Jonine D. Figueroa, Ph.D., M.P.H.

Senior Investigator

Integrative Tumor Epidemiology Branch

NCI/DCEG

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9609 Medical Center Dr.
Room SG/7E226
Rockville, MD 20892

+1 240 276 5260

jonine.figueroa@nih.gov

Research Topics

Dr. Jonine Figueroa is an internationally recognized expert in breast cancer epidemiology. As a leader of integrative molecular epidemiologic research with a focus on global health, she investigates risk factors associated with breast cancer incidence and mortality in diverse populations.

Breast Cancer in Africa

At DCEG, Dr. Figueroa was co-principal investigator of the Ghana Breast Health Study, leading the fieldwork, mentoring international colleagues, and building capacity for biospecimen collection to conduct molecular epidemiology studies in low-resource settings. The landmark study is identifying risk factors for different subtypes of breast cancer and will help inform public health strategies for prevention in Africa and African ancestry populations.

Molecular Epidemiology of Breast Cancer

To improve outcomes and address cancer inequities, Dr. Figueroa’s research aims to understand the interplay of biological, environmental, and socioeconomic determinants in cancer epidemiology studies. In Scotland, she investigated whether inequities exist in breast cancer incidence and survival, based on a deprivation index that integrated socioeconomic measures including income, healthcare access, crime, and education. This research showed that incidence of screen-detected, hormone-driven breast cancers was lower in groups with lower socioeconomic status than those with higher socioeconomic status. She also showed that deprivation had different magnitudes of association with survival depending on the molecular subtype of breast cancer.

Biography

Dr. Figueroa received a B.S. in genetics and developmental biology from the Pennsylvania State University, State College, a Ph.D. in molecular genetics and microbiology from Stony Brook University, and an M.P.H. from Columbia University, both in New York. Most recently, Dr. Figueroa was tenured Professor and Chair of Molecular Epidemiology and Global Cancer Prevention at the University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom, where she is an Honorary Fellow. She completed her postdoctoral training in DCEG as an NCI Cancer Prevention Fellow and was promoted to a tenure-track investigator position before leaving for the United Kingdom.

Dr. Figueroa is the first researcher selected through the DCEG pilot of the Multi-Principal Investigator Search (MPIS). She has also been selected for the NIH Distinguished Scholars Program.

Selected Publications

  1. Figueroa JD, Brinton LA. Unraveling genes, hormones, and breast cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2012;104(9):641-2.
  2. Figueroa JD, Garcia-Closas M, Humphreys M, Platte R, Hopper JL, Southey MC, Apicella C, Hammet F, Schmidt MK, Broeks A, Tollenaar RA, Van't Veer LJ, Fasching PA, Beckmann MW, Ekici AB, Strick R, Peto J, dos Santos Silva I, Fletcher O, Johnson N, Sawyer E, Tomlinson I, Kerin M, Burwinkel B, Marme F, Schneeweiss A, Sohn C, Bojesen S, Flyger H, Nordestgaard BG, Benítez J, Milne RL, Ignacio Arias J, Zamora MP, Brenner H, Müller H, Arndt V, Rahman N, Turnbull C, Seal S, Renwick A, Brauch H, Justenhoven C, Brüning T, GENICA Network, Chang-Claude J, Hein R, Wang-Gohrke S, Dörk T, Schürmann P, Bremer M, Hillemanns P, Nevanlinna H, Heikkinen T, Aittomäki K, Blomqvist C, Bogdanova N, Antonenkova N, Rogov YI, Karstens JH, Bermisheva M, Prokofieva D, Gantcev SH, Khusnutdinova E, Lindblom A, Margolin S, Chenevix-Trench G, Beesley J, Chen X, kConFab AOCS Management Group, Mannermaa A, Kosma VM, Soini Y, Kataja V, Lambrechts D, Yesilyurt BT, Chrisiaens MR, Peeters S, Radice P, Peterlongo P, Manoukian S, Barile M, Couch F, Lee AM, Diasio R, Wang X, Giles GG, Severi G, Baglietto L, Maclean C, Offit K, Robson M, Joseph V, Gaudet M, John EM, Winqvist R, Pylkäs K, Jukkola-Vuorinen A, Grip M, Andrulis I, Knight JA, Mulligan AM, O'Malley FP, Brinton LA, Sherman ME, Lissowska J, Chanock SJ, Hooning M, Martens JW, van den Ouweland AM, Collée JM, Hall P, Czene K, Cox A, Brock IW, Reed MW, Cross SS, Pharoah P, Dunning AM, Kang D, Yoo KY, Noh DY, Ahn SH, Jakubowska A, Lubinski J, Jaworska K, Durda K, Sangrajrang S, Gaborieau V, Brennan P, McKay J, Shen CY, Ding SL, Hsu HM, Yu JC, Anton-Culver H, Ziogas A, Ashworth A, Swerdlow A, Jones M, Orr N, Trentham-Dietz A, Egan K, Newcomb P, Titus-Ernstoff L, Easton D, Spurdle AB. Associations of common variants at 1p11.2 and 14q24.1 (RAD51L1) with breast cancer risk and heterogeneity by tumor subtype: findings from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium. Hum Mol Genet. 2011;20(23):4693-706.
  3. Rothman N, Garcia-Closas M, Chatterjee N, Malats N, Wu X, Figueroa JD, Real FX, Van Den Berg D, Matullo G, Baris D, Thun M, Kiemeney LA, Vineis P, De Vivo I, Albanes D, Purdue MP, Rafnar T, Hildebrandt MA, Kiltie AE, Cussenot O, Golka K, Kumar R, Taylor JA, Mayordomo JI, Jacobs KB, Kogevinas M, Hutchinson A, Wang Z, Fu YP, Prokunina-Olsson L, Burdett L, Yeager M, Wheeler W, Tardón A, Serra C, Carrato A, García-Closas R, Lloreta J, Johnson A, Schwenn M, Karagas MR, Schned A, Andriole G Jr, Grubb R 3rd, Black A, Jacobs EJ, Diver WR, Gapstur SM, Weinstein SJ, Virtamo J, Cortessis VK, Gago-Dominguez M, Pike MC, Stern MC, Yuan JM, Hunter DJ, McGrath M, Dinney CP, Czerniak B, Chen M, Yang H, Vermeulen SH, Aben KK, Witjes JA, Makkinje RR, Sulem P, Besenbacher S, Stefansson K, Riboli E, Brennan P, Panico S, Navarro C, Allen NE, Bueno-de-Mesquita HB, Trichopoulos D, Caporaso N, Landi MT, Canzian F, Ljungberg B, Tjonneland A, Clavel-Chapelon F, Bishop DT, Teo MT, Knowles MA, Guarrera S, Polidoro S, Ricceri F, Sacerdote C, Allione A, Cancel-Tassin G, Selinski S, Hengstler JG, Dietrich H, Fletcher T, Rudnai P, Gurzau E, Koppova K, Bolick SC, Godfrey A, Xu Z, Sanz-Velez JI, D García-Prats M, Sanchez M, Valdivia G, Porru S, Benhamou S, Hoover RN, Fraumeni JF Jr, Silverman DT, Chanock SJ. A multi-stage genome-wide association study of bladder cancer identifies multiple susceptibility loci. Nat Genet. 2010;42(11):978-84.
  4. Figueroa JD, Flanders KC, Garcia-Closas M, Anderson WF, Yang XR, Matsuno RK, Duggan MA, Pfeiffer RM, Ooshima A, Cornelison R, Gierach GL, Brinton LA, Lissowska J, Peplonska B, Wakefield LM, Sherman ME. Expression of TGF-beta signaling factors in invasive breast cancers: relationships with age at diagnosis and tumor characteristics. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2010;121(3):727-35.
  5. Figueroa JD, Malats N, Rothman N, Real FX, Silverman D, Kogevinas M, Chanock S, Yeager M, Welch R, Dosemeci M, Tardón A, Serra C, Carrato A, García-Closas R, Castaño-Vinyals G, García-Closas M. Evaluation of genetic variation in the double-strand break repair pathway and bladder cancer risk. Carcinogenesis. 2007;28(8):1788-93.

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This page was last updated on Tuesday, November 12, 2024