Epidemiologist Specializing in Cancer, Diabetes and Infectious Disease Joins Cedars-Sinai

Christie Y. Jeon, ScD, joins growing list of cancer prevention and control experts at Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute

Los Angeles - July 2, 2013 – Epidemiologist Christie Y. Jeon, ScD, has joined Cedars-Sinai as a research scientist in the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute specializing in cancer prevention and control.

Jeon joins Marc Troup Goodman, PhD, MPH, director of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at Cedars-Sinai. Together, Goodman and Jeon will focus on advancing the study of how the environment and biology affect the progression of disease.

“The study of epidemiology is a branch of medicine that focuses on the causes, distribution and control of diseases,” Goodman said. “By adding Dr. Jeon to our team, we are taking a leap forward toward deepening our understanding of how cancer works and how we can best develop new treatments for our patients.”

Jeon’s research at Cedars-Sinai concentrates on liver, pancreatic and gastrointestinal cancers and their correlation to diabetes and infectious diseases. She also investigates prevention strategies for infection-associated cancers and global health disparities.

The Cedars-Sinai Cancer Prevention and Control Program focuses on the causes of cancer, cancer genetics and survivorship. The goal is to deepen the understanding of what makes some people genetically predisposed to cancer and to decrease the morbidity and mortality associated with all forms of cancer.

“The hiring of Jeon is another concrete step in our commitment to understand cancer prevention and control,” Goodman said. “Ultimately, we want to develop comprehensive cancer prevention strategies through the use of education, behavior modification and pharmacologic intervention.”

Prior to joining Cedars-Sinai, Jeon was a postdoctoral fellow in the Centerfor Cancer Prevention and Control Research at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a postdoctoral research scientist at the Mailman School of Public Health, School of Nursing, at Columbia University.

Jeon attended the Harvard School of Public Health, where she earned a master’s degree in epidemiology and a doctorate of science in epidemiology with a minor in infectious diseases and biostatistics. She completed her undergraduate degree in molecular and cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley.