Faculty

Polly A. Newcomb

Research Professor Emeritus, Epidemiology

206-667-3476

Education

PhD Epidemiology, University of Washington, 1986
MPH Epidemiology, University of Washington, 1982

Contact

206-667-3476

Fred Hutch Cancer Center
Box 358080 (M4-B402)
1100 Fairview Avenue N., M4-B402
Seattle, WA 98109

Research Areas

Research Interests

My interests are the identification of modifiable risk factors for common cancers--colorectal, breast, and endometrium. Increasingly, my work has focused on better characterizing individuals at risk because of the joint presentation of environmental and genetic factors. Over the past 20 years, I have conducted several large population based case-control studies of cancer etiology. Cases enrolled in these studies now form the basis for cohorts to examine factors associated with survivorship. I am also interested in the observational evaluations of screening efficacy.

Recent Publications (PubMed)

Folate and folic acid intake in relation to molecular subtypes of colorectal cancer: pooled analyses of up to 8970 cases and 8098 control participants.
(2026 Nov 11)
Am J Clin Nutr
Van Guelpen B, Gylling B, Harlid S, Qu C, Aglago EK, Winkvist A, Tsilidis KK, Murphy N, Berndt SI, Brenner H, Buchanan DD, Campbell PT, Chan AT, Drew DA, French AJ, Gallinger S, Georgeson P, Giannakis M, Hoffmeister M, Hsu L, Huang WY, Hullar M, Huyghe JR, Jayasekara H, Jenkins MA, Lin Y, Moreno V, Newcomb PA, Newton C, Nowak JA, Obón-Santacana M, Ogino S, Pellatt A, Potter JD, Sakoda LC, Schoen RE, Song M, Steinfelder RS, Thomas CE, Toland AE, Trinh QM, Ugai T, Um CY, Woods MO, Zaidi SH, Harrison TA, Phipps AI, Peters U
Vitamin D status and colorectal neoplasm risk in Lynch syndrome.
(2026 Sep 30)
Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev
Bulbaai MT, Wesselink E, van Leerdam ME, Bisseling TM, Koornstra JJ, Verstraete FF, Newcomb PA, Schmit SL, Samadder NJ, Cotterchio M, Anderson L, Le Marchand L, van den Ouweland JMW, Kampman E, van Duijnhoven FJB
Tumor microbial biodiversity and microsatellite instability in colorectal cancer.
(2026)
PLoS One 21(9): e0359555
Mendall C, Hullar MAJ, Curtis KR, Hill CM, Thomas CE, Ma N, Randolph TW, Malen RC, Reedy AM, LaBrie S, Potter JD, Ogino S, Newcomb PA, Phipps AI
A Droplet Digital PCR Approach for the Quantitative Detection of Fusobacterium nucleatum in Formaldehyde-Fixed, Paraffin-Embedded Tumor Tissues.
(2026)
Methods Mol Biol 3055(): 33-41
Kahsai O, Phipps AI, Newcomb PA, Hullar MAJ
Fish Consumption and Colorectal Neoplasms among Lynch Syndrome Carriers.
(2026 Aug)
J Nutr 156(8): 101670
Bulbaai MT, Wesselink E, Bisseling TM, Koornstra JJ, van Leerdam ME, Le Marchand L, Newcomb PA, Samadder NJ, Schep-Wijnveen HJ, Kampman E, van Duijnhoven FJ
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