Deborah M. Winn, Ph.D.
Acting Associate Director
Contact Information
Epidemiology and Genetics Research Program
Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences
National Cancer Institute
6130 Executive Blvd., Rm. 5112, MSC 7395
Bethesda, MD 20892-7395
(For express delivery, use Rockville, MD 20852)
telephone: (301) 496-9600
fax: (301) 435-6609
e-mail: winnde@mail.nih.gov
Interest Areas
Epidemiology of head and neck, lung, and breast cancer; applying cancer epidemiology discovery to clinical and public health practices; environmental influences on cancer; genetic epidemiology; and bioinformatics in population sciences.
Degrees
Ph.D. – Epidemiology
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health
M.S.P.H. – Epidemiology
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health
B.A. - Government
Radcliffe College
Biography
Dr. Winn has been the Acting Associate Director of the Epidemiology and Genetics Research Program (EGRP) since 2006. In this capacity, she directs and coordinates NCI's comprehensive grant-supported program of population-based research in cancer epidemiology. EGRP is the largest funder of cancer epidemiologic research worldwide, and funded 364 grants totaling $191.7 million in Fiscal Year 2008, the most recent year for which complete information is available.
EGRP's challenge is to continue to develop the knowledge base of epidemiologic research by encouraging and funding studies to investigate multiple environmental and genetic factors in human populations with the objective of elucidating the etiology of cancer. To this end, Dr. Winn plays a critical role in developing and facilitating initiatives to foster cancer epidemiology both nationally and internationally. She represents NCI to a wide variety of national and international professional, academic, and advocacy organizations. Within the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. Winn also is a senior leader in facilitating and directing priorities for epidemiologic science. Moreover, she is a key spokesperson for NCI on epidemiologic topics of interest to Congress and the public.
Dr. Winn has served on a variety of NCI, NIH, and international committees and working groups important to cancer epidemiology and the broader areas of cancer control and population sciences, including in the areas of bioinformatics, biospecimens, genetics research, genes and the environment, women's health and the environment, and tobacco-related health risks and regulation. She is internationally recognized for her research on tobacco and head and neck cancer.
Dr. Winn joined EGRP in 2000 as Senior Epidemiologist in the Office of the Associate Director. The following year, she became Chief of the former Clinical and Genetic Epidemiology Research Branch, which is now the Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Branch and through which the Breast and Colon Cancer Family Registries and Cancer Genetics Network then were funded and managed.
Before joining NCI, Dr. Winn was a Senior Investigator and Branch Chief for the intramural oral epidemiology program at NIH's National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR). Prior to that, she worked at the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as Deputy Director of the Division of Health Interview Statistics, with broad responsibilities for planning, implementing, and analyzing the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). Earlier with NCHS, she was an epidemiologist with the Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).
Dr. Winn is a Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology and NCI liaison to its Board, and a member of the Delta Omega Public Health Honor Society. She has received numerous awards in recognition of her research and professional service, including from NIH and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the H.A. Tyroler Distinguished Epidemiologist Alumni Award from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
