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Department of Nutritional Sciences
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Elisa V. Bandera, M.D., Ph.D.

I am a Professor of Epidemiology at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey (http://www.cinj.org/), Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and the School of Public Health and a member of the graduate faculty at Rutgers University's Department of Nutritional Sciences. I am an epidemiologist, focused on the nutritional epidemiology of female hormonal cancer prevention and survival. I am currently leading several studies evaluating the impact of risk factors, including dietary intake and body size and composition, on risk of breast cancer ("The Women's Circle of Health Study") or ovarian cancer ("The NJ Ovarian Cancer Study", "AACES- African Americans Cancer Epidemiology Study"). I am also conducting a study evaluating factors affecting puberty in girls in New Jersey ("The Jersey Girl Study"). Several of my current research projects specifically address health disparities in African American women. I am also evaluating the role of obesity and related factors on breast cancer ("WCH Follow-Up Study") and ovarian cancer survival ("KP-ROCS-Research on Ovarian Cancer Survival").

In addition to my epidemiologic studies, I have a strong interest in translating research findings into public health action. I am actively involved in cancer prevention and control efforts in New Jersey by being a member of Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey's Cancer Prevention and Control Program. I also served as vice chair of the Cancer Prevention and Control Advisory Group of the New Jersey Commission on Cancer Research. Working with the Office of Cancer Prevention and Control of the New Jersey Department of Health, I chaired the NJ Nutrition and Physical Activity Workgroup of the New Jersey Task Force on Cancer Prevention, Early Detection, and Treatment for over 10 years. At the national and international level, I was involved in the World Cancer Research Fund International (www.wcrf.org)/American Institute for Cancer Research (www.aicr.org)'s Second Report on Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Cancer Prevention, which provided a comprehensive review of the epidemiologic literature relating dietary factors and cancer and issued dietary guidelines for cancer prevention. I am currently a member of the World Cancer Research Fund International Continuous Update International Expert Panel. I have also been involved in the 2006 and 2011 revision of the American Cancer Society's Dietary Guidelines for Cancer Prevention and Survival. I have served on several grant review panels including the National Cancer Institute Initial Review Group Subcommittee J for Population and Patient-Oriented Training, National Cancer Institute Subcommittee G-Education, the American Institute for Cancer Research Grant Review Panel I, and the World Cancer Research Fund Biomarkers Research Grant Review Panel.

Major Research Interests

  1. Racial/ethnic disparities in the epidemiology of breast and ovarian cancer
  2. Obesity and cancer risk and survival
  3. Food estrogens (phytoestrogens, mycoestrogens) and female hormonal cancers and reproductive outcomes
  4. Breast cancer in African-American women and the role of nutritional factors on explaining disparities in risk and survival
  5. Early determinants of cancer risk, in particular factors affecting pubertal development and breast cancer
  6. Development of evidence-based dietary guidelines for cancer prevention and survival

Selected Publications (from >110)

  1. Bandera EV, King MG, Chandran U, Paddock L, Rodriguez-Rodriguez L, Olson SH. Phytoestrogen consumption from food and supplements and ovarian cancer risk. BMC Women's Health 2011 Sep 23;11(1):40.
  2. Bandera EV, Chandran U, Buckley B, Lin Y, Isukapalli S, Marshall I, King M, Zarbl H. Urinary mycoestrogens, body size, and breast development in New Jersey girls. Science of the Total Environment 2011 Nov 15;409(24):5221-7. Epub 2011 Oct 4.
  3. Chandran U, Hirshfield KM, Bandera EV. The role of anthropometric and nutritional factors on breast cancer risk in African American women. Public Health Nutrition 2012 Apr;15(4):738-48.
  4. Gifkins D, Olson SH, Paddock L, King M, Demissie K, Lu SE, Kong AN, Rodriguez-Rodriguez L, Bandera EV. Total and individual antioxidant intake and risk of epithelial ovarian cancer. BMC Cancer 2012;12(1):211.
  5. Yao S, Zirpoli G, Bovbjerg DH, Jandorf L, Hong CC, Zhao H, Sucheston LE, Tang L, Roberts M, Ciupak G, Davis W, Hwang H, Johnson CS Trump DL, McCann SE, Ademuyiwa F, Pawlish KS, Bandera EV, Ambrosone CB. Variants in the vitamin D pathway, serum levels of vitamin D, and estrogen receptor negative breast cancer among African-American women: a ase-control study. Breast Cancer Research 2012 Apr 5;14(2):R58.
  6. Parekh N, Chandran U, Bandera EV. Obesity in Cancer Survival. Annual Reviews of Nutrition 2012; 32:311-42.
  7. Kushi LH, Doyle C, McCullough M, Rock CL, Demark-Wahnefried W, Bandera EV, Gapstur S, Patel AV, Andrews K, Gansler T and the American Cancer Society 2010 Nutrition and Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee. American Cancer Society guidelines on nutrition and physical activity for cancer prevention: Reducing the risk of cancer with healthy food choices and physical activity., CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians 2012, 62 (1): 30-67.
  8. Rock CL, Doyle C, Demark-Wahnefried W, Meyerhardt J, Courneya KS, Schwartz AL, Bandera EV, Hamilton KK, Grant B, McCullough M, Byers T, Gansler T. Nutrition and physical activity guidelines for cancer survivors. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians 2012; 62(4):242-74.
  9. Kelemen LE, Bandera EV, Terry KL, Rossing MA, Brinton LA, Doherty JA, Ness RB, Kjær SK, Chang-Claude J, Köbel M, Lurie G, Thompson PJ, Carney ME, Moysich K, Edwards R, Bunker C, Jensen A, Høgdall E Cramer DW, Vitonis AF, Olson SH, King M, Chandran U, Lissowska J, Garcia-Closas M, Yang H, Webb PM, Schildkraut JM, Goodman MT, Risch HA. Recent alcohol consumption and risk of incident ovarian carcinoma: a pooled analysis of 5,342 cases and 10,358 controls from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium. BMC Cancer 2013; 13(1):28.
  10. King MG, Olson SH, Paddock L, Chandran U, Demissie K, Lu S-E, Parekh N, Rodriguez-Rodriguez L, Bandera EV. Sugary food and beverage consumption and epithelial ovarian cancer risk: a population-based case-control study. BMC Cancer 2013 13:94.
  11. Bandera EV, Chandran U, Zirpoli G, McCann SE, Ciupak G, Ambrosone CB. Rethinking sources of representative controls for the conduct of case-control studies in minority populations. BMC Medical Research Methodology 2013 May 31;13:71.
  12. Chandran U, Zirpoli G, McCann S, Gong Z, Ciupak G, Pawlish K, Lin Y, Demissie K, Ambrosone CB, Bandera EV. Racial disparities in red meat and poultry intake and breast cancer risk. Cancer Causes and Control 2013;24(12):2217-29.
  13. Chandran U, Zirpoli G, McCann SE, Gong Z, Ciupak G, Pawlish K, Lin Y, Demissie K, Ambrosone CB, Bandera EV. Does alcohol increase breast cancer risk in African-American women? Findings from a case-control study. British Journal of Cancer 2013; 109: 1945-53.
  14. Bandera, EV, Chandran U, Zirpoli G, McCann S, Ciupak G, Gong Z, Pawlish K, Ambrosone C. Body fatness and breast cancer risk in women of African ancestry. BMC Cancer. 2013 Oct 14;13:475. doi: 10.1186/1471-2407-13-475.
  15. Bandera EV, Chandran EV, Zirpoli G, Ciupak G, Bovbjerg D, Jandorf L, Pawlish K, Freudenheim J, Ambrosone CB. Body size in early life and breast cancer risk in African American and European American women. Cancer Causes and Control 2013 Dec;24(12):2231-43.
  16. Gong Z, Ambrosone CB, McCann SE, Zirpoli G, Chandran U, Hong CC, Bovbjerg DH, Jandorf L, Ciupak G, Pawlish K, Lu Q, Hwang H, Khoury T, Wiam B, Bandera EV. Associations of dietary folate, vitamin B6, B12 and methionine intake with risk of breast cancer among African American and European American women. International Journal of Cancer 2014; 134: 1422-35.
  17. Ambrosone CB, Zirpoli G, Ruszczyk M, Shankar J, Roberts M, Ciupak G, Hwang H, Khoury T, Jandorf L, Bovbjerg DH, Pawlish K, Bandera EV. Parity and breastfeeding among African-American women: Differential effects on breast cancer by estrogen and progesterone receptor status in the Women's Circle of Health Study. Cancer Causes and Control 2014; 25: 259-65.
  18. Chan DSM, Vieira AR, Aune D, Bandera EV, Greenwood DC, McTiernan A, Navarro Rosenblatt D, Thune I, Vieira R, Norat T. Body mass index and breast cancer survival- A meta-analysis including 21,3075 women diagnosed with breast cancer. Annals of Oncology 2014 Oct;25(10):1901-14.
  19. Bandera EV, Chandran U, Hong CC, Troester M, Bethea TN, Adams-Campbell LL, Haiman CA, Park SY, Olshan AF, Ambrosone CB, Palmer JR, Rosenberg L. Obesity, body fat distribution and risk of breast cancer subtypes in African American women participating in the AMBER Consortium. Breast Cancer Research and Treatment 2015 Apr;150(3):655-66.
  20. Aune D, Navarro-Rosenblatt DA, Chan DSM, Vingeliene S, Abar L, Viera AR, Bandera EV, Greenwood DC, Norat T. Anthropometric factors and endometrial cancer risk: A systematic review and nonlinear dose-response meta-analysis of prospective studies. Annals of Oncology 2015 Mar 19. pii: mdv142. [Epub ahead of print]