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Program Director
Risk Factor Assessment Branch, Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program
Telephone: 240-620-0673
Email: dana.wolff@nih.gov
- PhD – Kinesiology
University of Tennessee - MS – Exercise Physiology
University of Tennessee - BS – Exercise Science
Elon University
- Digital health technologies and platforms
- Assessment and validation of digital biomarkers (including physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep)
- Analytical methods and models
- Computational models for multidimensional cancer risk factors
Biography
Dana Wolff-Hughes, PhD, is a program director in the Risk Factor Assessment Branch (RFAB) of the Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program (EGRP) in NCI's Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS). In this capacity, she supports work which validates and utilizes digital technology for cancer risk factor assessment (including physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep) in research and population surveillance. Her scientific interests include novel methods and analytical approaches for risk factor assessment using digital technologies with a focus on how the accuracy of measures derived from these technologies influence the dose response relationship with cancer-related outcomes.
Dr. Wolff-Hughes currently serves as the NIH coordinator and NCI scientific contact for the NSF-NIH Smart and Connected Health Initiative. She is also a scientific contact on funding opportunities and notices of special interest (NOSIs) focused on digital health and data science such as the validation of digital health and AI technologies NOSI (NOT-CA-22-037).
Additionally, Dr. Wolff-Hughes represents NCI on several trans-NIH and interagency initiatives such as the All of Us Research program and CancerX. She also co-chairs both the Trans-NIH Digital Health Working Group and the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development’s (R&D) Digital Health R&D Interagency Working Group.
Prior to joining EGRP, Dr. Wolff-Hughes was a health scientist administrator for the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR). In this role, she coordinated trans-NIH initiatives focused on the application of innovative assessment, monitoring, and analytic approaches using digital and sensor technologies as well as health information technology to advance behavioral and social sciences research. She first joined NCI as a Cancer Research Training Award fellow in the Applied Research Program (now the Healthcare Delivery Research Program) and the Behavioral Research Program.
Select Publications
See listing of articles authored by Dr. Wolff-Hughes in PubMed.