Associate Member
Division of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences
Roswell Park Cancer Institute

Susan E. McCann, PhD, RD, joined the staff of Roswell Park Cancer Institute in 2003, as an Assistant Member in the Division of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences. She comes to RPCI from the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine at the University at Buffalo (UB), where she served as a Research Assistant Professor.

Dr. McCann earned her doctoral degree in Epidemiology and Community Health at UB in 1998. She also is a registered dietitian and has completed training in nutrition, epidemiology, and statistical methods of analyzing complex dietary data. Her research interests include the relationship between diet and cancer, especially reproductive cancers. More specifically, she is interested in phytochemicals as they affect cancer risk and prognosis, and the effect of genetic susceptibility on these relationships. She also is involved in research that utilizes data reduction statistical methods such as principal components analysis. Finally, she is interested in the application of metabolomics and genomics to problems of diet in the etiology and prognosis of cancer.

Dr. McCann currently has two active studies. The first study is a year long dietary intervention pilot study comparing the effect of a low glycemic diet to usual diet on hormones that have been associated with breast cancer in premenopausal women. Recruitment for this study ended in May.

The second study which began recruitment this fall is funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and targets postmenopausal women newly diagnosed with estrogen receptor positive breast cancer. This study is also a dietary intervention which will compare the effects on breast tumor biomarkers of two (2) weeks consumption of flaxseed with that of anastrozole, a commonly used breast cancer treatment. The study will also examine the effect of combined treatment with the flaxseed and anastrozole.

Dr. McCann is a member of numerous professional organizations including the American Association for Cancer Research, American Dietetic Association, American Society for Nutritional Sciences, American Society for Preventive Oncology, New York State Dietetic Association, Society for Epidemiologic Research and Women in Cancer Research.

Dr. McCann has authored or co-authored more than 40 journal articles, abstracts and book chapters and serves as a reviewer for the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, American Journal of Epidemiology, Cancer: An International Journal, Cancer Causes and Control, Epidemiology, European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Journal of Nutrition, Nutrition and Cancer, Obstetrics and Gynecology and Preventive Medicine.