Meet Iona Cheng, PhD, MPH, who is building the cancer research evidence base for Asian Americans

Iona Cheng, PhD, MPH, co-leads a new study aimed at uncovering the causes of cancer in Asian Americans. With a $12.45 million grant from the National Cancer Institute, she hopes to uncover the burden of cancer in this understudied group. Cheng received his doctorate in epidemiology from the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences at the Keck School of Medicine of USC in 2005. Today, the cancer epidemiologist and genetics serves in several positions, including that of professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California in San Francisco. , chief of the Cancer Epidemiology Division and co-investigator of the Greater Bay Area SEER Cancer Registry. “I am grateful for the training I received at USC because I learned to be curious and I learned rigorous applied epidemiological skills that I apply to new research questions throughout my academic career,” shares Cheng.

What inspired you to pursue a career in epidemiology?

Although today people have more awareness and opportunities to understand what epidemiology is, that wasn’t really the case when I was in college. After finishing my undergraduate studies, I stumbled across an epidemiology course and enjoyed it. I gravitated toward the concept of public health and was drawn to understanding the causes of disease at a population level rather than focusing on a specific individual. I really appreciated how far-reaching epidemiology could be when it came to trying to understand the health of the general public.

Can you tell us more about your academic background?

I received my bachelor’s degree in physiology from the University of California, Davis. After graduating, I worked in the pharmaceutical industry for five years. I attended Yale University and received my Master of Public Health in Chronic Disease Epidemiology. It was at this time that I decided to pursue a doctorate. I wanted to study cancer epidemiology and understand the differences between racial and ethnic populations. While sharing my interests with my advisor, she recommended I look beyond the schools of public health and advised me to seek out USC faculty in the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences (formerly preventive medicine), and she was absolutely right! Amazing research was being done and several professors had similar interests to mine. I was grateful for the recommendation as the department was not on my radar as I was focusing on public health schools.

What sparked your interest in cancer research?

There is a very personal story that people with cancer experience, and unfortunately, it affects a very large number of people. My underlying goal has always been to try to understand why a specific racial and ethnic population has a higher cancer burden than others. I began by researching the high burden of prostate cancer among African American men. Then my interest extended to breast, lung and colorectal cancers.

My training at USC encouraged me to be curious and although I was formally trained in genetic epidemiology, my interests extended to different exposures. Today, I study geospatial exposures regarding neighborhood environments and environmental pollutants. I also integrate molecular elements into my research questions.

What was the most memorable aspect of your educational experience at USC?

I was truly fortunate to have been trained by (the late) Dr. Brian Henderson and Dr. Malcolm Pike, and Dr. Anna Wu and Dr. Daniel Stram were on my dissertation committee. One of the highlights of my studies was learning about various epidemiological study designs while working with data from the Multi-Ethnic Cohort Study, an incredible epidemiological resource. The study is based at several universities, which gave me the opportunity to develop collaborations with other researchers, work as part of a large team, expand my network and prepare myself for the work that I exercise today. Through my involvement, I had the opportunity to go to Boston to MIT to conduct genotyping work and laboratory training for my doctoral dissertation. It was an enriching experience.

What motivated your decision to pursue a career in academia?

I was motivated to pursue my career in research and academia because I enjoyed designing studies and collaborating with others to ask complex research questions. I currently co-direct the Disparities, Research, Environment and Multi-omics (DREAM) laboratory with Drs. Scarlett Lin Gomez and Salma Shariff-Marco. We have a team of approximately 30 people, including students and postdocs, working on a portfolio of approximately 35 research projects largely focused on disparities and inequities in cancer-related health. We also manage the Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry, where we are responsible for collecting cancer cases in nine counties, as well as other cancer surveillance projects affiliated with the registry. I have had the chance to work with great teams in this industry.

How would you say your research has evolved?

My research has evolved to expand the research questions we ask in several areas. We are always trying to answer the questions and gaps we see in the field and add new layers of data to understand differences in cancer risk between population groups. I began by focusing primarily on genetic factors and biomarkers, then expanded to study the neighborhood environment and environmental pollutants, with an emphasis on structural and social determinants of health . I hope in the future to integrate policy elements for a holistic approach to understanding all the contributing factors.

We are excited about our new opportunity to establish the first National Cancer Institute-funded Asian-American cohort study of cancer etiology. This new cohort will address important questions in understanding cancer risk among specific Asian American ethnicities. Typically, Asian Americans have been lumped into a collective group with Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander groups.

What do you like about your current role at the University of California, San Francisco?

I am energized by working with our study team. We collectively bring complementary expertise and learn from each other. The collaboration of students, trainees and staff – interviewers, biostatisticians, GIS analysts, epidemiologists and program managers – allows for stronger research questions that we can answer together. Part of our success is having the same focus and dedication to trying to understand differences in cancer risk between population groups.

What advice would you give to students who want to follow in your footsteps?

When it comes to conducting research: always be curious, learn from your experiences, and be open to asking new questions. Although academia and obtaining your own research funding is difficult, I have found that being persistent has helped me continue on this journey. Finally, I was fortunate to benefit from wonderful mentorship and work with amazing teams. Good collaborators are also essential.