Research Programs: Prevention & Etiology
Associate Professor, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health

hhnelson@umn.edu
612-626-9887, office

Dr. Nelson received an M.P.H. in toxicology from the University of Minnesota in 1993 and a Ph.D. in cancer biology from Harvard University in 1998. She was an assistant professor of environmental epidemiology in the Department of Environmental Health at Harvard before joining the faculty at the Universisty of Minnesota.

Research Interests

My research efforts focus on understanding cancer susceptibility and etiology using both laboratory and epidemiologic tools. This work blends information on population exposures and life histories with both constitutional and somatically acquired changes to develop a global picture of tumorigenesis and gene-environment interactions. Further, this work aims to identify high-risk subgroups, as well as define new molecular disease classification for future translational work. Specific disease areas of interest include non-melanoma skin cancer, mesothelioma, and lung cancer.

Selected Publications

Furniss, CS, McClean, MD, Smith, JF, Bryan, J, Applebaum, KM, Nelson, HH, Posner, MR, Kelsey, KT. Human Papillomavirus 6 seropositivity is associated with risk of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma, independent of tobacco and alcohol use (Annals of Oncology, in press)

Houseman, EA, Christensen, BC, Yeh, RF, Marsit, CJ, Karagas, MR, Wrensch, M, Nelson, HH, Wiemels, J, Zheng, S, Wiencke, JK, Kelsey, KT. Model-based clustering of DNA methylation array data: a recursive-partitioning algorithm for high-dimensional data arising as a mixture of beta distributions. BMC Bioinformatics 9:365, (Epub Sept 2008)

Pattin, KA, White, BC, Barney, N, Gu, J, Nelson, HH, Kelsey, KT, Andrew, AS, Karagas, MR, Moore, JH. A computationally efficient hypothesis testing method for epistasis analysis using multifactor dimensionality reduction. Genet Epidemiol (Epub Jul 2008)

Welsh, MM, Karagas, MR, Applebaum, KM, Spencer, SK, Perry, AE, Nelson, HH. A role for ultraviolet radiation immunosuppression in non-melanoma skin cancer as evidenced by gene-environment interactions. Carcinogenesis (Epub Jul 2008)

Patel, AS, Karagas, MR, Perry, AE, Nelson, HH. Exposure profiles and human papillomavirus infection in skin cancer: an analysis of 25 genus beta types in a population-based study. J Invest Dermatol (Epub Jun 2008).

Christensen, BC, Godleski, JJ, Marsit, CJ, Houseman, AE, Lopez-Fagundo, C, Longacker, J, Bueno, R, Sugarbaker, DJ, Nelson, HH, Kelsey, KT. Asbestos exposure predicts cell cycle control gene promoter methylation in pleural mesothelioma Carcinogenesis 29:1555-59, 2008.

Christensen, BC, Godleski, JJ, Roelofs, C, Longacker, J, Bueno, R, Sugarbaker, DJ, Nelson, HH, Kelsey, KT. Asbestos burden predicts survival in pleural mesothelioma, Env Health Perspectives 116:723-6, 2008.

Patel, AS, Karagas, MR, Pawlita, M, Waterboer, T, Nelson, HH. Cutaneous human papillomavirus infection, the EVER2 gene and incidence of squamous cell carcinoma: A case-control study. Int J Cancer 122:2377-79, 2008.

Andrew, AS, Karagas, MR, Nelson, HH, Guarrera, S, Polidoro, S, Gamberini, S, Sacerdote, C, Moore, JH, Kelsey, KT, Demidenko, E, Vineis, P, Matullo, F. DNA repair polymorphisms modify bladder cancer risk: a multi-factor analytic strategy. Hum Hered 65:105-118, 2008.

Karagas, MR, Nelson, HH, Zens, S, Linet, M, Perry, A, Stukel, T, Spencer, S, Brauning, M, Miller, K, Mott, L, Mabuchi, K. Squamous cell and basal cell carcinoma of the skin in relation to radiation therapy and potential modification of risk by sun exposure. Epidemiology. 18(6):776-84, 2007

Applebaum, KM, Karagas, MR, Hunter, DJ, Catalano, PJ, Byler, SH, Morris, S, Nelson, HH. Polymorphisms in nucleotide excision repair genes, arsenic exposure, and non-melanoma skin cancer in New Hampshire. Env Health Perpectives 115:1231-6, 2007

Karagas, MR, Stukel, TA, Umland, V, Tsoukas, MM, Mott, LA, Sorensen, HT, Jensen, AO, Nelson, HH, Spencer, SK, Perry, AE, Stern, RS. Reported use of photosensitizing medications and basal and squamous cell carcinoma of the skin: results of a population-based case-control study J Invest Dermatol 127:2901-3, 2007.

Patel, AS, Karagas, MR, Perry, AE, Spencer, SK, Nelson, HH. Gene-drug interaction at the gluccocorticoid receptor increases risk of squamous cell skin cancer. J Invest Dermatol 127:1868-70, 2007.

Furniss, CS, McClean, MD, Smith, JF, Bryan, J, Nelson, HH, Peters, ES, Posner, MR, Clark, JR, Eisen, EA, Kelsey, KT. Human papillomavirus 16 and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Int J Cancer 120:2386-92, 2007.

Karagas, MR, Zens, S, Nelson, HH, Mabuchi, K, Perry, A, Stukel, TA, Mott, LA, Andrew, AS, Applebaum, KM, Linet, M. Measures of cumulative exposure from a standardized sun exposure history questionnaire: a comparison with histologic assessment of solar skin damage. Am J Epidemiol 165:719-26, 2007.

Marsit, CJ, Houseman, EA, Christensen, BC, Eddy, K, Bueno, R, Sugarbaker, DJ, Nelson, HH, Karagas, MR, Kelsey, KT. Examination of CpG island methylator phenotype and implications of methylation profiles in solid tumors. Cancer Res 66:10621-29, 2006.

Miller, KL, Karagas, MR, Kraft, P, Hunter, DJ, Catalano, P, Byler, SH, Nelson, HH. XPA, haplotypes, and risk of basal and squamous cell carcinoma. Carcinogenesis, 27:1670-75, 2006.

Karagas, MR, Nelson, HH, Sehr, P, Waterboer, T, Stukel, TA, Andrew, A, Green, AC, Bavinck, J, Perry, A, Spencer, S, Rees, JR, Mott, LA, Pawlita. Serologic Evidence of Human Papillomavirus Infection and the Incidence of Squamous Cell and Basal Cell Carcinomas of the Skin. J Natl Cancer Inst 98:389-95, 2006.