Jeanine Genkinger, PhD

  • Associate Professor of Epidemiology
Profile Headshot

Overview

Jeanine Genkinger, PhD, is a cancer epidemiologist who has been driven to understand how modifiable factors, molecular pathways and related biomarkers may impact cancer risk and progression, particularly for rare but highly fatal cancers. Her research interests include prevention through determining modifiable risk factors and improved early detection through identifying markers of risk and molecular pathways to offer the most promising approaches to reducing morbidity and mortality of these diseases. Her area of methodological specialty is in nutritional epidemiology, longitudinal design and complex pooled and meta-analytic techniques.

As co-director of the HICCC Database Shared Resource, she recruits all high-risk and cancer patients into a registry, along with the collection of blood, saliva, and an epidemiologic questionnaire to link to resected tumor tissue and clinical data to promote research across the HICCC and CUMC.

Dr. Genkinger has conducted her research in large scale international consortia, namely the Pooling Project of Prospective Studies of Diet and Cancer and the NCI Cohort Consortium, and has conducted research in numerous cohort studies, such as the Breast Cancer Family Registry.

Her research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute, and the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR). Dr. Genkinger was awarded R01 funding to examine epigenetic markers as early detection markers of ovarian cancer. Recently, she was funded by AICR to examine dietary and lifestyle patterns and weight changes with pancreatic cancer risk.

Academic Appointments

  • Associate Professor of Epidemiology

Administrative Titles

  • Member, Cancer Epidemiology, Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center
  • Epidemiologist , Pancreas Center
  • Co-Director, Database Shared Resource, Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center
  • Faculty, Columbia Center for Environmental Health and Justice in Northern Manhattan

Credentials & Experience

Education & Training

  • BS, 1996 University of Notre Dame
  • MHS, 2000 Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Committees, Societies, Councils

Member, Society of Epidemiological Research

Member, American Association for Cancer Research

Member, Pancreatic Cancer Case Control Consortium

Member, American Society of Preventive Oncology

Editorial Boards

British Journal of Cancer

Honors & Awards

Marilyn Menkes Student Book Award 2002, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health AACR-AFLAC Scholar-in-Training Award 2004, AACR Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Conference, Seattle, WA The Edward A. Smuckler Memorial Workshop: Pathobiology of Cancer Scholarship 2005, Snowmass, CO AACR-Busch Scholar-in-Training Award 2006, AACR 97th Annual Meeting, Washington, DC

Research

Research Interests

  • Biostatistical Methods
  • Cancer
  • Cancer Pancreatic Cancer Ovarian
  • Chronic disease
  • Epigenetics
  • Food Policy and Obesity
  • Genetics
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Nutrition
  • Obesity
  • Prostate Cancer
  • Survival Analysis

Selected Publications

Distinct trajectories of fruits and vegetables, dietary fat, and alcohol intake following a breast cancer diagnosis: the Pathways Study. Shi Z, Rundle A, Genkinger JM, Cheung YK, Ergas IJ, Roh JM, Kushi LH, Kwan ML, Greenlee H. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2019 Oct 10. doi: 10.1007/s10549-019-05457-9. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 31599394 Select item 31578201 4. Recreational Physical Activity Is Associated with Reduced Breast Cancer Risk in Adult Women at High Risk for Breast Cancer: A Cohort Study of Women Selected for Familial and Genetic Risk.

Kehm RD, Genkinger JM, MacInnis RJ, John EM, Phillips KA, Dite GS, Milne RL, Zeinomar N, Liao Y, Knight JA, Southey MC, Chung WK, Giles GG, McLachlan SA, Whitaker KD, Friedlander M, Weideman PC, Glendon G, Nesci S, Andrulis IL, Buys SS, Daly MB, Hopper JL, Terry MB; kConFab Investigators. Cancer Res. 2019 Oct 2. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-19-1847. [Epub ahead of print] PMID:31578201 Select item 30658994 5. Experimental microdissection enables functional harmonisation of pancreatic cancer subtypes.

Maurer C, Holmstrom SR, He J, Laise P, Su T, Ahmed A, Hibshoosh H, Chabot JA, Oberstein PE, Sepulveda AR, Genkinger JM, Zhang J, Iuga AC, Bansal M, Califano A, Olive KP. Gut. 2019 Jun;68(6):1034-1043. doi: 10.1136/gutjnl-2018-317706. Epub 2019 Jan 18. PMID:30658994

Genkinger JM, Kitahara CM, Bernstein L, Berrington de Gonzalez A, Brotzman M, Elena JW, Giles GG, Hartge P, Singh PN, Stolzenberg-Solomon RZ, Weiderpass E, Adami HO, Anderson KE, Beane-Freeman LE, Buring JE, Fraser GE, Fuchs CS, Gapstur SM, Gaziano JM, Helzlsouer KJ, Lacey JV Jr, Linet MS, Liu JJ, Park Y, Peters U, Purdue MP, Robien K, Schairer C, Sesso HD, Visvanathan K, White E, Wolk A, Wolpin BM, Zeleniuch-Jacquotte A, Jacobs EJ. Central adiposity, obesity during early adulthood, and pancreatic cancer mortality in a pooled analysis of cohort studies. Ann Oncol. 2015 Nov;26(11):2257-66. doi: 10.1093/annonc/mdv355. Epub 2015 Sep 7. Review. PMID: 26347100

Genkinger JM, Wang M, Li R, Albanes D, Anderson KE, Bernstein L, van den Brandt PA, English DR, Freudenheim JL, Fuchs CS, Gapstur SM, Giles GG, Goldbohm RA, Hakansson N, Horn-Ross PL, Koushik A, Marshall JR, McCullough ML, Miller AB, Robien K, Rohan TE, Schairer C, Silverman DT, Stolzenberg-Solomon RZ, Virtamo J, Willett WC, Wolk A, Ziegler RG, Smith-Warner SA. Dairy products and pancreatic cancer risk: a pooled analysis of 14 cohort studies. Ann Oncol. 2014 Jun;25(6):1106-15. doi: 10.1093/annonc/mdu019. Epub 2014 Mar 14. Review. PMID: 24631943

Genkinger JM, Makambi KH, Palmer JR, Rosenberg L, Adams-Campbell LL. Consumption of dairy and meat in relation to breast cancer risk in the Black Womens Health Study. Cancer Causes Control. 2013 Apr;24(4):675-84. doi: 10.1007/s10552-013-0146-8. Epub 2013 Jan 18. PMID: 23329367

Genkinger JM, Friberg E, Goldbohm RA, Wolk A. Long-term dietary heme iron and red meat intake in relation to endometrial cancer risk. Am J Clin Nutr. 2012 Oct;96(4):848-54. Epub 2012 Sep 5. PMID: 22952183

Genkinger JM, DeVivo I, Stampfer MJ, Giovannucci E, Michaud DS. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and bladder cancer in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Int J Cancer 120 2221-5 2007

Genkinger JM, Hunter DJ, Spiegelman D, Anderson K, Buring JE, Freudenheim JL, Bausch-Goldbohm S, Hankinson SE, Harnack L, Larsson SE, Leitzmann M, McCullough ML, Marshall J, Miller AB, Rodriguez C, Rohan TE, Schatzkin A, Schouten LJ, Wolk A, Zhang S, Smit Alcohol Intake and Ovarian Cancer Risk: A pooled analysis of ten cohort studies. Br J Cancer 94 757-62 2006

Genkinger JM, Hunter DJ, Spiegelman D, Anderson K, Beeson WB, Buring JE, Colditz GA, Fraser GE, Freudenheim JL, Bausch-Goldbohm S, Hankinson SE, Koenig KL, Larsson SE, Leitzmann M, McCullough ML, Miller AB, Rodriguez C, Rohan TE, Ross JA, Schatzkin A, Sch A Pooled Analysis of 12 Cohort Studies of Dietary Fat, Cholesterol and Egg Intake and Ovarian Cancer. Cancer, Causes and Control 17 273-285 2006

Genkinger JM, Platz EA, Strickland P, Hoffman S, Huang HY, Comstock GW, Helzlsouer KJ. C47T Polymorphism in Manganese Superoxide Dismutase (MnSOD), Antioxidant Intake and Survival. Mechanisms of Ageing and Development. 127 371-7 2006

Genkinger JM, Hunter DJ, Speigelman D, Anderson K, Arslan A, Beeson WB, Buring JE, Colditz GA, Fraser GE, Freudenheim JL, Bausch-Goldbohm S, Hankinson SE, Jacobs D, Koushik A, Lacey Jr. J, Larsson SE, Leitzmann M, McCullough ML, Miller AB, Rodriguez C, Ro Dairy Products and Ovarian Cancer: A Pooled Analysis of 12 Cohorts. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 15 364-372 2006

Genkinger JM, Platz EA, Hoffman S, Comstock GW, Helzlsouer KJ. Fruits and Vegetables, Antioxidant Intake and All-Cause, Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease Mortality in a US Community Based Population. Am J Epidemiol 160 1223-33 2004

Global Health Activities

Pooling Project of Prospective Studies of Diet and Cancer: The Pooling Project of Prospective Studies of Diet and Cancer (Pooling Project) is an international consortium of cohort studies with the goal of analyzing diet and cancer associations using standardized criteria across studies. The purposes of the Pooling Project are multi-fold. We evaluate whether diet and cancer associations are consistent across cohort studies comprised of different populations with different dietary habits. For each association, we generate summary estimates which have greater precision than any of the individual studies due to the larger sample size. We also examine whether associations differ for specific population subgroups (ex: between men and women; among never, past and current smokers; between lean and overweight individuals) or for different histologic types or subsites of specific cancers.

Rea Phela Health Study, South Africa: The Rea Phela Health Study aims to learn more about health conditions, events, and risk factors for South African health care workers. We hope to use these results to inform better health policies, working conditions and services for all South Africans. The Rea Phela Health Study is a collaboration between the Foundation for Professional Development, an indigenous South African organisation, the University of Pretoria and Columbia University.