Research
Research Programs
Cancer Prevention and Control
Program Members | Research Highlights | Contact
Cancer remains the second most common cause of death in the United States. It is currently estimated that one of every two American men and one of every three American women will be diagnosed with cancer during their lifetime. In Connecticut, approximately 20,000 people are diagnosed with cancer each year. Age is an important risk factor for many common cancers, so as our population ages we can expect the burden of cancer to increase and further tax our health care system.
It has been recognized for many years that cancer risk is determined by the interaction of lifestyle factors and genetics. Identifying lifestyle factors such as tobacco use that contribute to cancer and intervening appropriately has been proven to significantly impact on the cancer burden. However, for many cancers, the causes remain unclear. The Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program strives to conduct cutting-edge research to identify the causes of human cancers, and then use behavioral and other approaches to translate these findings into public health interventions to reduce cancer incidence, cancer morbidity, and mortality.
Yale is home to the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in the State of Connecticut, and our mandate is to lower cancer rates throughout our state, and for cancer survivors, to improve outcomes and quality of life for patients and their families. This has been greatly facilitated by key partnerships throughout the State that have been maintained for nearly three decades. Connecticut is thus a “population laboratory” for cancer prevention and control research, where discovery, implementation, and evaluation are occurring simultaneously.
Melinda Irwin, PhD, Program Co-Director, Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health
Yong Zhu, PhD, Program Co-Director, Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health
Elizabeth Bradley, PhD, Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health
Brenda Cartmel, PhD, Research Scientist, Epidemiology and Public Health
John Concato, MD, Associate Professor, VA Medical Center
Alison Galvani, PhD, Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health
Cary Gross, MD, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine
Theodore Holford, PhD, Susan Dwight Bliss Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health
Beth Jones, PhD, Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health
Nina Kadan-Lottick, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Stanislav Kasl, PhD, Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health
M. Tish Knobf, PhD, Professor of Nursing
Donald Lannin, MD, Professor of Surgery
Haiqun Lin, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health
Caroline Loeser, MD, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine, Digestive Diseases
Shuangge Ma, PhD, Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health
Xiaomei Ma, PhD, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health
Susan T. Mayne, PhD, Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health
Kathleen M. McCarty, Sc.D., M.P.H, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health
Ruth McCorkle, P.D, Co-Director; Florence Schorske Wald Professor of Nursing
Michael H. Nathanson, MD, PhD, Professor of Internal Medicine, Digestive Diseases
Stephanie O’Malley, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry
Carrie Redlich, MD, Professor of Medicine
Harvey Risch, MD, PhD, Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health
Peter Salovey, PhD, Chris Argyris Professor of Psychology
Dena Schulman-Green, PhD, Research Scientist, Nursing
Dave Sells, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
Benjamin Toll, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
Herbert Yu, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health
Yawei Zhang, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health
Tongzhang Zheng, BMed, ScD, ScM, Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health
- Identified the primary causes (obesity and gastroesophageal reflux disease) of a cancer that has been dramatically increasing in incidence in and beyond Connecticut (adenocarcinoma of the esophagus; Drs. Risch and Mayne).
- Identified several key risk factors for another cancer that has been dramatically increasing in incidence in and beyond Connecticut (non-Hodgkin lymphoma; Drs. Zheng, Zhang, Zhu).
- Obtained first evidence that black-white disparities in outcomes for breast cancer are due to both biological and social factors (Dr. Jones).
- Identified that women decrease physical activity following a breast cancer diagnosis; that an exercise intervention can improve physical activity in breast cancer survivors, and improve biomarkers of risk of subsequent breast cancer (Drs. Irwin, Yu, Mayne)
- Demonstrated that variation in circadian-related genes is a new risk factor for breast cancer (Drs. Zhu, Zheng).
- Completed the first descriptive epidemiology study ever done on myelodysplastic syndrome, and identified a potential clustering in incidence of the disease geographically (Drs. Ma, Mayne).
- Documented that black-white disparities in clinical trial enrollment for cancer are strongly influenced by SES differences (Dr. Gross).
- Showed that appropriate referral to hospice for end-of-life care improves outcomes for families of terminally ill cancer patients (Drs. Bradley, McCorkle).
- Identified five common myths physicians have about end-of-life care, which likely result in undertreatment of pain and reduced use of hospice (Dr. Bradley).
- Found that 15% of hospice users disenroll sometime before death and have six times higher costs of care than those who remain with hospice (Drs. Bradley, McCorkle).
- Demonstrated that post-hospital nursing care can improve quality of life outcomes and be cost-effective in women recovering from gynecological cancer surgery (Drs. McCorkle, Schulman-Green, Schwartz).
- Developed more effective communication strategies for encouraging fruit and vegetable consumption and increasing physical exercise as cancer prevention strategies (Dr. Salovey).
- Showed that long-term follow-up care includes risk-based monitoring, and that individualized health education improves healthy lifestyle behaviors for childhood cancer survivors (Dr. Santocroce).
- Showed that older adolescent and young adult childhood cancer survivors can be recruited to and retained in a cognitive-behavioral clinical trial (Dr. Santocroce).
- Demonstrated that aerobic resistance exercise can maintain bone mass and body weight in breast cancer survivors (Dr. Knobf).
- Identified unique issues and coping strategies of women of color diagnosed with breast cancer with implications for oncology health care providers (Dr. Knobf).
- Identified information and support needs of breast cancer survivors within the first two years of treatment using a web-based survey (Drs. Knobf, McCorkle, LaCoursiere).
Contact
Melinda Irwin, PhD, Program Co-Director (Behavioral/Survivorship Research)
(203) 785-6392
melinda.irwin@yale.edu
Yong Zhu, PhD, Program Co-Director (Epidemiology/Genetics Research)
(203) 785-4844
yong.zhu@yale.edu