Anna Wu-Williams, PhD
Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences, Vice Chair for Faculty Development
Biography
Dr. Wu's research focuses on the epidemiology of cancer with emphasis on understanding the increase of various (e.g., breast, ovarian, colon) cancers among Asian migrants to the US. A unifying theme of my research is to identify modifiable lifestyle and environmental factors to reduce the risk of specific cancers and to improve outcomes among those diagnosed with cancer. In addition to observational epidemiologic studies, I have conducted a series of controlled intervention studies to investigate the short-term effects of dietary (e.g., soy, green tea) and hormonal (e.g., oral contraceptives) agents on breast-tissue (e.g., mammographic density) and circulating sex hormones and other biomarkers.
Since 2014, I began to use the well-established Multiethnic Cohort (MEC) to address research questions on environmental exposures (e.g., air pollution, endocrine disrupting chemicals) that have been challenging to study. In addition, I am participating in two multicenter survivorship studies on breast cancer and ovarian cancer.
Publications
Risk of breast cancer and prediagnostic urinary excretion of bisphenol A, triclosan and parabens: The Multiethnic Cohort Study.
Int J Cancer. 2021 Oct 1;149(7):1426-1434. doi: 10.1002/ijc.33692. Epub 2021 Jun 3. PubMed PMID: 34013527;
Population-based targeted sequencing of 54 candidate genes identifies <i>PALB2</i> as a susceptibility gene for high-grade serous ovarian cancer.
J Med Genet. 2021 May;58(5):305-313. doi: 10.1136/jmedgenet-2019-106739. Epub 2020 Jun 16. PubMed PMID: 32546565; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8086250.
Urinary phthalate exposures and risk of breast cancer: the Multiethnic Cohort study.
Breast Cancer Res. 2021 Apr 6;23(1):44. doi: 10.1186/s13058-021-01419-6. Epub 2021 Apr 6. PubMed PMID: 33823904; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8025373.
Cross-Cancer Genome-Wide Association Study of Endometrial Cancer and Epithelial Ovarian Cancer Identifies Genetic Risk Regions Associated with Risk of Both Cancers.
Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2021 Jan;30(1):217-228. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-20-0739. Epub 2020 Nov 3. PubMed PMID: 33144283;
Association between Airport-Related Ultrafine Particles and Risk of Malignant Brain Cancer: A Multiethnic Cohort Study.
Cancer Res. 2021 Aug 15;81(16):4360-4369. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-21-1138. Epub 2021 Jun 24. PubMed PMID: 34167950;
Courses Taught
- Research Methods in Cancer Epidemiology