Study Management Team

To continue Dr. Schatzkin’s important work in nutrition, lifestyle and cancer research within the NIH-AARP study, we have established a new leadership team to assume the responsibility and directions of our study. The study team includes Drs. Louise Brinton, Charles E. Matthews, Yikyung Park, and Rashmi Sinha. This team of experts is well-versed in various areas of etiologic research for multiple cancers.

Louise Brinton, Ph.D., M.P.H is Chief of the Hormonal and Reproductive Epidemiology Branch, DCEG, NCI. A major emphasis of her current research efforts is to understand the causes of cancers of the female breast and reproductive system through the assessment of various biomarkers, including genetic markers and hormones.

Charles E. Matthews, Ph.D., an investigator at the Nutritional Epidemiology Branch, DCEG, NCI has been particularly interested in understanding how type, intensity, and amount of physical activity relates to the development of different cancers. Recently, he began to test the research question that high levels of sedentary behavior or “too much sitting” may increase the risk of certain cancers.

Yikyung Park, Sc.D. who was a NIH-AARP fellow and is now a Staff Scientist at the Nutritional Epidemiology Branch, managed the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study under Dr. Schatzkin’s direction since 2007. Her research primarily involves the investigation of how dietary and lifestyle factors affect the development of cancer, other important health conditions, and survival after cancer. She has also been interested in methodologic problems in dietary assessment.

Rashmi Sinha, Ph.D., Deputy Branch Chief of the Nutritional Epidemiology Branch, has focused her research on improving dietary exposure assessment, understanding the biological mechanisms of dietary exposures and cancer, and assessing the role of protective and cancer causing agents in foods such as coffee and processed meats or meats cooked at high temperatures. She also examines the wide variety of diet, lifestyle and environmental exposures in different ethnic groups.