Occupational and Environmental Studies

Overview
Speaker(s)

Evaluation of Cancer Incidence among Marines and Navy Personnel and Civilian Workers Exposed to Contaminated Drinking Water at USMC Base Camp Lejeune: A Cohort Study

Frank Bove, ScD, MS; Senior Epidemiologist, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

Increased risks of several cancers were observed among Marines/Navy personnel and civilian workers likely exposed to contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune compared to personnel at Camp Pendleton. This presentation will describe methods to obtain cancer incidence data from 55 state, federal and territorial cancer registries as well as present novel methods of interpreting findings including quantitative bias analyses.

Firefighter Study Status and Plans

Miriam Siegel, PhD, MPH,; Research epidemiologist, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Firefighters are exposed to chemicals on the fireground that could increase their risk of developing cancer. But there are still unanswered questions about how cancer risk may vary across our nation’s diverse fire service. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is recruiting firefighters to join the National Firefighter Registry for Cancer (NFR) so that we can better understand the link between firefighting and cancer. The NFR is an exposure registry that is designed to be linked with population-based cancer registries periodically over time for prospective follow-up of participants' cancer status. Presenters from NIOSH will discuss firefighter cancer, the design of the NFR, progress of participant enrollment, and plans for cancer registry linkages.

The Military Aviator Cancer Study (MACS)

Shauna Stahlman, PhD, MPH, Senior Managing Epidemiologist, Department of Defense

This presentation will provide an overview of the Congressionally mandated military aviator cancer study, including background, methods, and approach. The aviator cancer study was conducted in response to section 750 of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act(NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2021(FY 2021) (Public Law 116-283), “Study on the Incidence of Cancer Diagnosis and Mortality among Military Aviators and Aviation Support Personnel.” The Act mandated a Phase 1 study on the incidence of cancer diagnosis and mortality among military fixed wing aviators and aviation support personnel (ground crew) compared to the U.S. population. A Phase 2 study is required if findings indicate a higher risk of cancer diagnosis or mortality among aviators or ground crew. The findings from the Phase 1a study were released in February 2023. The Phase 1b study findings are pending release. Phase 1b will include data from the Veterans Administration (VA) and 41 state cancer registries that were not included in the Phase 1a study. The findings and implications for the Phase 2 study will also be discussed.

Frank Bove, ScD, MS

Senior Epidemiologist

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

Frank Bove, Sc.D, MS has been a senior epidemiologist at the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry for over 30 years. He received his MS in environmental health science in 1984 and his Sc.D in 1987 in epidemiology and occupational health at the Harvard U. School of Public Health. His research has focused on the health effects of exposures to chemical contamination of drinking water.

Miriam Siegel, DrPH, MPH

Lead Epidemiologist, National Firefighter Registry, NIOSH

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, CDC

Dr. Miriam Siegel, DrPH, MPH, is Lead Epidemiologist for the National Firefighter Registry at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). She completed her doctorate in occupational epidemiology at the University of Kentucky in 2016. Dr. Siegel joined NIOSH in 2017 as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer where she worked on a range of research topics related to occupational reproductive health, workplace violence, firefighter fatality surveillance, and wildland firefighter safety and health. She now works as part of a team developing a national registry of firefighters to evaluate cancer incidence and risk factors within the U.S. fire service.

Shauna Stahlman, PhD, MPH

Senior Managing Epidemiologist

Department of Defense

Shauna Stahlman is a senior managing epidemiologist and technical lead of the Epidemiology & Analysis (E&A) section at the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division (AFHSD). She is also a contributing editor of the Medical Surveillance Monthly Report, the flagship publication of AFHSD, and an adjunct assistant professor in the Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics Department at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Prior to coming to AFHSD, she completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health in the Center for Public Health and Human Rights. She received a PhD in Epidemiology from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health in 2014. While completing her PhD, she also worked as an analyst at the Veterans Health Administration in Los Angeles.