Spring 2021 Issue

Welcome to our Cancer Prevention and Control (CPC) quarterly newsletter. The goal in producing this newsletter is to keep our members informed and involved. We are highlighting opportunities for collaborations, new funding opportunities, new grants and promotions, new members, and upcoming seminars and events. We always welcome your suggestions and contributions for future issues. Past issues of the CPC Newsletter can be found online here at the Rutgers Cancer Institute's website.

For more information on these and other meetings, click the button below to view the full CINJ Research Meetings and Events Calendar.

2021-2022. PI: Kristen Riley, PhD

Title: "Testing Step UP! SOS as a Way to Increase Multidisciplinary Collaborations and Reduce Tobacco-Related Stigma in Cancer Prevention"

Sponsor: 2021 Cancer Prevention and Control (CPC) Research Stimulus Small Award Program

Title: "Impact of Obesity-Related Factors on Breast Cancer Survivorship among Minority and Medically Underserved Populations"

Sponsor: New Jersey Commission on Cancer Research

Title: "Understanding sun protection and skin examination practices among Hispanics"

Title: "Neoadjuvant chemotherapy and targeted therapies in ovarian cancer: Racial disparities in use and survival outcomes"

Title: "Understanding the multilevel factors influencing a mindfulness-based mobile application service implementation for adolescents and young adults with cancer"

Elisa Bandera, MD, PhD presented "What We Know and Don’t Know about Disparities in Associations between Obesity and Cancer" during Session 1: Why Are Obese Individuals from Racially/Ethnically Diverse Backgrounds at High-Risk for Cancer?

Anita Kinney, PhD, RN, FAAN, FABMR, presented "Community Outreach and Engagement" part of a Review of Population Science and COE (CCSG Application Session) at the Associate Directors (AD) /Program Leaders (PL) Meeting (Virtual).

Elisa Bandera, MD, PhD was Co-Chair, Program Committee for ASPO 2021 Annual Meeting: Health Equity, Culture, and Cancer. She also moderated the following sessions: “Impact of Covid-19 through the Cancer Continuum”, “New Findings in Cancer Survivorship Research”, and Flash Talks on “Culture and Cancer.”

Bo (Bonnie) Qin, PhD presented "Multilevel Risk Factors for Weight Change after Breast Cancer Diagnosis Among Black Women" .

Anita Kinney, PhD, RN, FAAN, FABMR, presented "Identifying and Managing Germline Inherited Cancer Syndromes (Part 1)."

Elisa Bandera, MD, PhD, was an Invited chair, speaker, and panelist in the Educational Session: Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Health Disparities: Harnessing Lifestyle for Breast Cancer Prevention and Control in Diverse Populations, where she presented “Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Impact of Obesity on Breast Cancer Risk and Survival.”

March 22, 2021. Anita Kinney, PhD, RN, FAAN, FABMR, presented "Opportunities and Challenges for Translation of Cancer Genomics to the Population" at University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center Grand Rounds (Virtual).

March 26, 2021. Anita Kinney, PhD, RN, FAAN, FABMR, presented "Opportunities and Challenges for Translation of Cancer Genomics to the Population" at Alvin J Siteman Cancer Center Grand Rounds (Virtual).

March 30, 2021. Anita Kinney, PhD, RN, FAAN, FABMR, presented "Community Engagement to Enrich and Accelerate Precision Medicine Research" at the Molecular Epidemiology & The Environment SIG.

April 22, 2021. Ollie Ganz, DrPH was invited to present on "The Role of Menthol in Cigarette Smoking Inequalities" at the 7th Virginia Youth Tobacco Conference.

Elisa Bandera, MD, PhD presented “Evaluating the Role of Obesity after a Breast Cancer Diagnosis among Minority and Medically Underserved Populations."

Anita Kinney, PhD, RN, FAAN, FABMR, presented "Beyond Base Pairs to Survivorship: Integrating Genomics into health promotion interventions."

February 2, 2021. Kelly Kohler, PhD, MSPH presented a grant proposal WIP on Community-based HPV screening in Botswana.

Co-sponsored by the Dissemination and Implementation Science Research Working Group and Center for Cancer Health Equity.

May 4, 2021. Carolyn Heckman, PhD & Sharon Manne, PhD presented a WIP for an R01 resubmission to the SIHH (Science of Implementation in Health and Healthcare) study section titled: "A Digital Intervention to Improve Skin Self-Examination and Sun Protection among Melanoma Survivors."

Co-sponsored by the Dissemination and Implementation Science Research Working Group and the Center of Excellence in Cancer Survivorship.

February 10, 2021. David Conroy, PhD, Professor of Kinesiology and Human Development & Family Studies, Penn State Cancer Institute, The Pennsylvania State University

Host: Sharon Manne, PhD (CPC)

March 3, 2021. Vish Viswanath, PhD, Lee Kum Kee Professor of Health Communication; Faculty Affiliate in the Department of Global Health and Population; Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

"Measuring What Matters: Data Absenteeism, Cancer Communication and Equity"

March 24, 2021. Anthony Alberg, PhD, MD, Professor and Chair, Epidemiology & Biostatistics

Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina

April 21, 2021. Linda M. Collins, PhD, Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences and Biostatistics, Co-Director, Transdisciplinary Research Methods Core; Center for Drug Use and HIV Research, School of Global Public Health, New York University

Host: Sharon Manne, PhD (CPC)

April 28, 2021. Elizabeth M. Cespedes Feliciano, ScD, MSc, Research Scientist II, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Division of Research

Hosts: Elisa Bandera, MD, PhD (CPC) & Adana Llanos, PhD, MPH (CPC)

May 5, 2021. Nathaniel Daw, PhD, Huo Professor in Computational and Theoretical Neuroscience, Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University

Host: Carolyn Heckman, PhD (CPC)

May 12, 2021. Tuya Pal, MD, Associate Director for Cancer Health Disparities, Ingram Professor of Cancer Research, Professor of Medicine, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt Ingra Cancer Center

May 24, 2021. Michele L. Cote, PhD, MPH, Professor, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Department of Oncology, Associate Center Director for Cancer Research Training and Education Coordination, Karmanos Cancer Institute

Hosts: Sharon Pine, PhD (CPC) & Anita Y. Kinney, PhD, RN, FAAN, FABMR (CHE)

May 26, 2021. Kevin C. Oeffinger, MD, Professor of Medicine, Professor in the Dept. of Community and Family Medicine, Professor in Population Health Sciences, Member of the Duke Cancer Institute.

Host: Sharon Manne, PhD (CECS)

Presenters:

Brian L. Strom, MD, MPH, Chancellor, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, presented "An Introduction to (Cancer) Pharmacoepidemiology: Principles and Applications." 

Soko Setoguchi, MD, DrPH, Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science, Institute for Health, presented "Cancer as a Safety Event vs. Cancer as a Study Population in Cancer Pharmacoepidemiology."

Benjamin Bates, MD, Post-Doctoral Fellow in Cancer Pharmacoepidemiology, Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science, Institute for Health, presented "Assessing Use, Effectiveness, and Safety of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors among Real World Cancer Patients."

Shane Neibart, MD/MS in Clinical and Translational Science Candidate, Rutgers, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, presented "Drug-Radiation Interactions in Cancer Pharmacoepidemiology."

Congratulations to the New Jersey State Cancer Registry in re-joining the NCI-SEER Program!

Antoinette (Nan) Stroup, PhD, will lead the NJ SEER Program along with the Deputy Director of the Cancer Surveillance Research Program, Lisa Paddock, PhD, MPH and the NJSCR Program Manager, Heather Stabinsky, MSEd, CTR.

Read the full article here.

Spring 2021. Elisa Bandera, MD, PhD was appointed as a Committee Member with the American Cancer Society’s Guidelines on Nutrition and Physical Activity for Cancer Survival.

Cristine Delnevo, PhD, MPH was recently appointed to serve on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC). She will be one of nine voting members on the committee, which advises the FDA on regulating tobacco products. The four-year appointment will end on Jan. 31, 2025.

Spring 2021. Carolyn Heckman, PhD joined the Editorial Board of JMIR Dermatology.

Spring 2021. Bo (Bonnie) Qin, PhD joined the Editorial Board of the British Journal of Nutrition.

Rutgers Family Medicine and Community Health Expert, Shawna Hudson, PhD, co-authored National Academies Report on Primary Care, titled Implementing High-Quality Primary Care: Rebuilding the Foundation of Health Care.

Read the full article in Rutgers Today.

The Center of Excellence in Cancer Survivorship

The Center of Excellence in Cancer Survivorship released the first issue of their newsletter in February 2021, highlighting program events and member achievements. Find the full newsletter here.

Email Carissa Greco, Program Coordinator if you would like to subscribe or submit an item for a future newsletter.

Please acknowledge the Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG) in publications that resulted from any CCSG support such as: Pilot Award/New Investigator funds, use of Office of Human Research Services (OHRS), and/or use of any supported Shared Resource. Publications that acknowledge the CCSG must comply with the NIH Public Access Policy

The term “catchment area” is often not immediately familiar to members of the Research Programs. In the simplest terms, the catchment area is the geographic area served by an institution. Rutgers Cancer Institute’s catchment area is the entire state of New Jersey, a place with great racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and other diversity and multiple cancer health equity issues. As the only NCI-designated cancer center in New Jersey, Rutgers Cancer Institute’s catchment area work includes establishing and aligning research priorities based upon the populations and communities for which there are the greatest disparities in cancer incidence, morbidity, and/or mortality.

Research relevant to the catchment area applies to basic, translational, and clinical researchers as much as it does to those in population science. For example, basic laboratory research on lung cancer, efforts to engage more diverse patient populations in cancer clinical trials, and genomics research on hereditary cancer could all be considered catchment area relevant, for they align with research priorities set forth by Rutgers Cancer Institute to promote cancer health equity and reduce disparities. Researchers who consider their current and future research endeavors from the catchment area perspective may find new opportunities for funding and collaboration, as well as added significance to their already important work. This new section of the newsletter will serve to inform and link the Basic and Clinical Research Program members with such resources and opportunities.

Those interested in learning more about catchment area alignment, and who may already be doing catchment area relevant research, are encouraged to contact Rita Musanti, PhD, APN-BC, Assistant Director for Community Outreach and Engagement at rita.musanti@rutgers.edu

For a full list of recent manuscripts, abstracts, and presentations please visit the Researcher Profiles webpage.