User:TenderTendies/Cathrine Hoyo

Cathrine Hoyo
Born	Zimbabwe
Occupations	Epidemiologist Environmental Scientist Professor
Academic background
Alma mater	University of Sierra Leone UC Berkeley The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Early life and education

Dr. Cathrine Hoyo, from the country of Zimbabwe, is an accomplished public health researcher and current professor at NC State University. Hoyo, who works as an epidemiologist received her bachelor's degree at the University of Sierra Leone. She then obtained her Master's degree from UC Berkeley, and gained her doctorate from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After receving and completeing a Ph.D fellowship, she worked at North Carolina Central University, then at Duke University School of Medicine in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Epidemiology and the Department of Community and Family Medicine. She now works at NC State University in the Biological Sciences department.

Public health contributions

Dr. Hoyo's work has focused on the role of environmental contaminants and their affect on health. She has particularly focused on minority groups, particularly people of color and pregnant women. Her research focuses on health by measuring the rates of chronic diseases, specifically cancer and obesity. Her large focuses have been on toxic metal exposure as seen in her 2018 project Cadmium Exposure and Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC). Some of the research she is involved in focuses on health by determining the ways that environmental contaminants or nutrition affect DNA methylation. There is also an important focus on socioeconomic factors, gender, and location. Dr. Hoyo's experience in the Duke University School of Medicine in the Department of Community and Family Medicine and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Epidemiology is reflected through her research focuses and contributions as seen below.

Current research

NEST

The Newborn Epigenetics Study (NEST) is an ongoing study that observes epignetic changes in newborns and young children ages 3-5 years old. The goal of the study is to determine how environmental factors, including diet can affect the way DNA methylation and gene expression occurs in these children. The study involved pre-birth women, and once the women gave delivery, samples from the birth were taken and samples are periodically taken again regularly. The study focuses on children from three counties in North Carolina including Wake County, Orange County, and Durham County.

STRIVE

The Southern Liver Health Study (STRIVE), is an ongoing liver health study is North Carolina and Georgia. It is a multi-university effort between NC State, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University, and Emory University. The research received a 17 million dollar grant from the National Institute of Health (NIH). The goal of the study is to follow 16,000 people over the course of several years to determine what's in their environment, and how their liver health is impacted over time. Liver cancer rates have recently been rising particularly among minorities and in more rural areas. Some of the chemicals the study is looking at are polu-fluoroalkyl substances PFAS and other environmental contaminants such as heavy toxic metals. The STRIVE study's goal is to obtain data that can be used for environmental policy.

Works

• Gonzalez-Nahm, Sarah & Marchesoni, Joddy & Maity, Arnab & Maguire, Rachel & House, John & Tucker, Rachel & Atkinson, Tamara & Murphy, Susan & Hoyo, Cathrine. (2022). Maternal Mediterranean Diet Adherence and Its Associations with Maternal Prenatal Stressors and Child Growth. Current Developments in Nutritionn. 6. 10.1093/cdn/nzac146.
• Lodge, Evans & Hoyo, Cathrine & Gutierrez, Carmen & Rappazzo, Kristen & Emch, Michael & Martin, Chantel. (2021). Estimating exposure to neighborhood crime by race and ethnicity for public health research. BMC Public Health. 21. 10.1186/s12889-021-11057-4.
• Skinner, M., Lumey, L. H., Fleming, T. P., Sapienza, C., Hoyo, C., Aronica, L., Thompson, J., & Nichol, P. F. (2019). RW-2018-Research Workshop: The Effect of Nutrition on Epigenetic Status, Growth, and Health. JPEN. Journal of parenteral and enteral nutrition, 43(5), 627–637.
• Hoyo, C., Berchuck, A., Halabi, S. et al. (2005) Anthropometric Measurements and Epithelial Ovarian Cancer Risk in African–American and White women. Cancer Causes Control 16, 955–963.
• Park, Sarah & Skaar, David & Jirtle, Randy & Hoyo, Cathrine. (2016). Epigenetics, obesity and early-life cadmium or lead exposure. Epigenomics. 9. 10.2217/epi-2016-0047.
• Nye, Monica & Vidal, Adriana & Gammon, Marilie & Hoyo, Cathrine. (2014). Abstract B35: Altered DNA methylation at imprinted insulin-like growth factor-2 (IGF2) resulting from heavy metal exposure in vitro and in vivo in infants from the Newborn Epigenetic STudy (NEST).. Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention. 21. B35-B35. 10.1158/1055-9965.DISP12-B35.

Awards and honors

• Dr. Cathrine Hoyo joined NC State as a Chancellor's Faculty Excellence Program hire in 2014.
• Dr. Hoyo is a member of the Center for Human Health and the Environment (CHHE) and its Integrative Health Sciences Facility Core.
• Dr. Hoyo is one of few researchers to receive a 17 million dollar grant from the NIH for the Southern Liver Health Study in late 2021.
• Dr. Hoyo delivers CURE Distinguished Scholars Seminar in September of 2020.