OU Public Health | Fall 2018 24 Understanding Childhood Cancer More than 10,000 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in children from birth to 14 years of age this year alone, according to the National Cancer Institute. Almost 1200 children will die. In fact, though death rates have declined signifi- cantly over the past 40 years, cancer remains the leading cause of death from disease among children. The statistics are sobering. Caring for children with cancer was even more so for Amanda Janitz, Ph.D., assis- tant professor and researcher at the Hudson College of Public Health. “While working as a nurse on a childhood cancer hospital unit, I found myself trying to understand why children got cancer and I began to develop an interest in research,” Janitz said. That interest led her to OU to pursue a Mas- ter of Public Health degree in epidemiology. “After earning the MPH degree, I took a position at Phoenix Children’s Hospital as a research nurse. There I coordinated early drug development trials in children with cancer,” she said. While Janitz found the work incredibly rewarding, she still yearned for answers to that haunting question – why do some children get cancer? She wanted answers and knew research would be the best way to get them. “Although childhood cancer is rare, it is the leading cause of disease-related mortality among children in the U.S. Understand- ing the epidemiology of childhood cancer through studies focused on both environ- mental and genetic factors can help clini- cians better understand cancer for both prevention purposes and to help improve care of children with cancer,” she said. So the Oklahoma native decided to return to her home state and to the OU Hudson College of Public Health. As a doctoral can- didate, Janitz’s dissertation work evaluated factors related to childhood cancer epi- demiology, including congenital anoma- lies and exposure to air pollution. It also provided the opportunity to work with re- searchers across the nation. After earning her doctorate in epide- miology, Janitz accepted a faculty ap- pointment with the College and, perhaps most importantly, funding to further her research goals. “I received funding from Oklahoma Shared Clinical and Translational Resources to conduct a pilot study evaluating the rela- tionship between air pollution and con- genital anomalies. My research is currently funded through a career development pro- gram of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. The goal of that project is to study environmental fac- tors and health disparities related to child- hood cancer,” she said. As with so many others in research, Janitz knows collaboration is critical, especially when studying rare diseases. She is col- laborating with the Chil- dren’s Oncology Group and researchers at both Baylor University and the University of Minnesota to develop research proj- ects related to childhood cancer epidemiology. She is also working with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Ser- vices and Emory Univer- sity on the environmental factors and childhood cancer study, where she will explore the re- lationshipbetweenpersistentorganicpollut- ants and childhood acute myeloid leukemia. “I am also working with the Cherokee Na- tion on a project aimed at increasing the analytical capacity of the tribe to utilize the Cherokee Nation Cancer Registry for community-based research and, ultimately, to reduce health disparities,” she added. When not busy with research, Janitz and her husband, Mark, are keeping up with their five-year-old daughter, who just started kindergarten. She is grateful for the education she re- ceived at the College of Public Health and to the mentors who helped guide her career in research. “I really enjoyed the experiences I had as a studentandamexcitedtocontinueworking with the faculty and staff now as a faculty member. Our College and the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology have been supportive of early career researchers. I am grateful to have had unique opportu- nities to pursue my research interests here,” she said. RESEARCH IN FOCUS