2026 Edition, Issue #1

Welcome to our Cancer Prevention and Control (CPC) semiannual 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.

New Year's Message from CPC Co-Leaders

Dear CPC members:



As we step into the New Year, we would like to express our deep gratitude for all your hard work and dedication, and for what we have accomplished as a team. As we look ahead, we expect many challenges coming our way, but we have no doubt that we have the resilience, unity, and determination to rise above them. Let’s continue to support and lift each other up, as we move forward with hope and purpose. Thank you for all that you do, and may this year bring you peace, success, and fulfillment in every aspect of your life. Here’s to making 2026 a year of even greater achievements!

Best wishes to you and your loved ones for a happy, healthy New Year!

Elisa and Carolyn

Rafael Meza, PhD

Professor

Section of Cancer Epidemiology

and Health Outcomes

Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

Department of Medicine

Dr. Meza’s research interests include: cancer risk assessment and the analysis of cancer epidemiology data using mechanistic models of carcinogenesis. He is also interested in the mathematical modeling of chronic and infectious disease dynamics and its applications in disease prevention public health policy design.

Leorey Saligan, PhD, RN, CRNP, FAAN

Professor

Division of Nursing Science

Rutgers School of Nursing

Dr. Saligan’s research interest include: the field of symptom science, particularly focusing on the biological, behavioral, and omics-based mechanisms of fatigue and other complex symptoms in cancer and chronic illness.

Jamie Tam, PhD, MPH

Associate Professor

Department of Health Behavior, Society

and Policy

School of Public Health

Dr. Tam’s research interests include: behavioral health comorbidities and the health and economic consequences of substance co-use and addiction.

Mandy Goldberg, PhD, MPH

Assistant Professor

Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology

School of Public Health

Dr. Goldberg’s research interests include: understanding hormonal influences on

growth, development and susceptibility to carcinogenesis during critical early-life periods. Her work aims to identify potentially modifiable factors acting through these hormonal pathways to influence the timing of puberty and

cancer risk.

Sarah Fadem, PhD

Instructor

Center Advancing Research and Evaluation for Person-Centered Care (CARE-PC)

Department of Family Medicine

and Community Health

Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

Dr. Fadem’s research interests include: the unique needs of early-onset breast cancer survivors and the potential for technology to facilitate support in managing late and long-term treatment effects.

SPOTLIGHT

Congratulations to Dr. Benjamin Crabtree on his well-deserved retirement in January 2026! Dr. Crabtree served as CPC Program Leader from 2008 to 2012 and has been a valued mentor and colleague to many investigators at Rutgers.

 He’ll be missed. We wish him a fulfilling and joyful next chapter!  

CPC members gathered at the 18th Annual Conference on the Science of Dissemination and Implementation in Health in National Harbor, MD, to celebrate Dr. Benjamin Crabtree’s retirement in December 2025.

Congratulations to Dr. Shawna Hudson for being Inducted into the National Academy of Medicine.

CPC Program Seminars

Hosts: Elisa Bandera, MD, PhD and Carolyn Heckman, PhD 

Click the registration link below to pre-register for each of the following CPC seminars.

Monday, January 12, 2026  

 3:00 - 4:00 pm   

Monica D’Arcy, PhD, MS

Instructor

Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science (PETS)

Core Faculty

Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research

Tuesday, February 17, 2026  

 3:00 - 4:00 pm   

Erin K. Tagai, PhD, MPH

Assistant Professor

Cancer Prevention and Control

Fox Chase Cancer Center

Tuesday, March 17, 2026  

 3:00 - 4:00 pm   

Yaguang Wei, PhD

Environmental Medicine

Cancer Prevention & Control

The Tisch Cancer Institute

Monday, April 27, 2026  

 3:00 - 4:00 pm   

Vincent Lo Re, MD, MSCE, FISPE

Director, Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science

Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) and Epidemiology

Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

Tuesday, May 19, 2026  

 3:00 - 4:00 pm   

Rafael Meza, PhD

Professor

Cancer Epidemiology and Health Outcomes

Rutgers Cancer Institute

Rutgers Cancer Institute Grand Rounds and Distinguished Lecture Series

Wednesday, March 18, 2026

4:00 - 5:00 pm

Gerard A. Silvestri MD, MS

Hillenbrand Professor of Thoracic Oncology

Senior Vice-Chair of Faculty Development

Department of Medicine

Medical University of South Carolina

Charleston, SC

Hosts: Anita Kinney, PhD, RN, FAAN, FABMR

&

Missak Haigentz, Jr., MD

Wednesday, June 3, 2026

4:00 - 5:00 pm

Garnet Anderson, PhD

Senior Vice President and Director

Public Health Sciences Division

Fred Hutch Cancer Center (Seattle Washington)

Host: Sharon Manne, PhD, FABMR, FSBM

CSOC - Speaker Series

CSOC Retreat

Friday, April 17, 2026

11:00 - 12:30 pm

Topic: Cancer Survivorship Centers in the US: Progress and Challenges

Tuesday, January 27, 2026

 12:00 - 1:00 pm   

Emily Tonorezos, MD, MPH

Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine

Weill Cornell Medical College

Topic: Challenges and Opportunities in Cancer Survivorship Research

Wednesday, February 18, 2026

4:00 - 5:00 pm

Michael Jefford, MBBS, MPH, PhD

Consultant Medical Oncologist

Director, Australian Cancer Survivorship Centre

Professor of Medicine, University of Melbourne

Topic: Models of Survivorship Care in Australia

Thursday, March 12, 2026

12:00 - 1:00 pm   

Perri Tutelman, PhD, RPsych

Assistant Professor

University of Calgary

Topic: AYA Psychosocial Care in Canada

Thursday, April 9, 2026

12:00 - 1:00 pm   

Mark Fendrick, MD

Professor, Division of General Medicine

University of Michigan

Topic: Multicancer Detection Tests

Pre and Post Doc Seminar Series

Wednesdays

12:00 - 1:00 pm

 Rutgers Cancer Institute

195 Little Albany Street

 Auditorium B 

January 14, 2026

Speaker: Samuel Tundealao, BDS, MPH 

Host: Anita Kinney, PhD, RN, FAAN, FABMR

February 4, 2026

Speaker: Kate Lubina

Host: Judith-Graber, PhD, MS

March 11, 2026

Speaker: Katherine De La Torre Cisneros, PhD

Host: Haejin In, MD, MPH

Speaker: Caitline Weiger, PhD

Host: Olivia Wackowski, PhD

March 18, 2026

Speaker: Maryam Mirza, PhD

Host: Carolyn Heckman, PhD

March 25, 2026

Speaker: Yiming Xue, PhD

Host: Tengteng Wang, PhD, MSPH, MBBS

April 8, 2026 

Speaker: Claudine Lavarin, PhD

Host: Katie Devine, PhD, MPH

May 6, 2026 

Speaker: Meredith Collins, PhD

Host: Katie Devine, PhD, MPH

Upcoming Professional Events and Conferences 

Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco

March 4-7, 2026 (Baltimore, MD)

Online Registration: Early bird through February 6, 2026

Hotel Reservation Deadline: before January 30, 2026

50th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Preventative Oncology (ASPO)

April 12-14, 2026 (Denver, CO)

Online Registration: Early bird through January 31, 2026

Hilton Denver City Center- The room block is available until March 20, 2026

American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2026

April 17-22, 2026 (San Diego, CA)

Early Registration Deadline: January 5, 2026

Clinical Trials/Late-Breaking Abstract Submission Deadline: January 12, 2026

Onsite Registration Opens: 12:00 PM. PT April 17, 2026 (San Diego Convention Center)

Hotel Reservation Deadline: March 6, 2026

Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM)

April 22-25, 2026 (Chicago, IL)

Online Registration Deadline: April 25, 2026

Early Bird Registration: On or before February 25, 2026

Hotel reservations: Hilton Chicago

American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)

May 29-June 2, 2026 (Chicago, IL, and Online #ASCO26)

Abstract Submission Deadline: January 27, 2026, at 11:59 PM ET

Late-breaking Submission Deadline March 9, 2026, at 12:00 PM ET

Hotel Reservation and Early Registration Deadline: April 22, 2026

Grant Awards:

2025-2027. Evelyn Arana, DrPH       

Title: "TELEhealth Shared decision-making COaching for lung cancer screening in Primary care (TELESCOPE) for Hispanics” 

Sponsor: NJCCR

Grant #: COCR26PPR014

2025-2028. Katie Devine, PhD, MPH, (MPI) & Carolyn Heckman, PhD, (MPI)

Title: "A Dyadic Digital Skin Cancer Prevention Intervention for Adolescents and Their Parents"

Sponsor: NIH

Grant #: R34 CA293237

2025-2027. Carolyn Heckman, PhD                                        

Title: "Economic Analyses and Modeling to Inform Policy"

Sponsor: NJCCR

Grant #: COCR26PPR006

2025-2027. Hari Iyer, ScD, MPH 

Title: "Modeling-Informed Prostate Cancer Screening for High-Risk Populations Managed in the Veterans Affairs Healthcare System"

Sponsor: Veterans Administration PO-AMP

Grant#: 1 101 RD001126-01

2025-2030. Anita Kinney, PhD, RN, FAAN, FABMR

Title: "Proactive Outreach and Streamlined Genetic Testing in Prostate Cancer Survivors" 

Sponsor: NIH/NCI

Grant # 1R01CA296911-01A1 

2025-2027. Michelle Bover Manderski, PhD, MPH  

Title: "Influence of Menthol Cigarette Smoking on Lung Cancer Screening Eligibility in a National Prospective Study"

Sponsor: NIH/NCI

Grant #: R21CA301405

  &

Title: "Understanding nicotine pouch adoption and longitudinal use patterns among U.S. adults"

Sponsor: NIH/NIDA

Grant #: R01DA063630

2025-2030. Melissa Mercincavage, PhD  

Title: "A randomized trial of charcoal-filtered cigarettes on product perceptions, smoking behaviors, and toxicant exposure"    

Sponsor: NIH/NCI

Grant # 1R37CA296976-01A1 

2025- 2026. Carolyn Sartor, PhD                              

Title: "The Resilience Collective”                       

Sponsor: Mutual Mentoring Team Grant, Rutgers University Faculty Diversity Collective

&

Title: "Facilitating Access to Digital Health Information for Individuals with Multifaceted Health and Social Needs: Smartphone App Co-design in Community Wellness Centers”                       

Sponsor: Behavioral Health and Equity Pilot Seed Funding, Rutgers Office of the Vice Provost for Research

Congratulations to CPC Members

Chaelin (Karen) Ra, PhD, was accepted into the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research (ABMR) Junior Investigator Training Program on December 12, 2025. In December 2025, she also assumed the role of Chair of the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) Population Sciences SIG’s Dissemination & Communication Subcommittee.

Kathryn Greene, PhD, received the NCA Distinguished Scholar Award-one of the highest honors in the discipline, recognizing a career of scholarly excellence and impact-and the Gerald M. Phillips Award for Distinguished Applied Communication Scholarship, which honors transformative contributions to applied communication research. November 21, 2025. 

Click here for more information.    

Sharon Manne, PhD, FABMR, FSBM, is the awardee of the 24th Annual Jimmie Holland Lecturer. She presented a talk titled "Behavioral Interventions for Cancer Survivors and Their Family Members" at this year's Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology Group Meeting in Chicago, IL. November 5, 2025. Click here for more information.

Katie Devine, PhD, MPH, is the recipient of the 2025 Rutgers Health Chancellor Award - Excellence in Clinical or Health Sciences Research Award for significant contributions for being a mid-career investigator to impactful clinical or health sciences research at Rutgers Health. October 30, 2025.

Click here for more information.  

Mary Hrywna, PhD, MPH, is the recipient of the 2025 Rutgers Health Chancellor Award - Excellence in Clinical or Health Sciences Research Award for significant contributions for being a mid-career investigator to impactful clinical or health sciences research at Rutgers Health. October 30, 2025.

She was also recognized with the Ezra Muncy Hunt Award for outstanding service and leadership to the cause of public health from the NJ Public Health Association. October 16, 2025.

Click here for more information.

Tengteng Wang, PhD, MSPH, MBBS, was honored with the NCI DCP Early Career Scientist Spotlight by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Division of Cancer Prevention (DCP). October 7, 2025.

Min-Jeong Yang, PhD, was selected to participate in the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research's 2026 Early-Stage Investigator (ESI) Program. December 12, 2025. She also received the honor of Scholar in the Learning Health System Scientist Training and Research program at Rutgers Health in New Jersey. September 11, 2025.

Evelyn Arana, DrPH, received the Distinguished Faculty Mentor Award, RUYES. August 21, 2025.

National and International Presentations

The 18th Annual Conference on the Science of Dissemination and Implementation in Health in National Harbor, MD. December 14-17, 2025 

Meghan Bissett, MPH, CHES, presented a poster titled, "Co-designing primary care connect (PC2): Developing patient- and provider-facing educational materials to improve chronic disease management for cancer survivors." Click here for more information.

Kuang-YI Wen, PhD, presented a poster titled, "Improving Adherence to Colposcopy after an Abnormal Pap Smear Using a Scalable mHealth Intervention: Early Findings from the CHAT Hybrid Effectiveness-Implementation Study." Click here for information.

Chaelin (Karen) Ra, PhD, presented at the World Sleep Congress in Singapore with a presentation titled “Sleep N’ Quit: An EMA study on daily sleep and smoking among lower socioeconomic smokers who want to quit smoking in the U.S.” September 2025.

Tengteng Wang, PhD, MSPH, MBBS, gave a virtual presentation titled, “Microbiome and Precision Breast Cancer Prevention and Control,” at the Georgetown University Cancer Frontiers Symposium on December 9, 2025. Dr. Wang served as a Grant Reviewer and Peer Review Panel Member for the Department of Defense (DOD) Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP), Breast Cancer Research Program, Epidemiology–Prevention (EPI-PRV), in August 2025. She also served as a Grant Reviewer and Peer Review Panel Member for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Complex Integrated Multi-Component Projects in Aging Research (U19 Mechanism), in July 2025.

Kathryn Greene, PhD, presented a session titled, “Thirty-five years of Greene’s contributions to privacy and disclosure research” for the Interpersonal Communication Research Award at the National Communication Conference, Denver, CO., November 20-23, 2025.

Anita Kinney, PhD, RN, FAAN, FABMR, provided a presentation titled, "Equity in Action: Advancing Genomic Cancer Care for All" at the Stanford Cancer Institute Cancer Center, Palo Alto, CA. November 20, 2025.

Anusha Ramji, MS, (Mentor: Katie Devine, PhD, MPH), gave a virtual presentation, “Perceived Stigma and Psychosocial Well-being in Adult Survivors of Child, Adolescent, and Young Adult (CAYA) Cancer” at Howard University, November 18-20, 2025.

Min-Jeong Yang, PhD, presented a poster titled, “An mHealth Mindfulness-Based Intervention for Smoking Cessation Addressing Cancer-Related Difficulties: A Study Protocol for a 2-Arm Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial,” at the 2025 Annual Retreat of the Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program at Rutgers Cancer Institute, New Brunswick, NJ, November 17, 2025. Dr. Yang delivered a talk titled, “Supporting Smoking Cessation across the Cancer Care Continuum,” as a visiting scholar for the Director’s Lectureship Seminar Series at the University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center, Albuquerque, NM, November 10, 2025. Dr. Yang also gave a virtual talk titled, “Career & Friendship,” at the Psychopathology, Affect, and Reward in Context (PARC) Lab Meeting, Department of Psychological Clinical Science, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Canada, October 2025. She additionally presented a talk titled, “An Ecological Momentary Intervention for Smoking Cessation among Individuals Diagnosed with Cancer: Prototype Development and Lessons Learned,” at the Annual Meeting of the International Society for Research on Internet Interventions (ISRII) 2025, San Diego, CA, August 4–7, 2025.

Hari Iyer, ScD, MPH, gave a presentation titled, “Geospatial Data Science for Cancer Prevention” at African Organization for Research and Training in Cancer, Hammamet, Tunisia, November 2-3, 2025. Dr. Iyer virtually presented “Harmonizing Social Determinants of Health Across Cohorts” at Polygenic Risk Methods Development (PRIMED) Consortium, Rockville, MD, October 24, 2025. He also presented, “Research on the Epidemiology of Prostate Cancer and Environmental Levels (REPEL): A Pilot Study of PFAS and Cancer Survivorship” at NIEHS Environmental Health Sciences Core Centers, Lexington, Kentucky. October 27, 2025.

Christina Amaro, PhD, gave two presentations titled, "Cancer-related traumatic stress among young siblings within the first year of a diagnosis" and "Family predictors of posttraumatic stress trajectories among siblings of children with cancer within two years post-diagnosis" at the European Pediatric Psychology Conference, Malaga, Spain, October 9-11, 2025. Dr. Amaro gave a presentation titled, "Single-session and Brief Behavioral Interventions in the Context of Cancer: A Scoping Review" at the (SST) 5th International Symposium. Chicago, IL. June 27-29, 2025.

Carolyn Sartor, PhD, gave a virtual presentation, "Investigating Variation by Race/Ethnicity in Substance Use Outcomes from a Health Equity Perspective: Approaches, Tools, and Current Challenges” at Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, October 28, 2025. She also presented,

"The Association of Witnessing Violence with Alcohol and Cannabis Expectancies Among Black, Latinx, and White Youth: Considering Neighborhood Context” at the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Baltimore, MD, September 19, 2025. Dr. Sartor presented, "Establishing Measurement Equivalence Across Race/ethnicity, Sex, and Intersectional Identity for Alcohol Expectancies in Black, Latino/a/x, and White Youth: ABCD Study Findings in (Co-chaired symposium) Integrating a Health Equity Approach into Multiple Stages of Alcohol Research” at the Research Society on Alcohol, New Orleans, LA. June 23, 2025.

Nur Zeinomar, PhD, “Polygenic risk scores in breast cancer: implications for risk stratification and prognosis” at Huntsman Cancer Institute. University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT. October 1, 2025.

Elisa Bandera, MD, PhD, "Racial and ethnic disparities in severe chemotherapy-related toxicities among women with ovarian cancer: Findings from the KPROCS cohort study." ASCO Quality Care Symposium, Chicago, IL. October 10-11, 2025.

Bo "Bonnie" Qin, PhD, “Adiposity-related metabolomic signatures and mortality in a population-based cohort of Black breast cancer survivors" at the 18th Annual AACR conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities. Baltimore, MD. September 19, 2025.

Evelyn Arana, DrPH, provided a poster presentation titled, "Racial Disparities in Perceived Social Support and Sleep Quality Among College Students." Sleep Annual Meeting. Seattle, WA, June 10, 2025. Dr. Arana also provided a poster presentation titled, "Racial Disparities in Perceived Social Support and Sleep Quality Among College Students." World Sleep Congress. Singapore. September 8, 2025.

Ethan A. Halm, MD, MPH, MBA, gave two presentations titled, “Longitudinal adherence to screening for colorectal, cervical, and lung cancer in 10 regional health systems in the US national PROSPR cancer research consortium.” International Cancer Screening Network meeting. June 18, 2025, and “Long term patterns and predictors of repeat fecal immunochemical testing for colorectal cancer screening in four regional US health systems.” International Cancer Screening Network meeting, Aarhus, Denmark. June 19, 2025.

Presentations in New Jersey

Chaelin (Karen) Ra, PhD, was invited to talk at the 2025 Winter Symposium hosted by the Korea-American Society in Biotech and Pharmaceuticals, New Jersey/New York Chapter, at Rutgers University. December 2025. She also presented her research at the Annual Cancer Research Symposium at Princeton University in Princeton, NJ, titled “Daily concordance between self-reported and sensor-measured sleep and smoking cessation outcomes in a mHealth study.” October 16, 2025.

Evelyn Arana, Dr PH, provided a presentation titled "Science, Culture, and Caring: A Journey into Cancer Survivorship Research" to Woodridge High School’s Science Club, Woodridge, NJ. November 18, 2025. She also gave a virtual presentation to the RUYES summer students titled, “Challenges to Mammography Among Racially and Ethnically Diverse Women with Intellectual Disabilities.” July 28, 2025.

Carolyn Sartor, PhD, "Investigating Family- and Community-level Influences on Substance Use to Inform Interventions” at Rutgers Center for Psychiatric Health and Genomics, Piscataway, NJ, June 17, 2025.

 Clinical Bioinformatics Workshops

Hosted by:

Carolyn Heckman, PhD, and Shawna Hudson, PhD, FSBM 

Workshop Part 1 focused on the foundational tools and strategies in clinical bioinformatics, with insights on data systems, research support platforms, and practical applications from experienced users, New Brunswick, NJ, May 14, 2025.

Workshop Part 2 focused on using identifiable data and exploring how to access and use identifiable data, with a focus on two key areas: Regulatory and Data Acquisition and Use, New Brunswick, NJ, October 29, 2025. Click here to view slides from both workshops.

 Cancer Prevention and Control (CPC) Program - 2025 Annual Retreat

Monday, November 17, 2025

Hosted by:

Elisa Bandera, MD, PhD and Carolyn Heckman, PhD

Co-Leaders of the CPC Program at Rutgers Cancer Institute

Leadership Presentations

Carolyn Heckman, PhD, Professor of Medicine, Co-leader, Cancer Prevention and Control Program, Rutgers Cancer Institute and Elisa Bandera, MD, PhD, Professor and Chief, Cancer Epidemiology and Health Outcomes, Co-leader, Cancer Prevention and Control Program, Rutgers Cancer Institute presented "Updates on the CPC Program."

Updates from COE

Antoinette Stroup, PhD, MS, Director, Cancer Epidemiology Services/New Jersey State Cancer Registry, Professor and Chief, Division of Cancer Epidemiology, Rutgers School of Public Health, Assistant Director, Research and Catchment Data                                              

Successes and Tips for Clinical Informatics and Health Services Research

Moderator: Carolyn Heckman, PhD

Ben Bates, MD, Assistant Professor, Internal Medicine, RWJMS & Rutgers Cancer Institute Core member, Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science

Sharon Manne, PhD, FABMR, FSBM, Professor of Medicine, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Dir., Joint Ofc. of Faculty Mentorship, Rutgers Cancer Institute & RWJMS Co-Dir., Cancer Survivorship & Outcomes Ctr., Rutgers Cancer Institute

Anita Kinney, PhD, RN, FAAN, FABMR, Professor of Biostatistics & Epidemiology, SPH Director, CHECoE and ScreenNJ, AD for Pop. Sci. and Community Outreach, Rutgers Cancer Institute Emerging areas of potential inter-program collaborations

Moderator: Elisa Bandera, MD, PhD

Hot Topic 1: Chemobrain - Cognitive impairment after chemotherapy

Bonnie Qin, PhD, Assistant Professor, Cancer Epidemiology, Rutgers Cancer Institute (Cancer Prevention and Control Program)

Mi-Hyeon Jang, PhD, Professor of Neurosurgery, RWJMS (Cancer Pharmacology Program)

Hot Topic 2: Diet, Nutrition, and Cancer

Tengteng Wang, PhD, MSPH, MBBS, Assistant Professor, Cancer Epidemiology, Rutgers Cancer Institute (Cancer Prevention and Control Program)           

Tracy Anthony, PhD, Professor of Nutritional Sciences, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (Cancer Metabolism and Immunology Program)

Digital Poster Presentation from CPC Members-Part 1

Moderator: Dr. Chistina Amaro, Assistant Professor, Pediatric Population Science, Outcomes, and Disparities Research Section

Samuel Tundealao, Jinghua An, Yong Lin, Biren Saraiya, Shou-En Lu, Dolores D. Guest, Elizabeth M. Harding, Fabiano Amorim, Emily Heidt, Evelyn Arana-Chicas, Chunxia Chen, Tawny Boyce, Isaac Y. Kim, Cindy K. Blair, Elizabeth Handorf, Antoinette Stroup, Yibin Kang, Steve Cole, Michael R. Irwin, Anita Y. Kinney. “Biological correlates of cancer-related fatigue in older male cancer survivors.”

Sang Hoon Kim, Euiyeon Lee, Woohyun Jo, Sang Hoon Lee, Amelia Moon, Jade Lee, Mohammad A. Rashid, Bo Qin, Yoon-Seong Kim, Mi-Hyeon Jang. “Repurposing FDA-approved Drugs to Mimic Exercise Benefits and Improve Cognitive Health in Cancer Survivors.”

Scott Donaldson, Geyi Wang, Jon-Patrick Allem. “Exposure to Alcohol-Related Content on Social Media and Young Adults’ Drinking Intentions.”

Julia Chen-Sankey and Kathryn La Capria. “Examining the Impact of E-cigarette Advertisement Exposure With Fruit Flavor Features Among Young Adults of Varying Tobacco-use Statuses.”

Mingjing Huang, Devika R. Jutagir, Sarah Silver, Jessica Winakor, Vritika Sharma, Rachel Wolchok, Johanna Goldberg, Alexandra Psihogios, Adriana Spinosa, Francesca Gany, Jessica Schleider, & Christina M. Amaro. “Single-Session and Brief Interventions for Cancer Patients and Their Families: A Scoping Review.”

Rachel Anca, Kristine Levonyan-Radloff, Anusha V. Ramji, Shengguo Li, Katie A. Devine, Marie Barnett, Kristine A. Donovan, Lora M.A. Thompson, Pamela Ohman-Strickland, Sharon L. Manne, & Olle Jane Z. Sahler. “What problems do young adults with cancer choose to address? Insights from Bright IDEAS-YA Problem- Solving Skills Training Trial.”

Digital Poster Presentation from CPC Members-Part 2

Moderator: Dr. Min-Jeong Yang, Assistant Professor, Rutgers Institute for Nicotine and Tobacco Studies

Yiming Xue, Tong Cheng, Mouadh Barbirou, Zheng Sun, Prachi Trivedi, Yang-Yu Liu, Elisa V. Bandera Mridula George, Chun Wang, Hushan Yang, and Tengteng Wang. “Racial differences in the blood microbiome and their association with survival in women with metastatic breast cancer.”         

Stefanie Joseph, Chidinma Opara, Julianne Varga, Thomas L. Jang, David M. Golombos, Saum Ghodoussipour, Elisa V. Bandera, Emily S. Barrett, Hari S. Iyer. “Implementing a pilot study of prostate cancer survivors at the Rutgers Cancer Institute.”

Michelle Kennedy, Marisa Tomaino, Christine Vinci, Vani N. Simmons, Lee M. Ritterband, & Min-Jeong Yang. “An mHealth mindfulness-based intervention for smoking cessation addressing cancer-related difficulties: A study protocol for a 2-arm pilot randomized controlled trial.”

Eugene M Talbot, Kevin RJ Schroth, Cristine D Delnevo, Jessica K Jensen. “The Youth Tobacco Product Monitoring Project.”

Haejin In, Katherine De La Torre Cisneros, Brijesh Rana, Priscille Myrthil-Harder, Ishita Dalal, Anish Patel, Keerthana Kesavarapu, Zhongren Zhou, Nirag Jhala. “Pilot study of Stomach Cancer Early detection and prevention with Endoscopy (Pilot-SCREEN): acceptability and feasibility results.”

Login S. George, Biren Saraiya, Ishika Varma, Anjani Suneja, & Paul Duberstein. “Hopeful Warrior or Grieving Realist? Patient Coping Styles and End-of-Life Treatment De-Escalation.”

Past Rutgers Cancer Institute Grand Rounds and Distinguished Lecture 

Wednesday, December 10, 2025

3:30 - 4:30 pm

Robert A. Winn, MD

Director and Lipman Chair in Oncology

Senior Associate Dean for Cancer Innovation

Professor of Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine

VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center VCU

School of Medicine, Richmond VA

Title: Know Your Assignment

Host: Sharon Manne, PhD, FABMR, FSBM (CPC)

Past CPC Program Monthly Meetings

Tuesday, December 16, 2025

3:00 - 4:00 pm

 Soko Setoguchi, MD, DrPH

Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology 

Rutgers Robert Wood Medical School 

Rutgers School of Public Health

Hari S. Iyer, ScD, MPH

Assistant Professor

Section of Cancer Epidemiology and Health Outcomes

Rutgers Cancer Institute

Director, Geospatial Data Hub 

Center for Climate Health and Healthcare

Benjamin Bates, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology

Division of General Internal Medicine, Rutgers Health

Rutgers Institute for Health

Rutgers Cancer Institute 

“Cancer and Climate Change Research Opportunities at Rutgers"

Tuesday, September 16, 2025

3:00 - 4:00 pm

Angela Starkweather, PhD, ACNP-BC, FAANP, FAAN

Dean and Professor

Division of Nursing Science

Rutgers School of Nursing

"Elucidating the biological mechanisms of persistent symptoms in cancer survivors: A path toward improving quality of life outcomes"

Tuesday, July 15, 2025  

 3:00 - 4:00 pm  

Min-Jeong Yang, PhD

Rutgers Institute for Nicotine & Tobacco Studies

Health Behavior, Society & Policy

Rutgers School of Public Health

“Smoking Cessation Treatment across the Cancer Care Continuum"

Cancer Research Training, Education, and Career Enhancement (CRTEC)

On August 21, 2025, Rutgers Youth Enjoy Science (RUYES) hosted its 5th Annual Research Symposium at Rutgers Cancer Institute. RUYES participants consist of high school students, undergraduates, and high school science teachers that commit to two years of cancer-focused research, professional development and community outreach. Highlighted here are our Cancer Prevention and Control trainees.

Cancer Outreach and Engagement  

STRIDE and Cancer InFocus: Seeking information related to our catchment area’s cancer burden, behavioral and environmental risk factors, and demographics? The STRIDE dashboard and the Cancer InFocus platform allows you to explore and extract this information by integrating a number of public data sources into one central hub for your use. To access STRIDE and Cancer InFocus, please visit:

• Internal (via VPN)
• External:
• Cancer InFocus (also accessible via STRIDE):

Engaging with Community Partners: COE’s Community Science Café and the ScreenNJ Program offer excellent opportunities for CPC members to share their research with community partners or to seek input from the community on their research projects. Submit requests here to seek these services:

CHECoE Research Support Request Form:

This new service request form helps us understand your needs to provide timely, tailored support. 

Your input aids in resource coordination, request tracking, and advancing cancer health equity.

Click here to start your request. 

Community Dialogue Guide: Click here

Community Outreach and Engagement

Rapid Grant/Protocol Review



Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) is fully committed to supporting research efforts at Rutgers Cancer Institute and across the state of New Jersey. We focus on reducing cancer health disparities by fostering basic, clinical, and population cancer research that is relevant to our catchment area. COE offers many catchment area, outreach and data-related support services, including, but not limited to:

• Community Science Cafe (bidirectional dialogue and input from community members)

• Works in Progress (WIP) meeting (obtain feedback from fellow researchers)

• Input on study materials or community presentations (obtain input from CHECoE Health Educators)

• Share or disseminate research findings with community members

• Letter of support for an upcoming grant submission

• Support with the development of a study-specific Community Advisory Board

• Data usage support (including STRIDE dashboard, navigation, system demos, Cancer InFocus, and other related data resources)

• Assistance with Study Recruitment

• Identifying Study Sites

• Educational Workshops and Training

• Dissemination Strategies

To submit a COE request, please click here.

COE - Rapid Grant/Protocol Review by Citizen Scientists Community Engagement Café

More to Know

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 CPODS. Publications that acknowledge the CCSG must comply with the NIH Public Access Policy

News to share? We invite you to send your news and updates to be considered for publication in an upcoming issue of The CPC Newsletter.



Please note: All news items must adhere to Rutgers editorial guidelines and Associated Press style and accepted submissions may be edited in accordance with those guidelines. If you also have an accompanying photo you would like to be considered, please submit a high-resolution, print-quality image that is 300 dpi. Email submissions to cpc_program@cinj.rutgers.edu.

Chief Editors: Drs. Elisa Bandera and Carolyn Heckman

Associate Editor: LaTasha Maloney

Creative Director: Jennifer Falcon

Copy Editors: Vanessa Johnson, Susan Fenker