Brian Henderson

Distinguished Professor,
Dept. of Preventive Medicine & Neurology
Keck School of Medicine
Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute
Keck School of Medicine

Research Topics

  1. Cancer Prevention
  2. Epidemiology

Research Overview

I am Professor of Preventive Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC). Together with Dr. L. Kolonel (University of Hawaii), I initiated the Multiethnic Cohort Study (MEC) in 1993. I established a program to evaluate genetic susceptibility to cancer causation, primarily those cancers that are hormone related such as prostate and breast. I forged an ongoing collaboration with Dr. Altshuler and colleagues at the Broad Institute in 1998. The initial eight years of this effort on genetic susceptibility focused on candidate genes in the hormone and growth factor pathways and their role in breast, prostate and colorectal cancer. The genomic, epidemiological and statistical approaches developed over this period were the foundation of those eventually used by the NCI Breast and Prostate Cancer Cohort Consortium of which, I am one of the four PIs. I am the PI of the recently awarded collaborative U01 which provides funds for a GWAS of more than 2,500 prostate cancer cases and controls in African Americans. I have considerable experience in scientific investigation of hormone related cancers and in the administration of large and complex collaborative projects. I served as Dean of the Keck School of Medicine and President of the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences and have a breadth of knowledge in my core discipline of epidemiology as well as cancer genetics and biology. I will serve as Chairman of the Scientific Leadership Committee of the newly awarded U19 prostate cancer project and PI of the Administrative Core.

Selected Publications

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Willett WC, Blot WJ, Colditz GA, Folsom AR, Henderson BE, Stampfer MJ. - Merging and emerging cohorts: not worth the wait. - Nature [ 2007 ] Jan 18;445(7125):257-8 . -PubMed

Nothlings U, Wilkens LR, Murphy SP, Hankin JH, Henderson BE, Kolonel LN. - Body mass index and physical activity as risk factors for pancreatic cancer: the Multiethnic Cohort Study. - Cancer Causes Control [ 2007 ] Jan 11 -PubMed

Park SY, Murphy SP, Wilkens LR, Nomura AM, Henderson BE, Kolonel LN. - Calcium and Vitamin D Intake and Risk of Colorectal Cancer: The Multiethnic Cohort Study. - Am J Epidemiol [ 2007 ] Jan 10 -PubMed

Nothlings U, Wilkens LR, Murphy SP, Hankin JH, Henderson BE, Kolonel LN. - Vegetable intake and pancreatic cancer risk: the multiethnic cohort study. - Am J Epidemiol [ 2007 ] Jan 15;165(2):138-47 -PubMed

Setiawan VW, Cheng I, Stram DO, Giorgi E, Pike MC, Van Den Berg D, Pooler L, Burtt NP, Le Marchand L, Altshuler D, Hirschhorn J, Henderson BE, Haiman CA. - A systematic assessment of common genetic variation in CYP11A and risk of breast cancer. - Cancer Res [ 2006 ] Dec 15;66(24):12019-25 -PubMed

Henderson KD, Goran MI, Kolonel LN, Henderson BE, Le Marchand L. - Ethnic disparity in the relationship between obesity and plasma insulin-like growth factors: the multiethnic cohort. - Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev [ 2006 ] Nov;15(11):2298-302 . -PubMed

De Bakker PI, Graham RR, Altshuler D, Henderson BE, Haiman CA. - Transferability of tag SNPs to capture common genetic variation in DNA repair genes across multiple populations. - Pac Symp Biocomput [ 2006 ] :478-86 . -PubMed

Setiawan VW, Pike MC, Kolonel LN, Nomura AM, Goodman MT, Henderson BE. - Racial/Ethnic Differences in Endometrial Cancer Risk: The Multiethnic Cohort Study. - Am J Epidemiol [ 2006 ] Nov 7 -PubMed

de Bakker PI, Burtt NP, Graham RR, Guiducci C, Yelensky R, Drake JA, Bersaglieri T, Penney KL, Butler J, Young S, Onofrio RC, Lyon HN, Stram DO, Haiman CA, Freedman ML, Zhu X, Cooper R, Groop L, Kolonel LN, Henderson BE, Daly MJ, Hirschhorn JN, Altshuler D. - Transferability of tag SNPs in genetic association studies in multiple populations. - Nat Genet [ 2006 ] Nov;38(11):1298-303. -PubMed

Cheng I, Penney KL, Stram DO, Le Marchand L, Giorgi E, Haiman CA, Kolonel LN, Pike M, Hirschhorn J, Henderson BE, Freedman ML. - Haplotype-based association studies of IGFBP1 and IGFBP3 with prostate and breast cancer risk: the multiethnic cohort. - Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev [ 2006 ] Oct;15(10):1993-7 -PubMed