Faculty Affiliate in the Department of Epidemiology
Epidemiology
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
My research has primarily focused on nutrition and cancer epidemiology. Main themes of my research have been determination of the role of plant-based diets, particularly fruit and vegetable intake, alcohol consumption, and more recently, vitamin D in the development of both common and less common cancers. Much of my research has been conducted in two international consortia that I have been leading/co-leading for over 16 years: the Pooling Project of Prospective Studies of Diet and Cancer (DCPP) and the Circulating Biomarkers and Breast and Colorectal Cancer Consortium (BBC3). Additionally, I have participated in several analyses of dietary factors including dietary patterns, anthropometric factors, and biomarkers within the Nurses' Health Study, Nurses' Health Study II, and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, three large prospective cohort studies.
The Pooling Project of Prospective Studies of Diet and Cancer (DCPP) is an international consortium that was established in 1993 to examine associations between dietary and anthropometric factors and breast cancer risk. Since then, we have also evaluated associations with several other cancers including lung, colorectal, renal cell, ovarian, pancreatic, and prostate cancer, as well as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and coronary heart disease. It provides a large collection of prospective data from which large-scale, comprehensive assessments of the role of nutrition (nutrients, foods, and anthropometry) in the risk of several cancers and other chronic diseases have been investigated. The consortium now includes over 35 cohort studies with over 2.5 million participants from 16 countries.
The Circulating Biomarkers and Breast and Colorectal Cancer Consortium (BBC3) was established in 2010 to examine associations between circulating 25(OH)D and risk of breast and colorectal cancers, overall and by tumor subtype and population subgroup. These initial analyses included 21 cohorts from North America, Europe, and Asia. The consortium is currently being expanded to examine additional biomarkers for these two cancers.
For both consortia, participant level data on the exposures of interest, confounding variables, and outcomes from each study have been centralized and harmonized and analyses have been conducted using standardized criteria across studies.
Song R, Riseberg E, Petimar J, Wang M, Mucci LA, Wu K, Zhang X, Willett WC, Giovannucci EL, Smith-Warner SA.
Br J Cancer. 2023 Oct. 129(6):982-992. PMID: 37500788
Phua ZJ, MacInnis RJ, Hodge AM, Lynch BM, Hopper JL, Smith-Warner SA, Giles GG, Milne RL, Jayasekara H.
Cancer Epidemiol. 2023 08. 85:102406. PMID: 37390701
Wu Y, Kim H, Wang K, Song M, Wang M, Tamimi R, Eliassen H, Smith-Warner SA, Willett WC, Giovannucci EL.
Eur J Epidemiol. 2023 Jul. 38(7):717-728. PMID: 37280503
Takata Y, Yang JJ, Yu D, Smith-Warner SA, Blot WJ, White E, Robien K, Prizment A, Wu K, Sawada N, Lan Q, Park Y, Gao YT, Cai Q, Song M, Zhang X, Pan K, Agudo A, Panico S, Liao LM, Tsugane S, Chlebowski RT, Nøst TH, Schulze MB, Johannson M, Zheng W, Shu XO.
J Nutr. 2023 Jul. 153(7):2051-2060. PMID: 36907443
Kim H, Hur J, Wu K, Song M, Wang M, Smith-Warner SA, Zhang X, Giovannucci EL.
Int J Epidemiol. 2023 02 08. 52(1):87-95. PMID: 36315018
Visvanathan K, Mondul AM, Zeleniuch-Jacquotte A, Wang M, Gail MH, Yaun SS, Weinstein SJ, McCullough ML, Eliassen AH, Cook NR, Agnoli C, Almquist M, Black A, Buring JE, Chen C, Chen Y, Clendenen T, Dossus L, Fedirko V, Gierach GL, Giovannucci EL, Goodman GE, Goodman MT, Guénel P, Hallmans G, Hankinson SE, Horst RL, Hou T, Huang WY, Jones ME, Joshu CE, Kaaks R, Krogh V, Kühn T, Kvaskoff M, Lee IM, Mahamat-Saleh Y, Malm J, Manjer J, Maskarinec G, Millen AE, Mukhtar TK, Neuhouser ML, Robsahm TE, Schoemaker MJ, Sieri S, Sund M, Swerdlow AJ, Thomson CA, Ursin G, Wactawski-Wende J, Wang Y, Wilkens LR, Wu Y, Zoltick E, Willett WC, Smith-Warner SA, Ziegler RG.
Eur J Epidemiol. 2023 Jan. 38(1):11-29. PMID: 36593337
Zhao L, Jin L, Petrick JL, Zeng H, Wang F, Tang L, Smith-Warner SA, Eliassen AH, Zhang FF, Campbell PT, Giovannucci E, Liao LM, McGlynn KA, Steck SE, Zhang X.
Am J Clin Nutr. 2023 02. 117(2):278-285. PMID: 36811575
Yue Y, Ma W, Accorsi EK, Ding M, Hu F, Willett WC, Chan AT, Sun Q, Rich-Edwards J, Smith-Warner SA, Bhupathiraju SN.
Am J Clin Nutr. 2022 12 19. 116(6):1672-1681. PMID: 35945354
Merchant AT, Gupta RD, Akonde M, Reynolds M, Smith-Warner S, Liu J, Tarannum F, Beck J, Mattison D.
JAMA Netw Open. 2022 12 01. 5(12):e2247632. PMID: 36534397
Wang F, Ugai T, Haruki K, Wan Y, Akimoto N, Arima K, Zhong R, Twombly TS, Wu K, Yin K, Chan AT, Giannakis M, Nowak JA, Meyerhardt JA, Liang L, Song M, Smith-Warner SA, Zhang X, Giovannucci EL, Willett WC, Ogino S.
Clin Transl Med. 2022 08. 12(8):e893. PMID: 35998061
Higher blood concentrations of vitamin D are linked to a lower risk of colorectal cancer, especially in women, according to a large new study from researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the National Cancer Institute,…
December 20, 2017 – People with colorectal cancer (CRC) who drank at least four cups of coffee per day after their diagnosis had a significantly lower risk of early death—from either their cancer or any cause—than those who…
