Principal Investigator

Elizabeth E. Brown, PhD MPH

Dr. Brown is an epidemiologist with expertise in genetics, immuno-epidemiology and cancer health disparities. She obtained her PhD in epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and subsequently completed two fellowships at the National Cancer Institute (NCI); the first in the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics and the second, in the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity, Section of Immunogenetics and Molecular Epidemiology. Dr. Brown joined the faculty at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2006 and served as an Adjunct Scientist at NCI from 2006 to 2010. She became Co-Leader of the Cancer Control and Population Sciences Program of the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center and Director in 2015. Dr. Brown is a founding member of the International Multiple Myeloma Consortium and continues to serve in a leadership capacity as Chair of the International Lymphoma and Epidemiology (InterLymph) Consortium Coordinating Committee, which is central to setting research priorities to advance myeloma and lymphoma research.

Program Personnel

Teresa K. Martin

Ms. Martin joined the team in 2015 and serves as the Program Manager for the Integrative Molecular And Genetic (IMAGE) Study that includes healthy people and patients with plasma cell proliferative disorders (e.g., MGUS, smoldering myeloma, multiple myeloma, plasma cell leukemia, Waldenström macroglobulinemia, amyloidosis, etc.) and Hodgkin and Non-Hodgkin lymphomas. Ms. Martin oversees participant recruitment and coordinates all administrative aspects of the UAB IMAGE Study.

Amanda Ramirez, MPH MBA

Ms. Ramirez joined the team in 2015 and serves as the Program Manager for the PROFILE Study, which includes patients with lupus from UAB as well as Johns Hopkins University, Northwestern University, University of Puerto Rico Medical Campus and University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Ms. Ramirez oversees participant recruitment at UAB and coordinates activities of the UAB PROFILE Coordinating Center. In addition, she oversees PROFILE data operations and biospecimen acquisition and management.

Kevin D. Arnold, MPH

Mr. Arnold joined the team in 2018 and oversees all research program data operations including the acquisition of data, data entry, management and quality control components. In addition, Mr. Arnold coordinates study participant scheduling, oversees clinical data abstraction and conducts statistical analyses using a broad spectrum of methods for genomic and non-genomic data.

Michaela Gibson

Ms. Gibson joined the team in 2017 and serves as a data management specialist for the IMAGE and PROFILE Studies. She is also currently completing a nursing degree.

Sairish Sharma, MPH

Ms. Sharma joined the team in 2021 and serves as a clinical recruiter and data management specialist for the PROFILE Study.

Current Trainees

Hannah Cutshall

Ms. Cutshall was graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2017 and matriculated to the UAB School of Medicine later that year. She is a candidate for the inaugural Integrated Pathology Residency Program at UAB for her fourth year of medical school. Ms. Cutshall is researching racial differences in multiple myeloma onset and progression, secondary malignancies in the era of new biologic therapeutic agents, early age of onset, and genomics for which she was awarded Cancer Research Fellowship in 2019 and Carolyn L. Kuckein Student Research Fellowship at the National AΩA Chapter in 2020.

Jacob Coeur

Mr. Coeur was graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2017. He subsequently matriculated to the UAB School of Medicine where he is currently completing his fourth year of medical training. Mr. Coeur joined the IMAGE Laboratory in 2019 and earned a Cancer Research Fellowship for his research related to primary and secondary peripheral neuropathy among patients with multiple myeloma. For his presentation on the genetics of plasma cell proliferative disorders at the UAB Cancer Research Symposium, he was awarded 1st Place.

Numair Ehtsham

Mr. Ehtsham joined the IMAGE Laboratory in 2015 while earning a dual degree in chemistry and economics in the UAB Honors College. After graduation in 2019, he earned a post-baccalaureate degree in Biology from UAB while working full time as a clinical recruiter and data management specialist for the IMAGE Study. Now, in medical school at UAB, Mr. Ehtsham is evaluating the etiology and natural history of bone involvement among healthy populations and those with plasma cell proliferative disorders.

Sara Ferguson

Mrs. Ferguson matriculated to the UAB School of Medicine in 2020 and earned a Cancer Research Fellowship in 2021 for her research on risk factors associated with light chain restricted myeloma. She joined the IMAGE Laboratory later in 2021 and is pursuing additional research studies in multiple myeloma.

Tony Zbsinski

Mr. Zbsinski joined the team in 2021 as a Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH) student. He is researching the contribution of chronic antigen stimulation on the risk of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance and multiple myeloma requisite for a Master of Sciences in Public Health, with an emphasis in epidemiology.

Alumni

Graduate Programs in Epidemiology

  • Peter Wachira (2006-2008)
  • Arun Raghav Mahankali Sridhar (2007-2009)
  • Jessica Watson (2007-2009)
  • Ravikumar Paluri (2007-2009)
  • Katherine Burgess (2008-2010)
  • Heather Prentice (2008-2013)  
  • Kathryn Royse (2008-2014)
  • Guradatta Naik (2008-2010)
  • Michael Behring (2009-2011)
  • Ryan S. Cantor (2009-2011)
  • Sohil Makwana (2009-2011)
  • Hayden Hundley (2009-2011)
  • Elena Linn (2010-2012)
  • Arati Dangre (2011-2013)
  • Meghan McClain (2011-2013)
  • Michelle Shroyer (2011-2013)
  • Melissa Boucher (2011-2013)
  • Nicole Safiano (2012-2014)
  • Brice Lambert (2012-2014)
  • Katherine M. Hymel (2017)

Summer Research Fellows

  • Farah Khan (2006)
  • Elaine Zhang (2007)
  • Margaret Feller (2009)
  • Katelyn French (2015)
  • Ben Kimbell (2017)

Cancer Research Fellows

  • Ryan S. Cantor (2009, 2010)
  • Keith Bussey (2010)
  • Thomas “Clark” Powell (2011)
  • Gwendolyn Pruitt (2011, 2012)
  • Michael Behring (2012, S2013)
  • Michelle Shroyer (2012, 2013)
  • Gabrielle P. Jenkins (2012, 2013)
  • Nicole A. Safiano (2012, 2013)
  • Claudia M. Carcelen (2014)
  • Brice Lambert (2014)
  • Matthew F. Honkanen (2014)
  • Philip Dockery (2015, 2016)
  • Katherine M. Hymel (2016)
  • Elisa Sarmiento (2017)
  • Katie Schlotman (2018)
  • Jacob Coeur (2019)   
  • Hannah Cutshall (2019) 
  • Sherona Ingalls (2021)
  • Sara Ferguson (2021)

Medical Trainees

  • Farah Khan (2007)
  • Thomas “Clark” Powell, MPH (2012-2015)
  • Duncan Thomas (2012)
  • Maryam Ehtsham (2013-2016)
  • Ian T. Justement (2013-2016)
  • Camli Al Sadek (2015-2017)
  • Stephen D. Gragg (2015-2018)
  • Leah Nixon (2016-2018)
  • Katherine Boyer (2017-2018)
  • Taylor Larson (2017)
  • Philip Dockery (2017-2018)
  • Sven Wang (2018)
  • Gillian Garver (2018)  
  • Aaron Landis (2019)
  • Hannah Cutshall (2020-present) 
  • Adriana M. Reyes Moon (2020)
  • Brent S. Collier (2020)
  • Andrew Brown (2020-2021) 
  • Jacob Coeur (2021-present)
  • Sara Ferguson (2021-present)
  • Numair Ehtsham (2021-present)

For employment or training opportunities, please contact us!