enlinn – Cancer Research Experiences for Students (CaRES)

03WD – Harvest for Health

Status: Filled – Lauren King
Intern: Lauren King
Faculty Name: wendy-demark-wahnefried-3
Primary Faculty Appointment: UAB
UAB/HA Department: UAB Department of Nutrition
Campus Address: 1675 University Boulevard, Webb Nutrition Sciences Bldg, Room 650
Telephone Number: (205) 446-9736
Email: demark@uab.edu or Click to Send E-Mail
For how many summers have you served as a preceptor: 3 or more
CCC Research Area: Cancer Control & Population Science
Number of hours per week that the preceptor will personally supervise or work with the intern: 20
Other faculty, staff, or graduate students who may help to supervise the intern:
1. Teri Hoenemeyer
2. Daniel Edwards
Title of Project: 03WD – Harvest for Health
Project Description:

Harvest for Health is an NIH-funded trial that will recruit up to 426 older (≥60 years), early stage cancer survivors across Alabama. Participants will undergo a baseline virtual visit whereupon they will be assessed for physical functioning, blood biomarkers, and body weight status and will then be randomized to 1-of-2 study arms: 1) one that receives a 1-year mentored vegetable gardening intervention that pairs a cancer survivor with a certified Master Gardener; or 2) a wait-list control arm that receives the intervention after a 1-year delay. All participants will be followed for 2 years. This randomized controlled trial aims to: 1) determine the efficacy of the vegetable gardening intervention on fruit and vegetable intake, physical activity AND physical function (assessed by self-report and backed by objective measures: plasma carotene, accelerometry, and performance testing); 2) assess effects of the intervention on secondary endpoints, e.g., quality of life, biomarkers of successful aging (interleukin-6 and telomerase); 3) evaluate the durability and repeatability of the intervention; 4) explore participant factors related with program efficacy (e.g., gender, co-morbidity, age); and 5) perform an economic analysis to assess the value of health improvements relative to intervention costs. The proposed home-based, vegetable gardening intervention (using raised beds or Earthboxes® – depending on survivors’ living arrangements) is a novel and feasible strategy to improve dietary intake, physical activity, and physical functioning in cancer survivors at high risk for cancer-related morbidity – one that has great clinical and public health significance given the increasing number of cancer survivors and the high economic and societal costs associated with comorbid disease. This study is currently being conducted remotely using virtual assessment methods via Zoom. Project opportunities include conducting remote virtual assessment of participants, debriefing participants, and assuring outcomes data quality. These opportunities are available for remote participation.

Project Status: Already up and running
Location of Project: Birmingham, AL (UAB)
Proposed Start Date: May 3, 2021
Proposed End Date: August 27, 2021
Expected work schedule for intern: Flexible, intern can largely set his or her own schedule (as for students who are instructed how to proceed and are permitted to work independently with weekly guidance) and should contribute full-time effort.
Number of days that the student will be expected to come physically to UAB:
0 – project will be fully virtual except for the required in-person checkpoint visits
Category of Project: Community-Based or Field Research
Cancer topic: Diet and Nutrition, Survivorship, Multiple Cancer Sites
Does this project involve human subjects: Yes
Does this project involve animal subjects: No
Duty:
1.

Assist with virtual assessments for anthropomorphic and physical function measure.

Assist with data quality checks.

Assist with patient communication strategies and materials development.

Preceptor will provide intern with access to the following: Supplies needed to complete project, Equipment needed to complete project
Likelihood that intern will be included as an author on one or more publications related to this summer research project: Possible
Areas in which the ideal candidates will have experience: NONE OF THE ABOVE (just the willingness to learn)

02TH – Daughters, dUdes, mothErs & others fighting cancer Together (DUET)

Status: Filled – Abbie Sims
Intern: Abbie Sims
Faculty Name: teri-hoenemeyer-phd-2
Primary Faculty Appointment: UAB
UAB/HA Department: UAB Department of Nutrition
Campus Address: 1675 UNIVERSITY BLVD
Telephone Number: (205) 975-0110
Email: tgw318@uab.edu or Click to Send E-Mail
For how many summers have you served as a preceptor: 3 or more
CCC Research Area: Cancer Control & Population Science
Number of hours per week that the preceptor will personally supervise or work with the intern: 20
Other faculty, staff, or graduate students who may help to supervise the intern:
1. Teri Hoenemeyer
2. Teri Hoenemeyer
Title of Project: 02TH – Daughters, dUdes, mothErs & others fighting cancer Together (DUET)
Project Description:

Daughters, dUdes, mothErs & others fighting cancer Together (DUET) is a study funded by the American Institute for Cancer Research that seeks to recruit 56 dyads (112 total participants) consisting of an overweight or obese cancer survivor and an overweight or obese buddy of his or her choice for the purpose of testing an online weight loss intervention. The specific aims of this study include: 1) assessing whether or not dyads who assigned to the online intervention lose significantly more weight than those who are waitlisted; 2) explore between-arm differences in score changes between baseline and 6-month follow-up for other key outcomes including measures of adiposity (e.g., waist circumference [WC] and body mass index [BMI]), diet quality, physical activity, systolic blood pressure (BP), health-related Quality of Life (QoL), physical functioning and performance; 3) assess the impact of the intervention on select biomarkers associated with cancer risk and progression, e.g., tumor TNFα, insulin and IGF-1; and, 4) identify predictor variables associated with program efficacy, e.g., social support, self-efficacy, risk for depression, and dyad partner (spouse, relative, friend/neighbor). The DUET study will help us understand if cancer survivors who participate in online healthy eating and exercise programs, along with their chosen partners, are better able to lose weight and improve overall health. This study is currently being conducted remotely using virtual assessment methods via Zoom. Project opportunities include conducting remote virtual assessment of participants, debriefing participants, and assuring outcomes data quality. These opportunities are available for remote participation.

Assist with virtual assessments for anthropomorphic and physical function measure.

Assist with data quality checks.

Assist with participant screening and communication strategies and materials development.

05JW – Causation: Differering Views of Epidemiology and the Legal System

Status: Available
Intern:
Faculty Name: John W Waterbor
UAB Department: Epidemiology
UAB School: School of Public Health
Campus Address: Ryals – 227C
Telephone Number: (205) 934-7146
Email: h2obor@uab.edu or Click to Send E-Mail
For how many summers have you served as a preceptor: 3 or more
CCC Research Area: Cancer Control and Population Science
Number of hours per week that the preceptor will personally supervise or work with the intern: 3
Other faculty, staff, or graduate students who may help to supervise the intern:
1. Dr. Jeffrey Roseman
2. Ms. Judy Baker
Title of Project: Causation: Differering Views of Epidemiology and the Legal System
Project Description:

When a jury sides with a plaintiff and rules that a consumer product caused the plaintiff’s cancer, what criteria are used by the jury to arrive at the conclusion of causation? If the evidence considered in a legal case is analyzed by means of accepted epidemiologic thinking, such as “Hill’s Criteria for Causation,” does the conclusion of causation (yes or no) typically agree with the legal conclusion? For what specific reasons might the legal conclusion and the epidemiologic conclusion of causation, differ? Does it make sense — and is it a strength or a weakness — that science and the law can differ in their definitions of causation?

Project Status: Already up and running
Location of Project: Birmingham, AL (UAB)
Proposed Start Date: May 4, 2020
Proposed End Date: July 24, 2020
Expected work schedule for intern: Flexible, intern can largely set his or her own schedule (as for students who are instructed how to proceed and are permitted to work independently with weekly guidance) and should contribute full-time effort.
Category of Project: Analytical/Statistical Research
Cancer topic: Chemical Carcinogens, Diet and Nutrition, Radiation, Multiple Cancer Sites
Does this project involve human subjects: No
Does this project involve animal subjects: No
Duty:
1.

Review the literature on the outcome of litigation involving consumer products and cancer

Draft a manuscript of a full-length paper formatted for publication in a specific journal.

Make a poster that summarizes methods, key findings, and conclusions.

Preceptor will provide intern with access to the following:
Office or desk space
Likelihood that intern will be included as an author on one or more publications
related to this summer research project: Very likely
Areas in which the ideal candidates will have experience:
Cancer Rates, Trends and Statistics, Environmental Carcinogenesis, Epidemiologic Methods, Literature Review Skills, Manuscript Preparation for Submission to a Journal, Scientific Writing Skills, Statistics and Data Management, basic knowledge, Consumer Product Law