Elena Elkin, PhD
Health Outcomes Service
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Patient Centered Decision Support for Lung Cancer Screening
We propose to develop and evaluate a self-administered, web-based decision aid for adults who are potentially eligible for lung-cancer screening. In the context of disease screening, decision aids can improve knowledge, reduce decisional conflict, and lead to informed, values-based decisions. The goal of the decision aid is to facilitate informed decisions about lung cancer screening that are consistent with patients

Jennifer Brooks, PhD
Epidemiology Service
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Tumor Effects on the Measurement of Enhancement on Breast MRI: Implications for Study Design
The specific aim of this study is to examine the concordance between repeat measures of BPE in patients with a diagnosis of invasive breast cancer and unaffected controls.

Jennifer Hay, PhD
Behavioral Sciences Service
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Genomic Awareness in Latinos
Our specific aims are to determine the level of awareness of cancer genomics among northern Manhattan Latino community members by examining genomic and cancer family history awareness, and positive and negative attitudes toward and prioritization of genomics in this population. We will also determine the level of receptivity for genetic information about cancer risk among community Mexican-Americans by presenting focus group participants with information about genetic risk testing used in primary care previously, as well as available NIH materials about genomic testing and skin cancer risk in non-Caucasian populations. We will query participants concerning their thoughts and feelings about the materials and anticipated willingness to learn more about cancer genetic testing and to consider testing.

Anna Furberg-Barnes, PhD
Epidemiology Service
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics

The Accuracy of Self-Reported Smoking Exposure among Bladder Cancer Patients
The goal of this project is to generate pilot data that will directly inform the design and budget of planned research investigations on post diagnosis smoking and bladder cancer outcome. To achieve this goal, we will measure urinary cotinine levels, the primary metabolite of nicotine, and compare these levels to self-reported smoking exposure.

Abraham Aragones, MD
Immigrant Health and Cancer Disparities Service
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Uptake of HPV Vaccine among Latino Boys and Girls: Bridging Parental Barriers
The specific aims of our study are to clarify Latino immigrant parents’ knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and barriers (KABBs) regarding childhood HPV vaccination and to understand the general barriers Latino immigrant parents face in accessing healthcare services for their children and their effect on uptake of the HPV vaccine for their child.

Katherine Panageas, PhD
Biostatistics Service
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Patterns of Utilization of Off-Label Cancer Therapy
n this proposal, we set out to estimate the frequency of off-label use of chemotherapeutic agents and the frequency of agents that are considered off-label with scientific support in a cohort of elderly breast cancer patients.

Smita Banerjee, PhD
Communication Skills Research and Training Laboratory
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Exploring Disengagement Beliefs Related to Gutka Use among South Asian Adults
This proposal involves formative qualitative research to address a prevalent tobacco risk behavior, gutka use, in a US subpopulation: South Asians from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Gutka is smokeless tobacco made of areca nut, slated lime, other condiments, and powered tobacco that is used by up to 30 percent of South Asians and has been related to oral cancers. The primary study aims are to examine the self-reported reasons for gutka use in South Asians, and rationalizations for use, consistent with disengagement beliefs that may justify or discount known negative health effects of gutka consumption.

Robert Hamilton, MD
Urology Service
Department of Surgery

StatinPharmacogenetics as a Model for Prostate Cancer Outcome and Prevention
This proposal aims to identify the relationship between the use of statins and prostate cancer progression and whether the putative effect of statin use on prostate cancer progression is modified by genetic variation in cholesterol/statin metabolism. The sample will include about 800 men of Ashkenazi Jewish descent treated at Memorial Sloan Ketteringfor prostate cancer. The goal of the study is to identify subsets of patients with a genotypic sensitivity to statins that would respond to statin chemoprevention, in either the primary or secondary setting.

Andrew Vickers, D. Phill
Health Outcomes Service
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics

The Surgeon Feedback System: Development of an Electronic Reporting Tool as a Prelude to a Controlled Trial of Surgeon Feedback
Our overall aim of this project is to determine whether a system providing surgeons with data on their outcomes for radical prostatectomy will lead to improvements in outcomes.

Vijai Joseph, PhD
Clinical Genetics Service
Department of Medicine

Cost-Efficient Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS) of Breast Cancer Susceptibility Using DNA Pooling
We will use a novel “pooled GWAS” approach comparing allele frequencies at one million SNPs with a potential for reduction of population stratification using ancestry information markers (AIM) to select samples. We propose a two-stage design that reduces costs up to 40 times compared to traditional individual genotyping.

Zsofia Stadler, MD
Clinical Genetics Service
Department of Medicine

Genomic Structural Variation in Cancer Susceptibility
The specific aim of this project is to determine the frequency of de novo CNVs in cancer-affected probands using an ascertainment of “trios” consisting of pediatric cancer patients and their unaffected biologic parents.

Dean Bajorin, MD
Genitourinary Oncology Service
Department of Medicine

A Genetic and Epidemiologic Registry of Familial and Early Onset Urothelial Cancer
In this project, the specific aims are 1) to establish a UC registry and compare the presence of UC among cases and controls; 2)to compare, as a pilot validation, the presence of family history of UC among early onset UC patients, late onset UC patients, and controls;  and 3) to create a resource to compare known associated environmental exposures and candidate genetic risk alleles in cases and controls.

Ethan Basch, MD
Health Outcomes Service
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Using Cognitive Interviewing Techniques to Develop a Patient Version of the NCI’s Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events
The aims of this study are 1) to convert the 50 highest-impact symptom items from the NCI’s Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) instrument into patient-oriented language with input from a multidisciplinary panel assembled for this purpose, and 2) to conduct standardized cognitive interviews in 100 patients to refine the language of patient CTCAE items, to ensure that patients understand terminology and that items map to concepts of interest.

Yuelin Li, PhD
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Developing a Rasch Modeling Approach to Discover SNPs that May Interact with Breast Cancer Treatment and Result in Mild Cognitive Impairment
The aims of this project are to 1) develop statistical toolkits for fitting Rasch Model (RM) to large-scale SNPs data; 2) use the newly developed RM techniques to model the breast cancer patient data to identify SNPs associated with cognitive impairment post cancer therapy; and 3) apply Logic regression to the same data in order to compare findings across RM and Logic regression to define their respective methodological strengths and weaknesses.

Liyang Zhang, MD, PhD
Diagnostic Molecular Pathology Service
Department of Pathology

De Novo Mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2
The objective of this study is to determine the frequency of de novo mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes in a clinic-based sample of women presenting for genetic counseling and testing. The central hypothesis of this proposal is that de novo mutations occur more frequently in these genes than is currently believed. It is hypothesized that if the de novo mutation rate is taken into account, penetrance estimates for cancer risk in BRCA mutation carriers will be higher.

Hans Lilja, MD, PhD
Urology Service
Department of Surgery

Long-Term Predication of Prostate Cancer Death or Metastasis from Kallikreins Measured in Blood at Age 45-50
This study analyzes kallikreins in stored blood from the mid-1970s and 80s to determine whether these predict subsequent prostate cancer metastases or death. This study will assess whether one can predict prostate cancer that has an important impact on an individual’s quality or length of life, avoiding problems associated with studies of cancer predictors, e.g., overdiagnosis, selection, and lead-time bias.

Douglas Levine, MD
Gynecology Service
Department of Surgery

BRCA ½ Haplotype Analysis and Genetic Predisposition to Ovarian Carcinoma
This proposal will capitalize on the recently identified haplotype block structure of BRCA ½ in order to answer two clinically important questions. The results will lead to a hypothesis-based proposal for future research in the prevention of ovarian carcinoma. First, can patterns of genetic variation within BRCA ½ identify a subset of women at increased risk for developing sporadic ovarian carcinoma? Second, are there haplotypes in BRCA ½ that can serve as modifiers of penetrance for mutation carriers?

Deborah Goldfrank, MD
Gynecology Service
Department of Surgery

Analysis of the Impact of Genetic Counseling and Genetic Testing Results on Cancer Screening and Risk-Reduction Strategies in Individuals Evaluated for Hereditary Breast Ovarian Cancer
This proposal examines the long-term impact of genetic counseling and testing on the use of cancer screening and prevention modalities in women with hereditary breast ovarian cancer syndrome. It will also compare the impact of genetic counseling and testing on the use of cancer screening and prevention modalities in women from the non-BRCA hereditary cancer families with women from the BRCA-positive families, matched for personal and family histories of cancer.

Jamie Ostroff, PhD
Behavioral Sciences Service
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Behavioral Effects of Smoking Harm Reduction in Young Adult Smokers
The specific aims of this project are 1) to determine the feasibility (recruitment, retention, intervention adherence, program satisfaction) of a smoking harm reduction intervention for young-adult smokers and 2) to examine the behavioral effects (motivation to quit smoking, cigarettes smoked per day, compensatory smoking) of a smoking harm reduction intervention.

Sara Olson, PhD
Epidemiology Service
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Genetic Susceptibility to Pancreatic Cancer
The specific aim of this study is to compare cases, controls, and at-risk relatives with respect to genotypes in these genes. We hypothesize that cases will have a higher proportion of the genotypes association with low IgE response to allergens compared to controls, and that the proportion in relatives will be intermediate.  The secondary aim is to investigate different types of control groups and the extent to which they differ in the distribution of known risk factors and potential genetic risk factors.

Jack Burkhalter, PhD
Behavioral Sciences Service
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Real-Time Data Capture of Individual Differences Among Smokers Quitting Before Cancer Surgery
Using RTDC, this study will describe the daily pattern of hypothesized mediators of treatment outcome—abstinence self-efficacy, coping with smoking urges, and psychological distress—for patients enrolled in the behavioral intervention arm of the study. Furthermore, this study will determine the extent to which each construct assessed using RTDC predicts daily adherence to the behavioral intervention. Finally, we will determine the extent to which each construct assessed using RTDC predicts smoking status at the time of hospitalization — an intermediate indicator of treatment efficacy.

Mark Robson, MD
Clinical Genetics Service
Department of Medicine

Electronic Transmission of Genetic Test Results: A Pilot Study of Subject Preferences and Outcomes
he specific aims of this project are to determine 1) subject-related factors associated with refusal of computer-based transmission of genetic test results and 2) short- and intermediate-term changes in measures of distress and breast-cancer-related worries in women receiving test results by computer-based transmissions.

Anna Lillico, PhD
Epidemiology Service
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics

The Effect of Short-Term Celecoxib Treatment on Urinary PGE-M Concentrations in Never, Former and Current Smokers
The primary aim of this project is to determine the baseline association of urinary PGE-M levels with tobacco exposure among three groups of healthy individuals: never, former, and current smokers. Additionally, we will evaluate the effect of short-term (6 days ± day) celecoxib treatment at 400 mg bid.