dsouza_profile_2012a

Gypsyamber DSouza, Ph.D., is a cancer epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She was involved in discovering the association of human papillomavirus (HPV) and oropharyngeal cancer and has made contributions to our understanding of oral HPV infection, transmission and natural history as well as the epidemiology of HPV-related cancer.

Dr D’Souza’s work focuses on the epidemiology of oral HPV infection and how to understand and communicate about risk of oral HPV infection and related cancers. Her work has translational impact for social dynamics of current patients with HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer and their families, and informs cancer screening and prevention efforts.

OCF is pleased to have her as a science advisory board member and to be a financial co-sponsor of her work elucidating oral HPV natural history.

General Research Interest

Oral HPV infection, risk factors for viral persistence, biomarkers, cancer prevention, risk communication.

Research Description

The principal focus of Dr. D’Souza research is to help understand how oral HPV infection is acquired and transmitted and why some people go on develop HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer while other people clear these infections.

Honors and Awards

  • 2014 Research on “Risk Factors for Oral HPV Infection among a High Prevalence Population of HIV-Positive and At-Risk HIV-Negative Adults” highlighted at AACR 2014 meeting as one of the most cited CEBP articles in 2012
  • 2013 Research cited in the inaugural edition of the ASCO Post Evening News “No Increased Risk of Oral HPV Infections Reported in Long-term Partners of Patients with HPV-positive Oropharyngeal Cancers”, June 2013
  • 2013 Research on oral HPV infection in patients with HPV-OPC and their spouses, highlighted in front page of “ASCO Cancer in the News”, June 2013
  • 2012 Co-author on cervical pre-cancer detection research (JAMA 2012 308(4): 362-9) cited as Research Highlight for 2012 by NCI.
  • 2012 Inducted as faculty member of Delta Omega, public health honor society
  • 2010 Research mentor award CDC Research Initiatives for Student Enhancement (RISE) program
  • 2009 Johns Hopkins Richard Gelb Cancer Prevention Award To stimulate innovative research in cancer prevention
  • 2007 Research cited as one of top six advances in cancer research in 2007 by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)

Current Publications

  • Conway DI, Brenner DR, McMahon AD, Macpherson LM, Agudo A, Ahrens W, Bosetti C, Brenner H, Castellsague X, Chen C, Curado MP, Curioni OA, Maso LD, Daudt AW, de Gois Filho JF, D’Souza G, Edefonti V, Fabianova E, Fernandez L, Franceschi S, Gillison M, Hayes RB, Healy CM, Herrero R, Holcatova I, Jayaprakash V, Kelsey K, Kjaerheim K, Koifman S, Vecchia CL, Lagiou P, Lazarus P, Levi F, Lissowska J, Luce D, Macfarlane TV, Mates D, Matos E, McClean M, Menezes AM, Menvielle G, Merletti F, Morgenstern H, Moysich K, Müller H, Muscat J, Olshan AF, Purdue MP, Ramroth H, Richiardi L, Rudnai P, Schantz S, Schwartz SM, Shangina O, Simonato L, Smith E, Stucker I, Sturgis EM, Szeszenia-Dabrowska N, Talamini R, Thomson P, Vaughan TL, Wei Q, Winn DM, Wunsch-Filho V, Yu GP, Zhang ZF, Zheng T, Znaor A, Boffetta P, Chuang SC, Amy Lee YC, Hashibe M, Brennan P. Estimating and explaining the effect of education and income on head and neck cancer risk: INHANCE consortium pooled analysis of 31 case-control studies from 27 countries. Int J Cancer. 2014 Jul 4. PMID:24996155
  • Massad LS1, Pierce CB, Minkoff H, Watts DH, Darragh TM, Sanchez-Keeland L, Wright RL, Colie C, D’Souza G. Long-term cumulative incidence of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 or worse after abnormal cytology: impact of HIV infection. International Journal of Cancer. 2014. Apr 15; 13(8): 1854-61. PMID:24170366. PMCID:PMC3947413
  • Thapa DR, Hussain SK, Tran WC, DʼSouza G, Bream JH, Achenback CJ, Ayyavoo V, Detels R, Martinex-maza O. Serum microRNAs in HIV-infected individuals as pre-diagnosis biomarkers for AIDS-NHL. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. 2014 Jun 1;66(2):229-37. PMID:24675587
  • Ghartey J, Kovacs A, Burk R, L.S. Massad, Minkoff H, Xie X, D’Souza G, Xue X, Watts HD, Levine A, Einstein M, Colie C, Anastos K, Eltoum I, Herold B, Palefsky J, Strickler H. Genital Tract HIV RNA Levels and Their Associations with Human PapillomavirusInfection and Risk of Cervical Pre-Cancer. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. 2014. Apr 1. PMID: 24694931
  • Strickler H, Martinson J, Desai S, Xie X, Burk R, Anastos K, Massad L.S., Minkoff H, Xue X, D’Souza G, Levine A, Colie C, Watts H, Palefsky J, Landay A. The relation of plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) and regulatory T-cells (Tregs) with HPV persistence in HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected women. Viral Immunology.  2014 Feb;27(1):20-5. PMID: 24494969
  • Hessol, NA, Weber KM, D’Souza G, Burton D, Young M, Milam J, Murchison L, Gandhi M,  Cohen MH. Smoking cessation and recidivism in the Women’s Interagency HIV Study. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2014 47(1):53–69. PMID:24746376
  • D’Souza G, Gross N, Pai SI, Haddad R, Anderson KS, Rajan S, Gerber J,  Gillison ML, Posner M. Oral human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer cases and their partners. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2014 Apr 28. PMID: 24778397.
  • Liu C, Wang C, Glesby MJ, D’Souza G, French A, Minkoff H, Maurer T, Karim R, Young M. Effects of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy and Its Adherence on Herpes Zoster Incidence: a Longitudinal Cohort Study. AIDS Research and Therapy. 2013 Dec 27;10(1): 34. PMID: 24373482, PMCID: PMC3904465.
  • D’Souza G, Cullen K, Bowie J, Thorpe R and Fakhry C. Differences in oral sexual behaviors by gender, age, and race explain observed differences in prevalence of oral human papillomavirus infection.  PLOS One. 2014; 9(1): e86023. PMID: 24475067, PMCID: PMC3901667.
  • D’Souza G, Carey TE, William WN, Nguyen ML, Ko EC, Riddell J, Pai SI, Gupta V, Walline HM,  Lee JJ, Wolf GT, Shin DM, Grandis JR, Ferris RL on behalf of the HNC SPORE HIV supplement consortium. Epidemiology of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Cancer Cancer among HIV-infected patients. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. 2013 Dec 8. PMID: 24326607, PMCID:  PMC3999230
  • *Lin BM, Wang H, D’Souza G, Zhang Z, Fakhry C, Joseph AW, Drake VE, Sanguineti G, Westra WH, Pai SI.  Long term prognosis and risk factors among HPV-associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma patients. Cancer. 2013 Oct 1, 119 (19):3462-71. PMID: 23861037, PMCID: PMC3788050.
  • *Marks MA, Chaturvedi AK, Kelsey K, Straif K, Berthiller J, Schwartz SM, Smith E, Wyss A, Brennan P,  Olshan AF, Wei Q, Sturgis EM, Zhang ZF, Morgenstern H, Muscat J, Lazarus P, McClean M, Chen C, Vaughan TL, Wunsch-Filho V, Curado MP, Koifman S, Matos E, Menezes A, Daudt AW, Fernandez L, Posner M, Boffetta P, Lee YC, Hashibe M,  D’Souza G.   Association of marijuana smoking with oropharyngeal and oral tongue cancers:  Pooled analysis from the INHANCE Consortium. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. 2013 Dec 18. PMID: 24351902, PMCID: PMC3947141
  • Wiley D, Li X, Hsu H, Young S, Cranston RD, D’Souza G, Martinez O, Seaberg EC, DeAzambuja K, Chua K,  Hussain SK, Detels R. Factors Affecting the Prevalence of Strongly and Weakly Carcinogenic and Lower-risk Human Papillomaviruses in Anal Specimens in a Cohort of Men who have Sex with Men (MSM). PLOS One. 2013 Nov 20; 8(11): e79492. PMID: 24278140, PMCID: PMC3835810.
  • Hussain SK, Hessol NA, Levine AM, Breen EC, Anastos K, Cohen M, D’Souza G, Gustafson D,  Silver S, Martínez-Maza O. Serum biomarkers of immune activation and subsequent risk of non-Hodgkin B cell lymphoma among HIV infected women. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. 2013 Nov ; 22(11): 2084-93. PMID:24 045923, PMCID: PMC3833437.
  • Massad LS, Pierce CB, Minkoff H, Watts H, Darragh TM, Sanchez-Keeland L, Wright RL, Colie C, D’Souza G. Long term cumulative incidence of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 or worse after abnormal cytology: Impact of HIV infection. International Journal of Cancer. 2014 Apr 15. 134(8): 1854-61. PMID:24170366, PMCID: PMC3947413.
  • Chung, CH, *Bagheri A, D’Souza G. Epidemiology of oral human papillomavirus infection. Oral Oncology. 2013 Sep 27: S1368-8375. PMID: 24080455, PMCID: PMC3968244.
  • Massad L.S., XieX., Minkoff H.,  Darragh T.M., D’Souza G, Sanchez-Keeland L., Watts D.H.,  Colie C.,  Strickler H.D. Abnormal Pap tests and human papillomavirus infections among HIV infected and uninfected women who have sex with women. Journal of Lower Genital Tract Disease. 2014. 18(1): 50-56. PMID:23959300, PMCID: PMC3905442.
  • Fakhry C, D’Souza G. Discussing the diagnosis of HPV-OSCC: Common questions and answers. Oral Oncology. 2013 Jul 16. PMID:23876627.
  • *Lin BM, Wang H, D’Souza G, Zhang Z, Fakhry C, Joseph AW, Drake VE, Sanguineti G, Westra WH, Pai SI. Long-term prognosis and risk factors among patients with HPV-associated oropharyngeal cell carcinoma. Cancer. 2013 Jul 16. PMID:23861037, PMCID: PMC3788050.