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Yu Selected to Act as Mentor in Breast Cancer Research

Herbert Yu, Associate Professor of Epidemiology in EPH's Division of Chronic Disease Epidemiology, has been selected to serve as one of five Avon Foundation—American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) scholar hosts.

The Avon Foundation-AACR International Scholar Awards for Breast Cancer Research program provides the scholar hosts, all breast cancer researchers in the U.S., with funds to support a junior faculty scholar from a country with limited opportunities for scientific advancement to work on a particular breast cancer research program for a period of two years.

Yu, whose research interest is in the molecular epidemiology of cancer etiology, will work with the junior faculty scholar on a research program focusing on molecular characterization of insulin-like growth factor (IGF) expression and regulation in breast tissue and its association with breast cancer disease characteristics and survival. Laboratory and epidemiologic studies indicate that IGFs are associated with breast cancer development and progression. Yu's project will help illuminate the expression of IGF-I and IGF-II in breast tissue in relation to genetic variation and epigenetic regulation as well as assess clinical implications of these molecular markers in prediction of breast cancer prognosis and patient response to treatment. The study will provide insights into the pathogenic role of IGFs in local breast tissue.