Cancer Control Research Training Program

About the predoctoral program

Applications will be accepted through July 31, 2025.

Download the predoctoral fellowship application.

Our funding from the National Cancer Institute provides four fellowship positions per year for doctoral students who show outstanding promise for research careers in cancer prevention and control. Fellowships are awarded to newly admitted or continuing students at UTHealth School of Public Health doctoral programs at all campuses. See the Doctoral Fellow Individual Development Plan.

Predoctoral fellows receive:

• Support for up to 4 years
• $28,224 annual stipend plus health insurance and childcare
• Tuition and fees, books, software, and travel
• Outstanding faculty mentoring in a thriving interdisciplinary research environment
• Weekly contact with faculty, postdocs, and other doctoral fellows through a seminar focused on proposal writing, publication, and career development

Recent predocs have moved to postdoctoral positions at Washington University at St. Louis, UT Southwestern, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Fred Hutchison Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, National Cancer Institute, and the Epidemic Intelligence Service (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

About the postdoctoral program

Postdoctoral applications are currently closed.

Our funding from the National Cancer Institute enables us to support four postdoctoral fellows per year. Postdocs in the training program must have a PhD, DrPH, MD or other doctoral degree in health promotion/health education, a behavioral or social science discipline, communication, epidemiology, health services research, health economics, health policy, biostatistics, or a related area of study.

Over a two to three year period, postdocs build their publication records, gain valuable experience on interdisciplinary research teams, take advanced courses, and write at least one proposal for their own funded research in cancer prevention and control. Postdocs will be mentored by our esteemed faculty who are internationally recognized in the areas of implementation research, cancer control and population sciences, health equity, and cancer epidemiology. See the Postdoctoral Fellow Individual Development Plan.

Postdoctoral fellows receive:

• Support for up to 3 years
• $61,008 annual stipend plus health insurance and childcare
• Tuition and fees, books, software, and travel
• Access to project portfolios with interdisciplinary teams addressing diverse risk factors with a strong focus on under-served groups
• Excellent mentoring and training opportunities that advance fellows’ skills, experience, networks, and research productivity
• Weekly contact with faculty, doctoral fellows, and other postdocs in an ongoing seminar on proposal writing, publication, and career development

Alumni are on the faculties at Duke, University of Arizona, Baylor College of Medicine, UTHealth School of Public Health, UT Southwestern, University of South Carolina, University of California at San Francisco, Medical College of South Carolina, and Pennsylvania State University.

Meet the faculty supporting the program

Program directors

	Maria E. Fernandez, PhD, Director Lorne Bain Distinguished Professor of Health Promotion & Behavioral Sciences and Director, Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research Teaching Interests: Health promotion & behavioral sciences, health promotion planning and implementation using intervention mapping, and dissemination and implementation Research Interests: Dissemination and implementation research, health promotion planning; intervention mapping, health equity / health disparities, cancer control, Hispanic and other underserved populations, health promotion program evaluation, technology in health promotion, primary care, health communications
	Bijal Balasubramanian, M.B.B.S., PhD, Program Co-Director Rockwell Distinguished Chair in Society and Health and Dallas Campus Dean Teaching interests: Epidemiology, population health, and dissemination and implementation Research Interests: Dissemination and implementation research, cancer prevention and control, health services research, primary care, mixed methods, evaluation, and multi-level interventions
	Patricia Dolan Mullen, DrPH, MLS, Program Co-Director The University of Texas System Distinguished Teaching Professor and Professor of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences and Senior Investigator and Training Director, Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research Teaching Interests: Research and career development skills for doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows, with an emphasis on innovation and systematic review and meta-analysis Research Interests: Maternal and fetal health, smoke-free homes, informed decision-making for cancer and other screening tests, adaptation of evidence-based interventions, systematic review and meta-analysis, and evaluation research

Advisory committee

Our Advisory Committee represents wide-ranging expertise in cancer prevention and control and in training and mentoring predoctoral and postdoctoral fellows within UTHealth School of Public Health, MD Anderson Cancer Center, and other academic environments.

Deanna Hoelscher, PhD, RD, LD, CNS, Regional Dean of the UTHealth School of Public Health Austin Campus, John P. McGovern Professor in Health Promotion and founding Director of the internationally renowned Michael and Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living leads multiple additions to the CATCH school health program that have undergone successful testing and dissemination.

Cheryl L. Perry, PhD, is the Director and PI of the Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science on Youth and Young Adults. She served as Scientific Editor of the 1994 and 2012 Surgeon General's Reports on preventing tobacco use among youth and young adults, and on the Scientific Editorial team for the 1st national report on e-cigarettes in 2016.

Xianglin Du, MD, PhD, Epidemiology, Human Genetics, and Environmental Health Sciences, is a gerontologist and cancer epidemiologist who has received ongoing support from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality for analyses of SEER-Medicare data on cancer screening, stage at diagnosis, treatment disparities, and survivorship issues.  He leads Program trainees in analyses of these and newly linked national databases, leading to numerous publications in high impact cancer journals.

Stephen H. Linder, PhD, Professor of Management, Policy, and Community Health and Director, Institute for Health Policy has won numerous state-wide teaching awards. He has extensive experience with "knowledge transfer" projects, with community-based environmental risk assessment, and with community surveys that provide data to the public for community planning.

Karen Basen-Engquist, PhD, MPH, is Annie Laurie Howard Research Distinguished Professor in the Division of Cancer Prevention and Director, Center for Energy Balance in Cancer Prevention and Survivorship.  She is an alumna.

Lorna Haughton McNeil, PhD, MPH, is Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Health Disparities Research at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She also directs the Center for Community-Engaged Translational Research. Dr. McNeill's research is on the elimination of cancer-related health disparities in minority populations. 

Jasmine Tiro, PhD, is the Co-program Leader of Cancer Control and Population Sciences at the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center.  She is an Associate Professor, Division of Clinical Sciences at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

Mentors

All fellows have at least two mentors from complementary disciplines. Fellows have the opportunity to work with faculty members whose research represents a wide spectrum of research populations, methods, and theories. You can review a list of previous mentors to see whose research interests align with your own. Mentors come from several different institutions, including the School of Public Health, UTHealth School of Biomedical Informatics, UTSouthwestern and UTMDAnderson, and fellows are encouraged to review mentor biographies on their respective school websites. Mentoring is taken seriously by the program, which has formalized expectations of predoc and postdoc mentors.

Current fellows

Predoctoral fellows

	Jacquelin Cordero, LMSW Feb 19, 2020 - present Working on: PhD, Health Promotion & Behavioral Sciences Research Interests: Mixed methods research; reduction of cancer health disparities/inequities of underserved populations through community outreach and education; survivorship/peer-support; primary prevention and harm/risk reduction among substance use/misuse- associated cancers (alcohol, tobacco, and IV drug use), and vaccine-preventable cancer-associated infections (Hep B, HPV).
	Tiffany Suragh Sept 1, 2021 - present Working on: PhD, Health Promotion & Behavioral Sciences Research Interests: Cancer Prevention and Control, Survivorship, Health Disparities, Racial and Ethnic Minorities & Medically Underserved Communities, Health Services/Outcomes Research, Mixed-Methods Research.
	Alex Tortolero Sept 1, 2022 - present Working on: Ph.D., Epidemiology Research Interests: Health disparities, cancer epidemiology, geospatial determinants of health, hospital quality measures, access to care, survivorship, oral-pharyngeal cancers
	Jenny Wang Jan 1 2024 – present Working on: Ph.D., Epidemiology Research Interests: Health disparities, racially and ethnically minoritized populations, early-onset cancer and etiology, health services, neighborhood determinants, adolescents and young adults

Postdoctoral Fellows

	Derek Craig, PhD, MPH Oct 1, 2022 - present Research Interests: Physical Activity Promotion, Dissemination and Implementation Science, Cancer Prevention, Intervention Development and Adaptation
	Ariana L. Garza, PhD, MPH Aug 2023 - present Research Interests: Genetics of metabolic dysfunction associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), MAFLD and aging, alcohol- and diet-gene interactions in MAFLD and risk assessment for hepatocellular carcinoma in people with MAFLD.

Program alumni

Postdoc alumni

William Calo, PhD, JD, MPH (September 2010 - June 2014)
Assistant Professor,  Dept. of Public Health Sciences, Penn State University College of Medicine & Cancer Institute at Hershey, PA

Kimberly Enard, PhD, MBA, MSHA (December 2012 - July 2014)
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Health Management & Policy, St. Louis University

Casey Durand, PhD, MPH (July 2012 - September 2014)
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Health Promotion & Behavioral Sciences, UTHealth School of Public Health

Albert Farias, PhD (March 2013 - August 2015)
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Clinical Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California

Marieke Hartman, PhD, MS (March 2013 - August 2015)
Lecturer, Dept. of Life Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam

Aubree Shay, PhD, LCSW, MSSW (February 2014- August 2016)
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Health Promotion & Behavioral Sciences, UTHealth School of Public Health in San Antonio

Timothy Walker, PhD (September 2016 - July 2018)
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Health Promotion & Behavioral Sciences, UTHealth School of Public Health

Jacob Szeszulski, PhD (May 16, 2019 - August 31, 2021)
Assistant Professor at Healthy Living Program in the Department of Research, Texas A&M AgriLife Dallas Center, Texas

Sharice Preston, PhD, CHES (March 16, 2019 - July 31, 2021)
Assistant Professor at the UTHealth School of Public Health at the Dallas Regional Campus

Katie Janda, PhD (June 1, 2020 - July 31, 2022)
Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health, Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences, Baylor University

Dale Mantey, PhD, MPA (June 1, 2020 - July 31, 2022)
Assistant Professor, Health Promotion & Behavioral Science, Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living, University of Texas

Ashley Hedrick, PhD (September 16, 2021 - August 15, 2022)
Assistant Professor of Health Communication at Clemson University, South Carolina

Paul Yeh, MD (December 2021 - August 2023)
Faculty Associate, Management, Policy & Community Health, UTHealth Houston

Predoc Alumni

Logan Thornton, DrPH, MPH (May 2011 - March 2014)
Assistant Director, Healthcare Transformation Initiatives at UTHealth McGovern Medical School

Emily Neusel Ussery, PhD, MPH (September 2013 - May 2015)
Epidemiologist, Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Matthew Koslovsky, PhD (April 2015 - October 2016)
NSF/RTG Postdoctoral Research Associate in Data Science at Rice University

Shelley Bluethmann, PhD, MPH, MA (June 2014 - April 2017)
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Public Health Sciences, Penn State University College of Medicine & Cancer Institute at Hershey, PA

Van T. Nghiem, PhD, MSPH (September 2014 - July 2017)
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center 

Serena A. Rodriguez, PhD, MPH, MA (May 2016 - August 2017)
Postdoctoral Researcher, Dept. of Clinical Sciences, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center

Natalia Heredia, PhD, MPH (September 2014 - May 2018)
Postdoctoral Fellow, Dept. of Health Disparities Research at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Maya Foster, MPH (August 2019 - September 2022)
Health Scientist, Division of Overdose Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Emanuelle Dias, PhD, MPH, CPH (September 2021 - January 2024)
ORISE fellow, US Department of the Army, Directorate of Prevention, Resilience, and Readiness