Team
Alfred I Neugut, MD
- Director
- Myron M. Studner Professor of Cancer Research
- Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology
Dr. Neugut is a medical oncologist with an interest in gastrointestinal tract cancers, especially colorectal and gastric cancers. As a cancer epidemiologist, Dr. Alfred Neugut's major interests have been on the epidemiology of colorectal adenomas and colon cancer, as well as colonoscopic screening. He serves as co-principal investigator of the Long Island Breast Cancer Study Project, a large multi-center effort to explore environmental causes of breast cancer on Long Island. His research has focused on the epidemiology of second malignancies, the use of chemotherapy and radiation therapy among elderly cancer patients, and racial disparities in incidence and survival from cancer and, in particular, variations across subgroups of people of African descent. He leads two large training grants in cancer-related population sciences that together fund 15 pre- and postdoctoral trainees in cancer epidemiology, biostatistics, and environmental health sciences, and serves as a mentor to a number of junior faculty.
Daniel E Freedberg, MD
- Deputy Director
- Associate Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology
Dr. Freedberg is a gastroenterologist and epidemiologist focused on the impact of gastrointestinal medications and on gut infections. His pharmacoepidemiology research has included studies related to the impact of proton pump inhibitors, which are powerful anti-acid medications, and antibiotics. Current research focuses on Clostridioides difficile infection and other enteric infections. With funding from the NIH, American Gastroenterological Association (AGA), and Department of Defense (DoD), he has built large cohorts to study how gut pathogens colonize critically ill patients and whether this leads to subsequent gut and systemic infections.
Andrew G Rundle, DrPH
- Professor of Epidemiology
Dr. Rundle is an epidemiologist with extensive experience analyzing data from providers of corporate wellness and preventive health services. His research on chronic disease outcomes, particularly on the causes of obesity and obesity related health conditions, has used large EMR, health surveillance, administrative, cohort and billing datasets. He has specialized in linking neighborhood-level contextual data on social determinants of health, built environments, and business and economic conditions to large health datasets to understand how neighborhood- and individual-level risk factors shape individuals’ health. He has served as a scientific advisor to health care, real estate and financial companies and to city governments.
Judith Jacobson, DrPH
- Adjunct Associate Professor of Clinical Epidemiology
Dr. Jacobson’s major research interests are cancer, asthma, and the role of behavior, including the use of complementary/alternative medicine, in the prevention and control of these conditions. She and colleagues have collaborated on studies of factors associated with cancer outcomes in national data and decision analyses of breast cancer prevention strategies, and on clinical trials of an herbal agent to control hot flashes in breast cancer patients and vitamin supplementation to prevent DNA damage in heavy smokers. She has been funded by the Lance Armstrong Foundation, the NIH, and the Commonwealth Fund among others.
Sam Fisch
- Master's Candidate
Sam is an MPH student at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, specializing in epidemiology with a focus on pharmacoepidemiology. His interests center around rare diseases, particularly identifying their true prevalences and assessing how treatment patterns impact patient outcomes. At Columbia's Pharmacoepidemiology Group, he works on studies related to adverse event surveillance and registry-based analyses. He aims to apply advanced epidemiologic methods to improve pharmacovigilance and inform regulatory decision-making.
Jason D. Wright, MD
- Chief of the Division of Gynecological Oncology
Dr. Wright is the Sol Goldman Professor, Chief of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology, and Vice Chair of Academic Affairs in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Columbia University. Dr. Wright completed a residency in obstetrics and gynecology and fellowship in gynecologic oncology at Washington University in St. Louis. The primary focus of Dr. Wright’s research is health services and outcomes resources. His work uses large datasets to address the effectiveness of treatments and technologies which can then be used to design interventions to improve health. He serves as Editor-in-Chief of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Mirza Ijaz Rahman, MD, MPH
- Senior Vice President, Patient Safety & Pharmacovigilance at Cybin
- Adjunct Associate Professor of Epidemiology
Dr. Rahman is the Senior Vice President, Patient Safety & Pharmacovigilance at Cybin, a pharmaceutical company seeking to bring novel, second-generation psychedelics to market. He also serves as the President of the American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM) and is a Co-Founder and President of the Guyanese Diaspora Charity, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization focused on helping to improve the lives of Guyanese. In addition, Dr. Rahman serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and as an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Guyana, in Guyana, South America. During 25+ years in the pharmaceutical industry, he has received multiple awards from the ACPM, the AMA, the AAFP, Merck, J&J, Otsuka, and Organon.
