McCullough, Epidemiology postdoctoral fellow, receives Best Poster Award

March 12, 2014

Lauren McCullough, PhD, 2013 alumna of the Gillings School of Global Public Health and postdoctoral fellow in the Cancer Control Education Program at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, received a Best Poster award March 10 for research presented at the American Society of Preventive Oncology.

 McCullough’s study found that obesity may be particularly disadvantageous for postmenopausal breast cancer development in women who are genetically predisposed to reduced antioxidant expression or capacity for DNA repair.

 “I was interested in this work because the biological mechanisms underlying the links between obesity and postmenopausal cancer are not well understood,” McCullough said. “Obesity-mediated inflammation, subsequent oxidative stress and DNA repair may be important biological processes in the association between obesity and postmenopausal breast cancer.”