Esther M. John

Administrative Appointments

• Co-Leader, Cancer Epidemiology, Stanford Cancer Center (2005 - present)
• Consulting Associate Professor, Dept Health Research & Policy (2004 - present)
• Senior Research Scientist, Northern California Cancer Center (2009 - present)

Professional Education

Web Site Links

• Northern California Cancer Center

Research Interests

Dr. John's research focus has been on the epidemiology of breast, prostate, and ovarian cancer, particularly in Hispanic and African-American populations. Since joining NCCC, Dr. John has established several large population-based resources to study the etiology of these cancers, with emphasis on the role of lifestyle factors that are potentially modifiable, genetic susceptibility, the combined effects of environmental and genetic factors, and racial/ethnic differences in risk factors that contribute to racial/ethnic disparities in the incidence of these cancers.

BREAST CANCER: Dr. John has conducted a series of population-based case-control studies of breast cancer, the San Francisco Bay Area Breast Cancer Study, in nearly 5,000 Hispanic, African-American and non-Hispanic white women. Extensive interview data were collected on a wide range of hormonal and lifestyle factors, as well as blood samples for studies of genetic susceptibility factors and gene-environment interactions. Major areas of interest concern the role of physical activity, body size and weight gain; vitamin D from sun exposure, diet and supplements, a topic that has gained major prominence in recent years; heterocyclic amines associated with cooking methods; and early-life exposures. Collaborative molecular studies have focused on the role of genetic admixture, polymorphisms in the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene, obesity-related and fat-metabolizing genes, and gene-environment interactions. The Hispanic component of this resource is one of the largest case-control studies of breast cancer conducted in Hispanic women living in the U.S. Dr. John is interested in gaining a better understanding of changes in lifestyle factors that follow migration to the U.S. and subsequent acculturation and their impact on the occurrence of breast cancer in subsequent generations. Efforts are underway to study survival in relation to lifestyle and other factors among the over 2,200 breast cancer cases included...

Publications

• Family history of breast cancer and all-cause mortality after breast cancer diagnosis in the Breast Cancer Family Registry. Chang ET, Milne RL, Phillips KA, Figueiredo JC, Sangaramoorthy M, Keegan TH, Andrulis IL, Hopper JL, Goodwin PJ, O'Malley FP, Weerasooriya N, Apicella C, Southey MC, Friedlander ML, Giles GG, Whittemore AS, West DW, John EM. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2009; 117 (1): 167-76
• An admixture scan in 1,484 African American women with breast cancer. Fejerman L, Haiman CA, Reich D, Tandon A, Deo RC, John EM, Ingles SA, Ambrosone CB, Bovbjerg DH, Jandorf LH, Davis W, Ciupak G, Whittemore AS, Press MF, Ursin G, Bernstein L, Huntsman S, Henderson BE, Ziv E, Freedman ML. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2009; 18 (11): 3110-7
• Rare, evolutionarily unlikely missense substitutions in ATM confer increased risk of breast cancer. Tavtigian SV, Oefner PJ, Babikyan D, Hartmann A, Healey S, Le Calvez-Kelm F, Lesueur F, Byrnes GB, Chuang SC, Forey N, Feuchtinger C, Gioia L, Hall J, Hashibe M, Herte B, McKay-Chopin S, Thomas A, Vallée MP, Voegele C, Webb PM, Whiteman DC, Sangrajrang S, Hopper JL, Southey MC, Andrulis IL, John EM, Chenevix-Trench G. Am J Hum Genet. 2009; 85 (4): 427-46
• Identification of seven new prostate cancer susceptibility loci through a genome-wide association study. Eeles RA, Kote-Jarai Z, Al Olama AA, Giles GG, Guy M, Severi G, Muir K, Hopper JL, Henderson BE, Haiman CA, Schleutker J, Hamdy FC, Neal DE, Donovan JL, Stanford JL, Ostrander EA, Ingles SA, John EM, Thibodeau SN, Schaid D, Park JY, Spurdle A, Clements J, Dickinson JL, Maier C, Vogel W, Dörk T, Rebbeck TR, Cooney KA, Cannon-Albright L, Chappuis PO, Hutter P, Zeegers M, Kaneva R, Zhang HW, Lu YJ, Foulkes WD, English DR, Leongamornlert DA, Tymrakiewicz M, Morrison J, Ardern-Jones AT, Hall AL, O'Brien LT, Wilkinson RA, Saunders EJ, Page EC, Sawyer EJ, Edwards SM, Dearnaley DP, Horwich A, Huddart RA, Khoo VS, Parker CC, Van As N, Woodhouse CJ, Thompson A, Christmas T, Ogden C, Cooper CS, Southey MC, Lophatananon A, Liu JF, Kolonel LN, Le Marchand L, Wahlfors T, Tammela TL, Auvinen A, Lewis SJ, Cox A, FitzGerald LM, Koopmeiners JS, Karyadi DM, Kwon EM, Stern MC, Corral R, Joshi AD, Shahabi A, McDonnell SK, Sellers TA, Pow-Sang J, Chambers S, Aitken J, Gardiner RA, Batra J, Kedda MA, Lose F, Polanowski A, Patterson B, Serth J, Meyer A, Luedeke M, Stefflova K, Ray AM, Lange EM, Farnham J, Khan H, Slavov C, Mitkova A, Cao G, Easton DF. Nat Genet. 2009; 41 (10): 1116-21
• Availability and Accuracy of Medical Record Information on Language Usage of Cancer Patients from a Multi-Ethnic Population. McClure LA, Glaser SL, Shema SJ, Allen L, Quesenberry C, John EM, Gomez SL. J Immigr Minor Health. 2009