COMETS Membership

Current COMETS Executive Committee Members

Chair:
Marinella Temprosa, Ph.D.
George Washington University
Representing the Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study (DPPOS)
ella@bsc.gwu.edu

Vice-Chair:
Rachel Kelly, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Representing the Vitamin D Antenatal Asthma Reduction Trial (VDAART)
hprke@channing.harvard.edu

Secretary:
Rachael Stolzenberg-Solomon, M.D., Ph.D., R.D.
National Cancer Institute
Representing the Shanghai Physical Activity Study (SPA)
rachael.solomon@nih.gov

Members:

Su Chu, Ph.D.
Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Representing the Normative Aging Study (NAS)
su.chu@channing.harvard.edu

Luciana Crotti Espinoza, Ph.D.
National Cancer Institute
Program Director
luciana.crottiespinoza@nih.gov

Kelly Crotty, Ph.D.
National Cancer Institute
Program Director
Kelly.crotty@nih.gov

Rebecca Graff, Sc.D.
University of California, San Francisco
Representing the Health Professional Follow-up Study (HPFS)
rebecca.graff@ucsf.edu

Priyadarshini Kachroo, Ph.D., M.S.
Harvard Medical School
Representing the MGB Biobank Asthma study
reprk@channing.harvard.edu

Donghai Liang, Ph.D.
Emory University
Representing the Emory African American Maternal-Child Cohort (Emory AA Maternal-Child Cohort)
donghai.liang@emory.edu

Steven Moore, Ph.D., M.P.H.
National Cancer Institute
Representing Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO)
moorest@mail.nih.gov

Mary Playdon, Ph.D., M.P.H.
University of Utah
Representing ColoCare (secondary representative)
mary.playdon@hci.utah.edu

Mukesh Verma, Ph.D.
National Cancer Institute
Program Director
vermam@mail.nih.gov

Danxia Yu, Ph.D.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Representing the Shanghai Women’s Health Study (SWHS)
danxia.yu@vumc.org

Past Members: Kathryn Rexrode, Bo Chawes, Svati Shah, Jessica Lasky-Su, Vicky Stevens, Demetrius Albanes, Ewy Mathé, Bing Yu, Craig Wheelock, Maura Walker.

Current COMETS Steering Committee Members

Demetrius Albanes, M.D.
National Cancer Institute
Representing the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study (ATBC)
daa@nih.gov

Raji Balasubramanian, Sc.D. 
University of Massachusetts Amherst 
Representing the Women's Health Initiative (secondary representative)
rbalasub@umass.edu 

Clara Barrios Barrera, M.D.
Hospital del Mar, Barcelona
Representing the Genodiab-Mar Cohort (GDM)
clarabarrios@hotmail.es

Yoav Ben-Shlomo, Ph.D.
University of Bristol
Representing the Caerphilly Prospective Study (CaPS)
y.ben-shlomo@bristol.ac.uk

Russell Bowler, M.D., Ph.D.
National Jewish Heritage
Representing the COPD Gene Epidemiology (COPD Gene)
bowlerr@njhealth.org

Hermann Brenner, M.D.
German Cancer Research Center
Representing the Epidemiological Study on the Chances of Cure, Early Detection, and Optimized Therapy of Chronic Diseases in the Elderly Population (ESTHER)
h.brenner@dkfz.de

Stefanie Brezina, M.Sc.
Medical Univeristy of Vienna
Representing the COloRectal Cancer Study of Austria (CORSA)
stephanie.brezina@meduniwien.ac.at

Qiuyin Cai, M.D., Ph.D.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Representing the Southern Community Cohort Study (SCCS)
qiuyin.cai@vumc.org

Bo Chawes, M.D., Ph.D., D.M.Sci.
University of Copenhagen
Representing the COpenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood (COPSAC)
chawes@copsac.com

Ching-Lung Cheung, Ph.D.
University of Hong Kong
Representing the Hong Kong Osteoporosis Study (HKOS)
lung1212@hku.hk

Emily Chew, Ph.D.
National Eye Institute
Representing the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS)
echew@nei.nih.gov

Carlos Cruchaga, Ph.D.
Washington University in St. Louis
Representing the Knight ADRC and Nuerogenomics and Informatics Cohort (NGI)
cruchagac@wustl.edu

Heather Eliassen, Ph.D.
Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital
Representing the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) and Nurses' Health Study II (NHS II)
nhahe@channing.harvard.edu

Ellen Francis, Ph.D.
Rutgers School of Public Health
Representing Psychosocial Intervention and Inflammation and Birth Outcomes (PIINC) and Stress Pregnancy and Health Study (SPAH)
ellen.francis@rutgers.edu 

Mohsen Ghanbari, Ph.D.
Erasmus University Medical Center
Representing the Rotterdam Study (RS)
m.ghanbari@erasmusmc.nl

Sei Harada, M.D., Ph.D.
Keio University
Representing the Tsuruoka Metabolomic Cohort Study (TMCS)
seiharada@keio.jp

Aki Havulinna, D.Sc.
Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
Representing Health 2000, Finrisk 1997, Finrisk 2002, Finrisk 2007, and Finrisk 2012
aki.havulinna@thl.fi

David Herrington, M.D.
Wake Forest School of Medicine
Representing the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)
rdwhite@wakehealth.edu

Joel Hirschhorn, M.D., Ph.D.
Broad Institute
Representing The Estonian Biobank (EBB)
joel.hirschhorn@childrens.harvard.edu

Ann Hsing, Ph.D.
Stanford Prevention Research Center
Representing the Breast Cancer Family Registry (BCFR) and Well for Life-China (WELL-CHINA)
annhsing@stanford.edu

Deeba Husain, M.D.
Harvard Medical School
Representing the Age Related Macular Degenerated Cohort (AMD)
deeba_husain@meei.harvard.edu

Mazda Jenab, Ph.D.
International Agency for Research on Cancer
Representing the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)
jenabm@iarc.fr

Mattias Johansson, M.D.
International Agency for Research on Cancer
Representing the Northern Sweden Health and Disease Study (NSHDS)
johanssonm@iarc.fr

Hector Keun, D.Phil
Imperial College London
Representing the Human Early Life Exposome Study Sub-cohort (HELIX)
h.keun@imperial.ac.uk

Mika Kivimaki, Ph.D.
University College London
Representing the Whitehall-II study (WH-II)
m.kivimaki@ucl.ac.uk

Bruce Kristal, Ph.D.
Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Representing the Multi-ethnic Cohort (MEC)
bruce.kristal@gmail.com

Wassim Labaki, M.D., M.S.
University of Michigan
Representing the SubPopulations and InteRmediate Outcome Measures in COPD Study (SPIROMICS)
wlabaki@med.umich.edu

Rikard Landberg, M.Sc., Ph.D.
Chalmers University of Technology
Representing the Swedish Infrastructure for Medical Population-based Life-course and Environmental Research (SIMPLER)
rikard.landberg@chalmers.se

Claudia Langenberg, M.D., Ph.D.
University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine
Representing the Fenland Study
claudia.langenberg@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk

Jessica Lasky-Su, Sc.D.
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Representing the Childhood Asthma Management Program (CAMP) and Omic Determinants of Longitudinal Lung Function in Asthma (ODOLLFA)
jessica.a.su@gmail.com

Debbie Lawlor, Ph.D.
University of Bristol
Representing the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) and Born in Bradford (BiB)
d.a.lawlor@bristol.ac.uk

Panayiotis Louca, Ph.D.
King's College London
Representing TwinsUK (secondary representative)
panayiotis.louca@kcl.ac.uk

Ewy Mathé, Ph.D.
National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
Representing the Longitudinal EMR and Omics COVID-19 Cohort (LEOCC)
ewy.mathe@nih.gov

Kevin Mendez, M.S.
Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Representing the Genetic Epidemiology of Asthma in Costa Rica Cohort (GACRS)
rekme@channing.harvard.edu

Cristina Menni, Ph.D.
King's College London
Representing the Twins UK
cristina.menni@kcl.ac.uk

Rachel Murphy, Ph.D.
University of British Columbia
Representing the Health, Aging, and Body Composition Study (Health ABC)
rachel.murphy@ubc.ca

Megan Niedzwiecki, Ph.D.
Ichan School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Representing the Programming Research in Obesity, Growth, Environment and Social Stressors (PROGRESS)
megan.niedzwiecki@mssm.edu

Matej Orešič, Ph.D.
University of Helsinki Finland
Representing the Diabetes Prediction and Prevention (DIPP) Birth Cohort
matej.oresic@gmail.com

Eric Orwoll, M.D.
Oregon Health and Science University
Representing the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS)
orwoll@ohsu.edu

Jennifer Ose, Ph.D., M.Sc.
Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah
Representing the ColoCare (COLO)
jennifer.ose@hs-hannover.de

Alexandre Pereira, Ph.D.
Harvard Medical School
Representing the Baependi Heart Study (BHS)
alexandre_pereira@hms.harvard.edu

Wei Perng, Ph.D.
Colorado School of Public Health
Representing Project Viva
wei.perng@gmail.com

Jackie Price, Ph.D.
The University of Edinburgh
Representing the Edinburgh Type 2 Diabetes Study (ET2DS)
jackie.price@ed.ac.uk

Rui Providencia, M.D., Ph.D.
University College London
Representing the British Women’s Heart and Health Study (BWHHS)
rui.providencia@ucl.ac.uk

Qibin Qi, Ph.D.
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Representing the Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS)
qibin.qi@einstein.yu.edu

Kathryn Rexrode, M.D., M.P.H.
Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital
Representing the Women's Health Initiative (WHI)
krexrode@partners.org

Denise Scholtens, Ph.D.
Northwestern University
Representing the Hyperglycemia and Adverse Pregnancy Outcome (HAPO) Study
dscholtens@northwestern.edu

Wei Jie Seow, Ph.D.
National University of Singapore
Representing the Singapore Prospective Study Program (SP2)
ephswj@nus.edu.sg

Howie Sesso, Sc.D., M.P.H.
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Representing the Physicians' Health Study (PHS)
hsesso@hsph.harvard.edu

Svati Shah, M.D., M.H.S.
Duke Molecular Physiology Institute
Representing the Catheterization Genetics (CATHGEN) and Genetics of Early Onset Cardiovascular Disease (GENECARD)
svati.shah@duke.edu

Xiao-Ou Shu, M.D., Ph.D.
Vanderbilt University
Representing the Shanghai Men's Health Study (SMHS)
xiao-ou.shu@vanderbilt.edu

Gordon Smith, M.D., Ph.D.
University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine
Representing the Pregnancy Outcomes Prediction Study (POPS)
gcss2@cam.ac.uk

Nicole Spartano, Ph.D.
Boston University
Representing Framingham Heart Study
spartano@bu.edu 

Victoria Stevens, Ph.D.
vstevens311@gmail.com

Isobel Stewart, Ph.D.
University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine
Representing the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), Norfolk
isobel.stewart@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk

Therese Tillin, Ph.D.
University College London
Representing Southall and Brent Revisited (SABRE)
t.tillin@ucl.ac.uk

Kostas Tsilidis, Ph.D.
Imperial College London
Representing the Epirus Health Study
k.tsilidis@imperial.ac.uk

Katherine L. Tucker, Ph.D.
University of Massachusetts Lowell
Representing the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study (BPRHS)
katherine_tucker@uml.edu

Ioanna Tzoulaki, Ph.D.
Imperial College London
Representing the Airwave Health Monitoring Study (AIRWAVE)
i.tzoulaki@imperial.ac.uk

Jose M. Valdivielso, Ph.D.
IRBLleida Institute of Biomedical Research
Representing the Observatorio Nacional de Atherosclerosis en Nefrologia (NEFRONA)
valdivielso@medicina.udl.es

Ying Wang, Ph.D.
American Cancer Society
Representing Cancer Prevention Study – II (CPS-II)
ying.wang@cancer.org

Rui Wang-Sattler, Ph.D.
Helmholtz Zentrum München
Representing the Kooperative Health Research in the Region of Augsburgn (KORA)
rui.wang-sattler@helmholtz-muenchen.de

Craig Wheelock, Ph.D.
Karolinska Institute
Representing the PartnErs Gunma ASthma Study (PEGASUS)
craig.wheelock@ki.se

Sara White, Ph.D.
King's College London
Representing the UK Pregnancies Better Eating and Activity Trial (UPBEAT)
sara.white@kcl.ac.uk

James Wilson, D.Phil
Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh
Representing the Orkney Complex Disease Study (ORCADES)
jim.wilson@ed.ac.uk

Andrew Wong, Ph.D.
Medical Research Council (UK)
Representing Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development (MRC NSHD)
andrew.wong@ucl.ac.uk

Bing Yu, Ph.D.
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth)
Representing the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study (ARIC)
bing.yu@uth.tmc.edu

Hua Zhao, Ph.D.
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Representing the Mano-A-Mano, the Mexican American Cohort (MAC)
hzhao2@mdanderson.org
 

Cohort Studies Participating in COMETS

Applying to Join COMETS

Researchers Representing Cohort Studies

Cohorts must meet the following criteria to participate in COMETS:

• Prospective cohort, 100+ participants with blood metabolomics data
• Identified metabolite data
• Follow-up for disease, including cancer and non-cancer outcomes
• Mass-spectrometry and NMR platforms are eligible

Researchers representing cohorts who want to participate in COMETS should apply through the Steering Committee membership form. The completed form should be emailed to Luciana Crotti Espinoza and Kelly Crotty. Membership will be considered by the COMETS Executive Committee. Every participating cohort is allowed a primary representative to serve on the COMETS Steering Committee. Steering Committee members meet monthly to review new project proposals, share research progress, and update on interest group activities. 

Non-Steering Committee Membership

Researchers working in the field of metabolomic epidemiology who do not represent a cohort study can join as consortium members. Consortium members can propose new projects, join interest groups, and attend COMETS meetings, but do not have voting rights. Membership requires a nomination by a Steering Committee member and will be considered by the COMETS Executive Committee. Researchers, including trainees, interested in becoming a consortium member should fill out the consortium membership application form and email it along with their CV to Luciana Crotti Espinoza and Kelly Crotty (CCing the nominating Steering Committee member).