Our Team

Chief, Division of Epidemiology
Associate Director of Population Science, Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center
Professor of Population Health Sciences
Professor of Epidemiology in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Research Profile

Assistant Professor
Dr. Eunji Choi is a cancer epidemiologist and statistical researcher who completed her postgraduate training at Stanford University before joining the faculty in 2024. She leads an NIA-funded study (K01 AG088449-01) exploring individual risk factors and social determinants of health linked to aging in lung cancer patients. Her research also focuses on disparities in lung cancer screening and survivorship.

Research Profile

Associate Professor of Population Health Sciences and of Medicine

Research Profile

Assistant Professor
Dr. Kevin Kensler is a cancer epidemiologist. His research primarily focuses on prostate and breast cancers, two of the most common cancers and leading causes of cancer mortality in New York City and globally, for which the burden falls more heavily on marginalized populations. Using large population-based datasets, he works to identify molecular predictors of cancer risk and prognosis, improve cancer screening and early detection, and identify multilevel drivers of cancer health disparities.

Research Profile

Assistant Professor

Research Profile

Assistant Professor
Dr. Yiwey Shieh is a clinician-investigator committed to advancing cancer screening and prevention through personalized approaches. His research focuses on cancer risk prediction using genetic variants and other risk factors. Dr. Shieh lead projects aimed at developing polygenic risk scores to predict poor prognosis breast cancers and take part in cutting-edge team science studying the use of polygenic risk scores for personalized breast cancer screening. In addition, he studies how individual and environmental factors may impact the risk of certain subtypes of lung cancer. To facilitate this research, Dr. Shieh is leading efforts to establish MCC-MELD (Molecularly Enhanced Lung Cancer Database), a registry integrating clinical, genomic, and neighborhood-level data for lung cancer patients treated at Meyer Cancer Center.

Research Profile

Professor
Dr. Laith J. Abu-Raddad is a professor of population health sciences at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q). His academic career is distinguished by numerous high-impact epidemiological studies published in journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, Science, and The Lancet. Dr. Abu-Raddad's research spans a spectrum of infectious diseases, including COVID-19, HIV, other sexually transmitted infections, hepatitis C virus, tuberculosis, and SARS.

Research Profile

Attending Epidemiologist
Dr. Helena Furberg Barnes is an attending epidemiologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center where she is dedicated to determining the impact of modifiable factors on cancer prognosis, particularly for kidney and bladder cancers. She has expertise in establishing and leading large consortia as well as hospital-based epidemiologic studies that integrate genomic profiling, biochemically verified smoking exposure, and CT-derived body composition assessment. By collaborating with physician scientists and lab scientists, Dr. Furberg Barnes investigates potential molecular mechanisms underlying observed associations to ultimately guide clinical care and empower patients.

Assistant Professor 
Dr. Hiam Souheil Chemaitelly is an assistant professor of research in population health sciences at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q). Her research focuses on the epidemiology of infectious diseases, with a particular emphasis on respiratory infections such as COVID-19, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and influenza, as well as sexually transmitted infections and viral hepatitis. She is an expert in evaluating vaccine, therapeutic, and natural infection effectiveness and conducting infectious disease meta-analytic studies. Her work has been pivotal in advancing infectious disease epidemiology, shaping policy programming, and optimizing resource allocation in the Middle East, North Africa, and globally.

Research Profile

Associate Attending Epidemiologist
Dr. Mengmeng Du is a cancer epidemiologist. She works with international research teams to reduce the burden of endometrial, colorectal, and pancreatic cancers—particularly in underserved or understudied populations who face disproportionately poor outcomes. Her projects center on understanding tumor biology and risk factors, with the goal of identifying individuals who can benefit most from risk-reducing education, lifestyle modification, or early detection strategies.

Professor
Dr. Ziyad Mahfoud is a professor of research in population health sciences at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q). Dr. Mahfoud received his PhD in statistics from the University of Florida and since had taught at the University of Kentucky, the American University of Beirut and, for the last 14 years, at WCM-Q. Dr. Mahfoud works on designing and analyzing epidemiological and interventional studies. An expert in clinical trials, he has more than 170 peer reviewed published articles with local and international collaborators and on a diverse range of topics. He has served as advisor and consultant to several pharmaceutical companies and international organizations, including WHO, UNAIDS, IOM, and UNICEF. Dr. Mahfoud currently teaches the scientific evidence module and is the course director for the Area on Concentration course. He also serves as director of health quantitative sciences at the Institute of Population Health at WCM-Q and the associate director of the Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Biomathematical Research Core.

Janet and Gordon Lankton Professor
Dr. Saurabh Mehta is a physician with training and expertise in nutrition, epidemiology, infectious disease, and diagnostics. He is the founding director of the Joan Klein Jacobs Center for Precision Nutrition and Health in the College of Human Ecology and the Janet and Gordon Lankton Professor in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University. He is also the co-director of the NIH-funded Center for Point of Care Diagnostics for Nutrition, Infection, and Cancer (PORTENT) as part of the POCTRN+ network. Dr. Mehta is the program director of the NIH-supported training program on artificial intelligence and precision nutrition. He also co-leads the Research Coordinating Center for the NIH’s Nutrition for Precision Health Initiative, and directs the Program in International Nutrition at Cornell. The central theme of his research is the interplay between nutrition and disease, including facilitating field-friendly assessment for both and elucidating how nutrition can be used as a modifiable risk factor to improve health and associated outcomes, often in the context of pregnancy and early childhood. This is achieved through a combination of active surveillance programs, the invention of point-of-care diagnostics, and randomized controlled trials primarily in India, sub-saharan Africa, and Latin America. 

Dr. Mehta received his medical degree from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and followed it up with doctoral degree in epidemiology and nutrition from Harvard University. His work has been recognized with multiple awards including a NIH technology accelerator challenge prize for innovative global health diagnostics, the Norman Kretchmer memorial award for nutrition and development, the Rainer Gross Prize for innovations in nutrition and health, and the SUNY Chancellor award for scholarship and creative activities. 

Research Profile

Associate Professor
Dr. Laura Pinheiro is an associate professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine in the Department of Medicine and holds a secondary appointment in the Division of Epidemiology in the Department of Population Health Sciences. Dr. Pinheiro is a PhD-trained health services researcher who is committed to research in three main areas: health equity, cancer care delivery, and patient-reported outcomes. She is particularly interested in the challenges related to healthcare delivery experienced by individuals with cancer and comorbid conditions from underserved racial and ethnic groups. Outside of her research program, Dr. Pinheiro serves as the assistant director of community outreach and engagement and the associate director for a HRSA-funded T32 training program for health equity research.

Research Profile

Associate Member
Dr. Jessica Scott is an associate member at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and an associate professor at Weill Cornell Medicine. She received her PhD in exercise cardiovascular physiology at the University of British Columbia and completed her postdoctoral fellowship at NASA Johnson Space Center. Her research is focused on characterizing multisystem toxicities and studying exercise therapy to prevent and treat the side effects of cancer therapy.

Associate Professor
Dr. Ravi Sharaf is a gastroenterologist and health services researcher with a clinical focus on the care of patients with hereditary cancer syndromes. He is the director of Clinical Cancer Genetics at Weill Cornell Medicine and an associate professor of medicine, with appointments in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Medicine, as well as the Department of Population Health Sciences. His research focuses on optimizing the delivery of genomic medicine, studying the comparative and cost effectiveness of alternate cancer prevention strategies, and tailoring cancer prevention to individual risk. His research is funded by the National Cancer Institute and the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute.

Research Profile

Associate Professor
Dr. Megan Shen is a social psychologist focused on improving the psychosocial support and healthcare delivery of patients living with serious illness. Her work focuses on how to improve communication, decision-making and support for patients living with serious illness and their families. Much of her work is focused on health equity and designs support tools to improve equitable and high-quality care received at the end of life.

Assistant Attending Epidemiologist
Dr. Xiang Shu is a cancer epidemiologist whose research focuses on elucidating the role of genetic factors in cancer development and progression. He is also interested in identifying novel non-invasive biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and prevention using integrative multi-omics approaches.

Assistant Professor
Dr. Kristin Voegtline is a developmental scientist and an assistant professor of maternal and fetal health in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology with a joint appointment in the Department of Population Health Sciences. Dr. Voegtline received her PhD and MS in human development and family studies, with a focus on quantitative methodology including measurement, study design, and analysis techniques, from the Pennsylvania State University.  She completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health; with receipt of a K99/R00 award from NICHD, Dr. Voegtline transitioned to Johns Hopkins University faculty after fellowship. 

In 2024, Dr. Voegtline joined Weill Cornell Medicine faculty. Her research focuses on perinatal health, with a specific interest in the physiology of pregnancy and fetal neurodevelopment.  She leads data analysis for several federally funded research projects in the role of principal or co-investigator, including a study of antenatal anxiety and dyadic immune risk (MPIs Osborne and Voegtline) and a U54 clinical trial, NY-CHAMP, seeking to improve postpartum mental health and cardiovascular risk. In her faculty role, she also works with the ObGyn Research Data Repository and serves as a mentor for trainees in study design, grant development (e.g., power analysis), data analysis, and dissemination.  

Research Profile

Postdoctoral Associate
Dr. Shadi Azam earned her PhD in medical epidemiology and biostatistics from the Karolinska Institute in 2021. Her research focuses on identifying novel imaging biomarkers, enhancing breast cancer risk assessment guidelines, and optimizing mammography screening programs to better evaluate and address individual women’s breast cancer risk. She has been working with Nurses’ Health Study I and II cohorts which are among the largest cohorts into the risk factors for major chronic diseases in women in the US. Previously, she worked with the Karolinska Mammography Project for Risk Prediction of Breast Cancer (KARMA cohort) which is one of the best-characterized breast cancer cohorts in Europe.

Research Profile

Postdoctoral Associate
Dr. Margaux Delporte is a postdoctoral associate under the guidance of Dr. Rulla Tamimi and Dr. Yushu Shi, specializing in statistical genomics and the development of methodologies for feature selection in high-dimensional data analysis. Her research focuses on identifying biological predictors of breast cancer risk. Additionally, she has expertise in modeling longitudinal data, particularly in joint random-effects models.

Research Assistant
Gargi Bhattacharya joined in September 2024 as a research assistant working under Dr. Rulla Tamimi. Currently, she assists investigators with IRB submissions and moderate the lab meetings. She looks forward to developing my research interests and contributing to ongoing projects in the lab.

Project Coordinator

Research Assistant
Luchang Cui is involved in lung cancer research, focusing on analyzing data from tumor registries and electronic health records. Her expertise includes leveraging statistical and machine learning methods to uncover insights related to cancer diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes. Luchang is particularly interested in the integration of clinical and genomic data to improve risk prediction models and enhance personalized medicine. Her work aims to contribute to more effective cancer prevention and care strategies.

Research Assistant
Darima Dorzhieva is a research assistant working with Dr. Shoshana Rosenberg on various studies related to breast cancer in women, with an emphasis on the younger populations. 

Senior Research Assistant
Faith Morley is a senior research assistant to Dr. Kevin Kensler. Faith leverages her experience utilizing large population-based datasets, cancer registries, and clinical real world data to identify multilevel drivers of cancer health disparities.