Renee Desmond, DVM, Ph.D.

Research Assistant Professor

Education/Training:

Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN B.S. 1979 Biology
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN D.V.M. 1983 Veterinary Medicine
Georgetown University, Washington, DC M.S. 1993 Biostatistics/Epidemiology
University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL Ph.D. 1996 Epidemiology

Positions:

  • 1984-1986 Associate Veterinarian, Animal Hospital Penn-Daw, Alexandria, Virginia.
  • 1986-1987 Critical Care Veterinarian, Emergency Veterinary Clinic of Northern Virginia, Vienna, Virginia.
  • 1987-1993 Associate Veterinarian, Montrose Animal Health Center, Fairfax, Virginia.
  • 1993-1994 Staff Associate, Karch & Associates, Consultants in Toxicology, Epidemiology & Risk Assessment, Washington, DC.
  • 1994-1996 Post-doctoral fellow in cancer prevention and control funded by the National Cancer Institute, Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama.
  • 1997-2001 Research Associate, Biostatistics Unit, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama.
  • 1997 – Present Biostatistician, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Unit, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama.
  • 2001 – Present Research Assistant Professor, Medical Statistics Section, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama.

Selected Publications (in chronological order from over 50):

  1. Pensyl CD, Harrison RA, Simpson P and Waterbor JW. Distribution of astigmatism among Sioux Indians of South Dakota. Journal of the American Optometric Association 1997; 68:425-31.
  2. Harrison RA, Waterbor JW, Mulligan S, Bernreuter WK, Han SY, Stanley RJ and Rubin ER. Breast cancer detection rates by screening mammography in elderly women. The Breast Journal 1997;3:1-6.
  3. Acton RT, Bell DSH, Collins J, Giger JN, Go RCP, Harrison R, McDonald R, Rivers C, Roseman J, Vanichanan C. Genes within and flanking the major histocompatibility region are risk factors for diabetes, insulin resistance, hypertension and microalbuminuria in African American women. Transplantation Proceedings 1997;29:3710-3712.
  4. Harrison RA, Haque AU, Roseman JR, Soong Sj. Socioeconomic characteristics and melanoma incidence. Annals of Epidemiology1998;8:327-333.
  5. Soong Sj, Harrison RA, McCarthy WJ, Urist MM, Balch CM. Factors affecting survival following local, regional, or distant recurrence from localized melanoma. Journal of SurgicalOncology 1998;67(4): 228-233.
  6. Talley LI, Soong Sj, Harrison RA, McCarthy WH, Urist MM, Balch CM. Clinical outcomes of localized melanoma of the foot: A case-control study. J Clin Epidemiol 1998;51:853-857.
  7. Harrison RA, Waterbor JW. Understanding meta-analysis in cancer epidemiology: Dietary fat and breast cancer. Cancer Detection and Prevention 1999;17:23:1-10.
  8. Harrison RA, Soong S-j, Weiss HL, Gnann JW, Whitley RJ. A mixed model for factors predictive of pain in HIV patients with herpes zoster. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. 1999;410-417.
  9. Harrison RA, Soong S-J, Lee JAH. Comparative Mortality of Patients Diagnosed with Localized and In Situ Melanomas. J Insurance Medicine1998;30:157-168.
  10. Acton RT, Dasanayake AD, Harrison RA, Li Yihong, Roseman JM, Go RCP, Wiener H, Caufield PW. Association of MHC genes with levels of caries inducing organisms in African-American women. Human Immunology 1999; 60:984-989.
  11. Harrison RA, Smith DE, Greene PG, Kratt PP. Relationship between relative risk of developing breast cancer and absolute risk in a population of rural, older, African American women. The Breast Journal1999;5:364-368.
  12. Fleming JB, Amos JF, Harrison RA. Migraine aura without headache: prevalence and risk factors in a primary eye care population. Optometry 2000;71:381-9.
  13. Han Y, Willams RD, Harrison RA. Breast self-examination (BSE) among Korean American women: Knowledge, attitudes and behavior. J. Cultural Diversity1999:6:115-1123.
  14. Balch CM, Soong S-j, Ross MI, Urist MM, Karakousis CP, Temple WJ, Mihm MC, Barnhill RL, Jewell WR, Wanebo HJ, Harrison R. Long-term results of a multi-institutional randomized trial comparing prognostic factors and surgical results of intermediate thickness melanomas. Annals of Surgical Oncology 2000:7:87-97.
  15. Desmond RA, Waterbor JW, Hallberg GR, Arani, RB. A Case Study in Hierarchical Modeling: Agriculture and Prostate Cancer in Iowa. Biometrical Journal2001;43:435-445.
  16. Han Y, Williams RD, Harrison RA. Breast cancer screening: knowledge, attitudes and practices among Korean American women. Oncology Nursing Forum 2000;27(10):1585-1591.
  17. Balch CM, Soong Sj, Ross M, Urist MM, Karakousis P, Temple WJ, Mihm M, Barnhill RL, Jewell WR, Wanebo HJ, Harrison RA & The Intergroup Melanoma Surgical Trial. Long-term Results of a Prospective Surgical Trial Comparing 2cm Vs. 4 cm. Excision Margins for 740 Patients with 1-4 mm Melanomas. Annals of Surgical Oncology 2001;8:101-108.
  18. Rubin E, Mennemeyer ST, Desmond RA, Urist MM, Waterbor J, Heslin MJ, Bernreuter WK, Dempsey PJ, Pile NS, Rodgers WH. Reducing the cost of diagnosis of breast cancer: Impact of ultrasound and imaging-guided biopsies on a clinical breast practice. Cancer 2001;91:1-9.
  19. Waston B Jr., Khan MA, Desmond RA, Bergman S. Mitochondrial DNA mutations in black Americans with hypertension-associated end-stage renal disease. Am J Kidney Diseases2001;38:529-36.
  20. Balch CM, Soong S-J, Gershenwald J, Thompson JF, Reintgen D, Cascinelli N, Urist M, McMasters K, Ross MI, Kirkwood JM, Atkins MB, Thompson JA, Coit DG, Byrd D, Desmond R, Zhang K, Liu P-Y, Lyman G, Moribito A. Prognostic factors analysis of 17,600 melanoma patients. Validation of the new AJCC melanoma staging system. Journal of Clinical Oncology 2001;19:3622-34.
  21. Go RCP, Desmond R, Roseman JM, Bell DSH, Vanichanan C, Acton RT. Prevalence and risk factors of microalbuminuria in a cohort of African American women with gestational diabetes. Diabetes Care2001;24:1764-9.
  22. Khuu HM, Desmond R, Huang St, Marques MR. Characteristics of photophoresis in the management of heart and lung transplant patients. Journal of Clinical Apheresis2002;17:27-32.
  23. Weinsier RL, Hunter GR, Desmond RA, Zuckerman PA, Darnell BE. Free-living energy expenditure and patterns of weight gain in normal women who vary in predisposition to obesity. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2002;75:499-504
  24. Hemminki A, Dmitriev I, Liu B, Desmond RA, Alemary R, Curiel DT. Targeting oncolytic adenoviral agents to the epidermal growth factor pathway with a secretory fusion molecule. Cancer Research2001;61:6377-81.
  25. Desmond R , Weiss HL, Arani RB, Soong S-j, Wood MJ, Fiddian PA, Gnann JW, Whitley RJ. Clinical applications for change-point analysis of herpes zoster pain. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 2002;23:510:516.
  26. Gower BA, Weinsier RL, Jordan JM, Hunter GR, Desmond R . Effect of weight loss on changes in insulin sensitivity and lipid concentrations in premenopausal African-American and Caucasian women. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2002; 76: 923-927.
  27. Nagy TR, Krzywanski D, Li J, Meleth S, Desmond RA . Effects of group versus single housing on phenotypic variance in C57B1/6J mice. Obesity Research 2002;10:412-415.
  28. Eloubeidi MA, Desmond RA , Reed CE, Wilcox CM. Prognostic factors for survival from carcinoma in the United States: The importance of tumor length and lymph node status Cancer 2002; 95: 1434-1443.
  29. Hemminki A, Zinn KR, Liu B, Chaudhuri TR, Desmond RA, Rogers BE, Barnes N, Alvarez RD, Curiel DT. In vivo molecular chemotherapy and non-invasive imaging with an infectivity enhanced adenovirus. JNCI 2002;94:741-749.
  30. Kunerva A, Wang M, Bauerschmitz GJ, Lam JT, Desmond RA, Bhoola SM, Barnes MN, Alvarez RD, Siegal GD, Curiel DT, Hemminki A. Gene transfer to ovarian cancer vs. normal tissues with fiber modified adenovirus. Molecular Therapy 2002;5:695-704.

Research Support:

ONGOING

P30 DK 56336 (Weinsier) 09/30/1999 - 08/30/2006
NIDDK/NIH
Clinical Nutrition Research Unit (CNRU)

The objective of the CNRU is to foster a multidisciplinary approach to basic, clinical, and translational research focusing on an understanding of factors underlying nutrition and obesity-related health problems. Dr. Desmond will be one of the statisticians within the Biostatistics Core of the CNRU.

5 R01 DK 51684-06 (Weinsier) 05/01/2002 – 04/30/2007
NIH/NIDDK
Long-term Follow-up of Post Obese Black and White Women

The aim of this longitudinal study is to examine temporal charges in certain metabolic, physiologic, and behavioral factors that precede weight gain or follow weight gain among a group of normal-weight women who vary in predisposition to obesity. Dr. Desmond will be responsible for directing the data management and report generation activities of the study and will conduct the statistical analyses assist in manuscript preparation.

1 R01 AI 48044 (Schwebke) 01/01/2002 – 12/31/2007
NIH/NIAID
Therapy and Prevention for Sexually Associated Bacterial Vaginosis

The primary objective of this study is to determine optimal agents and duration of therapy for bacterial vaginosis in a double-blinded clinical trial. Dr. Desmond is responsible for generating randomization schema, preparation of statistical reports including DSMB reports, and conducting analysis of the study results.

1 R01 AI50718 (Schwebke) 07/01/2002 – 04/30/2007
NIH/NIAID
Control of Trichomoniasis – A Paradigm for STD Control

This study is designed to examine factors that could enhance diagnosis and treatment of trichomoniasis. Dr. Desmond ensures the progression of data accumulation, designs analytic strategies, conducts final analysis and prepares statistical reports.

(Guay-Woodford) 01/01/2001 - 12/31/2006
Kidney Research Foundation
Clinical Database for Autosomal Recessive Polycystic Kidney Disease Polycystic Kidney Research Foundation

The goal of this project is to establish a comprehensive clinical database that includes infants and children affected with autosomal recessive kidney disease (ARPKD) from Pediatric Nephrology Centers in the U.S. and Canada. Dr. Desmond oversees the data entry for this longitudinal database and provides statistical analysis for reports and publications.

U54CA100949-01 (Barnes) 09/09/2003 – 08/31/2008
NIH/NCI
Center for Nutrient-Gene Interaction Grant (CNGI)

The primary objective of the Biostatistics/Bioinformatics Core is to provide specialized statistical and bioinformatic services to the research projects and Cores of the Cooperative Specialized Center for Nutrient-Gene Interaction in Cancer (CNGI). Dr. Desmond will provide epidemiologic and statistical support for this project.