Risk of Breast Cancer in the Nurses' Health Studies. Am J Epidemiol 186:532-540
Rosenfeld, Lindsay E; Cohen, Juliana Fw; Gorski, Mary T et al. (2017) How do we actually put smarter snacks in schools? NOURISH (Nutrition Opportunities to Understand Reforms Involving Student Health) conversations with food-service directors. Public Health Nutr 20:556-564

Showing the most recent 10 out of 180 publications