Author Archives: Loni Huff

We are happy to announce a new publication investigating the relationship between Native American ancestry, BMI, and diabetes risk among Mexican Americans:

Hao Hu, Chad Huff, Yuko Yamamura, Xifeng Wu, Sara S. Strom: The Relationship between Native American Ancestry, Body Mass Index and Diabetes Risk among Mexican-Americans. In: PLoS One, vol. 10, no. 10, 2015.

In this paper, we collected ancestry informative marker data from 4,662 Mexican Americans living in Houston, Texas. Our results show that individuals in this population with higher proportions of Native American ancestry were significantly less likely to be obese, but counter-intuitively, were at higher risk of developing diabetes. The study offers new insight into the complex relationship between obesity, genetic ancestry, and diabetes risk in Mexican Americans. Thanks to our collaborators and to the participants in the Mexican American Cohort at MD Anderson.

The Huff lab is happy to welcome its newest member, Shan Chen. Shan has a Ph.D. in Molecular and Human Genetics and is currently pursuing a Master's Degree in Biostatistics at the University of Texas Houston School of Public Health. Her research interests include combining molecular technologies and statistical analysis to advance new drug and therapeutic developments as well as disease prediction and prevention.

Congratulations to Dr. Hao Hu upon his selection as an Outstanding Postdoctoral Trainee in Cancer Prevention for 2015, an award he shares with Dr. Nicholas Whiting.

Congratulations also to Dr. Chad Huff upon his selection as a Leading Mentor in Cancer Prevention for 2015, an award he shares with fellow Epidemiology Professor, Dr. Shine Chang. The aim of this award is to acknowledge the extraordinary performance and dedication of mentors to trainees preparing for careers in cancer prevention.

Both award recipients were honored at the Cancer Prevention Grand Rounds on January 9th.