Ten research teams co-led by investigators from Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University and the American Cancer Society have been awarded a total of $1 million in pilot grant funding to accelerate research in cancer prevention, diagnosis, discovery, treatment and survivorship. These pilot grants are a key component of a partnership made possible through a generous multi-year grant from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation.
All 10 of the funded pilot projects will benefit from a newly implemented cloud-based technical infrastructure developed as part of a first-of-its-kind partnership between Winship and the American Cancer Society. This infrastructure gives Winship researchers access to American Cancer Society’s renowned Cancer Prevention Studies, offering investigators a unique opportunity to query decades of cohort data and access relevant biospecimens to gain important research insights in the areas of improved cancer outcomes, quality of life after a cancer diagnosis and/or expanded understanding or methods for cancer prevention and early detection.
Each one-year pilot project involves at least one investigator from Winship and one from the American Cancer Society to promote collaboration and leverage the complementary strengths of the two institutions. The pilot grant recipients are below.
Multi-level Social Determinants of Health, Tumor and Gut Microbiome, and Psychoneurological Symptom Cluster Among Breast Cancer Survivors: A Case-Control Study
- Jinbing Bai, PhD, RN
Assistant professor
Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Emory University
Member, Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University - Caroline Um, PhD, MPH, RD
Principal scientist, Epidemiology Research
American Cancer Society
Member, Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University
The role of sphingolipids in lung cancer carcinogenesis
- Aparna H. Kesarwala, MD, PhD
Assistant professor, Department of Radiation Oncology
Emory University School of Medicine
Member, Cell and Molecular Biology Research Program
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University - Ying Wang, PhD
Senior principal scientist, Epidemiology Research
American Cancer Society
Member, Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University
Digital Pathology Prognostic of Late Breast Cancer Outcomes
- Timothy L. Lash, DSc, MPH
O. Wayne Rollins Distinguished Professor and chair, Department of Epidemiology
Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University
Member, Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University - Clara Bodelon, PhD, MS
Senior principal scientist, Survivorship Research
American Cancer Society
Member, Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University
AirCancerOmics: Assessing Impacts of Air Pollution Exposures on Lung Cancer Risk using Epigenomics and Multi-Omics in the Cancer Prevention Study Cohorts
- Donghai Liang, PhD, MPH
Assistant professor, Department of Environmental Health
Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University
Member, Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University - Ying Wang, PhD
Senior principal scientist, Epidemiology Research
American Cancer Society
Member, Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University
Physical activity, greenspace, UV radiation and cancer incidence
- Yang Liu, PhD, MS
Gangarosa Distinguished Professor and chair, Department of Environmental Health
Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University
Member, Cancer Immunology Research Program
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University - Erika Rees-Punia, PhD, MPH
Senior principal scientist, Epidemiology and Behavioral Research
American Cancer Society
Member, Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University
Development of a Prognostic Computational Pathology Biomarker for Colorectal Cancer
- Anant Madabhushi, PhD
Professor, Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University
Member, Cancer Immunology Research Program
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University - Germán Corredor Prada, PhD, MS
Assistant professor, Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University
Member, Cancer Immunology Research Program
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University - Caroline Um, PhD, MPH, RD
Principal scientist, Epidemiology Research
American Cancer Society
Member, Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University
Blood methylation targeting the biology and heterogeneity of aging in breast cancer survivors and age-matched cancer-free women for risk stratification
- Lauren E. McCullough, PhD, MSPH
Associate professor, Department of Epidemiology
Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University
Member, Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University - Clara Bodelon, PhD, MS
Senior principal scientist, Survivorship Research
American Cancer Society
Member, Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University - Lauren Teras, PhD, MPH
Senior scientific director, Epidemiology Research
American Cancer Society
Member, Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University
A novel molecular determinant of head and neck cancer in patients of African ancestry
- Yong Teng, PhD
Associate professor, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology
Emory University School of Medicine
Member, Cell and Molecular Biology Research Program
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University - Caroline Um, PhD, MPH, RD
Principal scientist, Epidemiology Research
American Cancer Society
Member, Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University
Integrated exposomics for mapping environment–immune relationships in non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
- Douglas Walker, PhD
Associate professor, Department of Environmental Health
Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University
Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University - Lauren Teras, PhD, MPH
Senior scientific director, Epidemiology Research
American Cancer Society
Member, Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University - Ying Wang, PhD
Senior principal scientist, Epidemiology Research
American Cancer Society
Member, Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University
Characterization of Clonal Hematopoiesis and its Molecular Implications for Cancer Development in the CPS-3 Cohort
- Janghee Woo, MD, PhD
Assistant professor, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology
Emory University School of Medicine
Member, Discovery and Developmental Therapeutics Research Program
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University - Lauren Teras, PhD, MPH
Senior scientific director, Epidemiology Research
American Cancer Society
Member, Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University