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M Elena Martinez Ph.D, MPH
Professor
1515 N Campbell Ave 4985
Campus POB: 245024
Tucson, AZ 85724
(520) 626-8130
emartinez@azcc.arizona.edu
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Research Interests:
Dietary Hetrocyclic Amines; Genetic Susceptibility and Risk of Colorectal Cancer; Four Corners Breast Cancer Study; Colon Cancer Prevention Program Project; Arizona Family Registry for Colorectal Cancer Studies.
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Education:
1993, PhD, Epidemiology, University of Texas-Houston
1987, MPH, Nutrition and Population Studies, University of Texas-Houston
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Publications:
Joshi AD, Corral R, Siegmund KD, Haile RW, Le Marchand L, Martinez ME, Ahnen DJ, Sandler, RS, Lance P, Stern MC. Red meat and poultry intake, polymorphisms in the nucleotide excision repair and mismatch repair pathways, and colorectal cancer risk. Carcinogenesis. 2008 Nov 24 [Epub ahead of print].
Martinez ME, Marshall JR, Giovannucci E. Diet and Cancer Prevention: the Roles of Observation and Experimentation. Nat Rev Cancer 8, 694-703, 2008.
Egan JB, Jacobs ET, Martinez ME, Gerner EW, Jurutka PW, Thompson, PA. Presence of a TA haplotype in the APC gene containing the common 1822 polymorphism and colorectal adenoma. Cancer Res 68: 6006-13, 2008.
Jacobs ET, Martinez ME, Alberts DS, Ashbeck EL, Gapstur, SM, Lance, P, Thompson, PA. Plasma Insulin-Like Growth Factor I Is Inversely Associated with Colorectal Adenoma Recurrence: A Novel Hypothesis. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 17(2)300-05, 2008.
Jacobs ET, Alberts DS, Foote JA, Green SB, Hollis BW, Yu Z, Martínez ME.
Vitamin D Deficiency in Southern Arizona. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 87: 608-13, 2008.
Martinez ME, Nielson CM, Nagle R, Lopez AM, Kim C, Thompson P. Breast Cancer Among Hispanic and Non-Hispanic Women in Arizona. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved 18:130-45, 2007.
Martinez ME, Jacobs ET, Ashbeck EL, Sinha R, Lance P, Alberts DS, Thompson PA. Meat Intake, Preparation Methods, Mutagens, and Colorectal Adenoma Recurrence Carcinogenesis 28:2019-27, 2007.
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Languages Spoken:
English, Spanish
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Biography:
When it comes to curbing cancer altogether, prevention is key, said María Elena Martínez, MPH, PhD, professor in the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Division at The University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. “We’re not winning the war on cancer by treating it,” Dr. Martínez said. “There’s been less success than we would like on the treatment of cancer. Winning the war on cancer is preventing it – if we can prevent it, we don’t have to worry about treating it.”
Since the early 90s, Dr. Martínez has been looking at the risk factors associated with cancer, especially colon cancer. In addition to looking at the markers in a population’s genetic makeup that could increase or decrease the risk, Dr. Martínez also studies the factors that are under the control of the individual person, such as diet, smoking and physical activity.
“The goal in this research is to identify factors that people can adopt, so they can decrease their risk in developing cancer in the future,” Dr. Martínez said. “We as a society want to sell a magic bullet, but we keep coming back to the common sense things: exercise and diet.” Dr. Martínez’s work also involves the study of specific populations and their cancer risk, which could result in prevention strategies targeted to certain groups of people.
Dr. Martínez is also the head of a new program at the Arizona Cancer Center that looks at cancer disparities. The program aims to promote research, training and education, and community service and outreach in minority and underserved populations. She also hopes that the findings of her research will be disseminated and reach the people who would benefit most from this information. “As epidemiologists, we’re so used to conducting our research and stopping there,” Dr. Martínez said. “We need to disseminate what we’ve learned to the community – and to specific communities.”
Projects currently involved in:
Obesity and insulin growth factors related to colon cancer prevention
Developing a statewide program to increase rates of colon cancer screening
Comparative study of breast cancer between Mexico and the US
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