UCSF Researchers Are Mapping DNA from 100,000 People for Unique Kaiser Database
By Jeffrey Norris, UCSF Science Cafe | January 13, 2010
To help sort out how variations in these contributing factors influence health risks, Kaiser Permanente's Division of Research is creating one of the world's largest genetic and environmental information resources for health research, called the Research Program on Genes, Environment, and Health (RPGEH).
"This is going to be the largest and most comprehensive database for doing genetic epidemiology research," says Neil Risch, PhD, head of the Institute for Human Genetics at UCSF and co-chair of the Department of Epidemiology. Risch is an adjunct investigator at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research and co-director of the RPGEH.
In September 2009, the RPGEH and UCSF received $25 million in federal stimulus funds. The source was a new, two-year grant from the National Institutes of Health. The funds will enable Risch and colleagues to genotype DNA from 100,000 RPGEH participants. The genotyping project is a collaboration between the UCSF Institute for Human Genetics and the RPGEH.
As a result of this funding, in just a few years, scientists around the world will be able to tap into a new data resource, which will be the biggest of its kind to focus on genetic variation and environmental exposures in an older population. The average age of individuals whose genetic information will be genotyped for the project is 65.
More than 125,000 Kaiser members already have contributed saliva samples to the RPGEH for DNA genotyping.
UCSF Scientist Wins $89M Grant to Study Anal Cancer In HIV-Infected People
By Elizabeth Fernandez | UCSF.edu | November 22, 2013
Joel Palefsky, MD
A UC San Francisco investigator has won an eight-year grant from the National Cancer Institute for a major investigation into anal cancer, a debilitating and sometimes fatal disease largely concentrated among people with HIV.
The total amount of the award over the life of the grant is projected to be approximately $89 million.
Anal cancer disproportionately affects HIV-infected men and women, but the rate of infection is rising among people who do not have HIV and without active intervention, and the number of cases is expected to continue to grow in the general population.
Like cervical cancer and some oral cancers, most cases of anal cancer are associated with human papillomavirus (HPV). Vaccination has been shown to reduce the risk, but the majority of HIV-infected individuals currently at risk for anal cancer are older than age 26, do not qualify for vaccination, and may already have been exposed to the form of HPV known to cause anal cancer.
“Given these strong biological similarities, it is very possible that biomarkers and treatments identified in the study will be applicable to cervical and HPV-associated oral cancer as well,” said Joel Palefsky, MD, a UCSF professor of medicine and principal investigator of the anal cancer project.
The study will focus on determining the effectiveness of treating anal high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL), which are caused by chronic HPV infection, in reducing the incidence of anal cancer in HIV-infected men and women.
Combined with the possibility that anal cancer is preventable, the incidence of anal cancer is unacceptably high and calls for urgent intervention, Palefsky said.
“Compared with the general population, the incidence of anal cancer is increased more than 100-fold among some risk groups of HIV-infected persons, including many who are successfully treated with combination antiretroviral therapy,” Palefsky said. “There is evidence that anal HSIL is the precursor to invasive anal cancer, which makes it a great target for prevention.”
E-Cigarettes Expose People to More than 'Harmless' Water Vapor and Should be Regulated, UCSF Scientists Find
First Comprehensive Analysis Shows that Industry Health Claims are Unsupported by Data
By Elizabeth Fernandez | UCSF.edu | May 13, 2014
The review marks the first comprehensive assessment of peer-reviewed published research into the relatively new phenomenon of electronic cigarettes.
Stanton Glantz, PhD
Neil Benowitz, MD
Rachel Grana, PhD, MPH
Laura Esserman Named to TIME 100 List of Most Influential People in the World
By Mike Billings | UCSF.edu | April 21, 2016
Internationally renowned breast cancer oncologist Laura Esserman, MD, MBA, has been at the forefront of efforts to change the delivery of breast cancer services. Photo by Barbara Ries
Time magazine has named internationally renowned breast cancer oncologist Laura Esserman, MD, MBA, to the 2016 TIME 100, the magazine’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Esserman has been at the forefront of efforts to change the delivery of breast cancer services as well as information systems used to support both research and patient care.
Esserman is now a professor of Surgery and Radiology at UCSF and a faculty member of the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. She is also a practicing surgeon and breast cancer oncology specialist at the UCSF Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center where she has also held the position of director since 1996.
Innovative Approaches to Battling Breast Cancer
At UCSF, Esserman has worked in the clinic, in research, and with interdisciplinary teams of clinicians and researchers. The result of her work has been a cross-disciplinary approach to battling breast cancer, including the best care for patients and the best platform to integrate translational research into breast cancer care.
Esserman is a leader of the innovative I-SPY TRIAL model, designed to accelerate the identification and approval of effective new agents for women with high risk breast cancers. The goal of the I-SPY TRIAL model is to shave several years and tens to hundreds of millions of dollars off the drug development process. The trial paradigm is now being developed for use in other disease domains.
In 2009, Esserman led the creation of the University of California-wide Athena Breast Health Network, a learning system designed to integrate clinical care and research as it follows 150,000 women from screening through treatment and outcomes.
In March 2015, she received one of the first five major grants funded through the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute’s (PCORI) Pragmatic Clinical Trials initiative. The $14 million grant funds the WISDOM study to learn how to improve breast cancer screening by testing and comparing the safety and efficacy of a personalized screening strategy informed by each woman’s breast cancer risk and preferences against the standard of annual screening. The WISDOM Study is slated to open in late summer 2016.
Internationally Recognized Thought Leader
The findings from her research have been published in 250 articles in peer-reviewed journals covering all aspects of breast health on topics that include information systems, immunology, decision-making, health policy and the use of imaging.
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