Researcher Q&A with Derek Huffman, PhD Part II
Research - Dr. Huffman is a postdoctoral fellow at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and a 2009 recipient of a Foundation research fellowship. One of Dr. Huffman’s major research goals has been “to uncover exactly what is it about being obese that drives cancer risk and to see if this relationship is in fact a causal one.” Currently, he is working towards this goal by examining whether there is a causal link between intra-abdominal fat—the fat that we store deep in our tummy—and risk of colon tumors. 1. What impact could your findings have on preventing colon cancer and perhaps other cancers? Obesity has been associated with many different types of cancers, including colorectal, breast, endometrial, liver and prostate. However, these studies are only associations and cannot prove that being obese per se is the cause, rather than say the poor eating habits and lack of exercise which led to it. Thus, demonstrating that intra-abdominal fat on its own is a causal contributor to colon cancer risk, and possibly other cancers as well, will be critically important to advancing our understanding of this disease. The goal will then be to successfully identify the important factor(s) linking obesity to colorectal and ...
