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The department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics will be hosting their next forum on May 7, from 3:30pm-5pm.
This event will be hybrid; In-Person: SPH Conference Room 825
Online: You will need to be logged in with your CUNY login in order to access the session. Forum information and links will also be provided in the Epi/Bios Department Team.
Virtual: Microsoft Teams
Meeting ID: 262 895 844 716
Passcode: oe6LD7ou
Keynote speaker Jen Cadenhead will be presenting: Are Ultra-Processed Foods Associated with Survivorship Among Female Breast Cancer Survivors?
Abstract: Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) — including packaged snacks, sweetened drinks, and other industrially formulated products — have become a growing part of the modern diet. While UPFs have been linked to chronic health conditions in the general population, less is known about how they may affect individuals recovering from or living with cancer.
In this study, which I led in collaboration with researchers at Kaiser Permanente Northern California, we followed a large and diverse group of breast cancer survivors over several years to explore the potential impact of UPF consumption on long-term health outcomes. Drawing on detailed dietary data and clinical records, we asked: Could the level of food processing in someone’s diet influence their health after a cancer diagnosis?
This presentation will share insights from our research — including how UPF intake was measured and categorized using the Nova classification of food processing, what we observed over time, and how this work contributes to a deeper understanding of survivorship care. Our findings underscore the need for continued exploration into not just what we eat, but how it’s made — and what that might mean for cancer survivors and public health more broadly.
Student speaker, Saba Qasmieh will present: Home testing and presenting to care: the impact of COVID-19 home tests on public health surveillance and vaccine effectiveness studies.
Abstract: Rapid diagnostic COVID-19 tests for home use serve as a critical public health tool to mitigate the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection and alleviate the burden on testing facilities during the pandemic. Yet the uptake of home testing poses a challenge to traditional case- and laboratory-based surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 infections as positive home tests are not reported to public health agencies. The presentation will describe the extent to which COVID-19 home tests can impact burden of infection estimates and approaches that can address the underestimation of burden in the population. The presentation will also examine current research on the influence of COVID-19 home testing on healthcare seeking, which has important implications on COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness measured using test-negative design (TND) studies.
Speaker Bios:
Dr. Jennifer Cadenhead, PhD, RDN, is the Executive Director for the Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education and Policy and Research Assistant Professor, Program in Nutrition, in the Department of Health and Behavioral Studies at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Prior to serving as Executive Director, she was the Center’s Goldberg Postdoctoral Scholar, Food Trauma in Children. She has also spent over 20 years volunteering, fundraising, and serving on the boards of numerous community non-profits, including the local school wellness committee, school garden, and food pantry, along with over a dozen years as an actuarial consultant, honing her database and financial skills. She decided to pursue nutrition after a health scare required a nuanced understanding of food to restore her own wellbeing. Dr. Cadenhead focuses on using large data and qualitative methods to study the impact of federal and local government food policies on children’s health and nutrition security. Her work’s primary aim is to understand and improve access to healthy and culturally acceptable foods for all people, particularly children from underserved groups. Dr. Cadenhead also studies the relationship between diet quality, ultra-processed food consumption, and health, including in individuals surviving cancer. She received her B.S. degree in mathematics and sociology from Duke University. She obtained clinical training at a variety of institutions, including New York Presbyterian Hospital, and research training at Kaiser Permanente Division of Research. She completed her 1,200 hr dietetic internship, as well as received her M.S., MPhil, and PhD degrees in behavioral nutrition with a specialization in nutritional epidemiology, from Teachers College, Columbia University. She lives with her family outside of New York City.
Dr Saba Qasmieh is a Research Scientist at CUNY ISPH. She received her PhD in epidemiology in May 2024 from CUNY SPH under the mentorship of Dr Denis Nash. Her dissertation focused on the application of methods to population-based surveys to reduce bias in estimates of SARS-CoV-2 infection burden in the population. Prior to her doctoral studies, Saba worked in the area of global health security and pandemic preparedness with a focus on influenza system strengthening in low- and middle-income countries. Her interests are in applied epidemiology and in methods for optimizing the detection and monitoring of epidemic-prone diseases. She has been accepted to CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) fellowship program.