Dr. David Cheng joined the Department of Epidemiology as an Assistant Professor on November 15. Dr. Cheng is a cancer and nutritional epidemiologist. He received his Ph.D. in Epidemiology from University of Washington and training in Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Before moving to UF, he spent 3 years in Roswell Park Cancer Institute as faculty. His major research area is using molecular epidemiological approaches to study genetic and non-genetic risk factors for solid tumors, mainly breast and lung cancers, in the human population. His work has two main elements: 1) studying the role of genetic susceptibility, environmental exposure, and their interactions; and 2) investigating molecular markers in cancer subtypes to elucidate cancer etiologies. Current efforts emphasize molecular pathological markers that can not only classify cancer subtypes but also elucidate carcinogenic mechanisms and etiology. He is currently funded by a NIH/NCI K07 Career Development Award (2016-2021) focusing the mTOR pathway in relation to obesity and breast cancer subtypes by race. He also teams up with United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) researchers to investigate human exposure of novel growth hormone through dietary intake. We are eager to have Dr. Cheng as part of our Department.