National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences   —  National Institutes of Health   —  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

The Sister Study

20th Anniversary Community


Be featured during the 20th Anniversary!

Just print your favorite flyer below - write in a personal message if you like! Snap a photo of you and your flyer and email your photo to update@sisterstudy.org to be shared in our 20th anniversary media!

By emailing your photo, you consent to it being shared on the Sister Study website, NIEHS public social media, the Sister Study Facebook group, and other publicly available media. If you prefer not to share publicly, you can post your photo to the Sister Study’s private Facebook group.

To request a flyer be mailed to you, please email update@sisterstudy.org or call 877-4SISTER (877-474-7837).




Youtube link to the Sister Study 20th Anniversary Videoexit disclaimer

This ten-minute video commemorates the 20th anniversary of the NIEHS-led Sister Study to discover the environmental and genetic causes of breast cancer. The video showcases how the Sister Study got started, what it has accomplished, and shines a spotlight on the 50,000 study participants who make it all possible.






The Sister Study Staff and Researcher Testimonials

Matt Carter Senior Programmer - I'm incredibly proud to be a part of the Sister Study team and work with such dedicated study participants. The commitment from so many women is inspiring, humbling, and illustrates the importance of the research being conducted. I have no doubt that research from the Sister Study will help drive improved health outcomes for years to come, and to be a part of that is extremely fulfilling

Chejung Chang Epidemiologist, Postdoctoral Fellow - We found that participants who reported using hair straighteners and relaxers are associated with a higher risk of uterine cancer, especially particularly among those who used these products more than 4 times a year. This information is particularly relevant to Black and African individuals. I hope more impactful research will be done using the Sister Study data, and the results can better inform public health policy, and improve overall population health.

Cari Cracchiolo TRC Supervisor/ Advocate Supervisor - As an Interviewer, I would love calling my participants in Puerto Rico. They always were in good spirits and so willing to help with what we needed. As a plus, I would hear the sounds of the island, the birds chirping and the sound of the coquis. I felt like I was speaking with family.

Aimee D’Aloisio Lead Epidemiologist - Working on the Sister Study has also expanded my knowledge and experience as a researcher. More importantly, I have been able to use my education to work on prevention of breast cancer for future generations

Storme Davidson Participant Advocate - After being involved for 18 years with the Sister study it has become an integral part of my life. I feel a part of something that could help discover the causes of breast cancer and I am very proud of that involvement. After so many years in the Study, I have come to love the participants. I have seen their good days and their bad days and there’s not a day that goes by that I am not in awe of their strength through hard times, their dedication to the study and many have become like friends to me. I will continue to be an Advocate to these wonderful people as long as I am able.

Symielle Gaston Harrison Epidemiologist, Staff Scientist - As a health disparities researcher, the Sister Study has been invaluable to me. The rich data on physical and social environments, lifestyle, health behaviors, and health outcomes among this diverse population of US women makes it possible for me to investigate the complexities that drive health disparities. Results from these investigations can be used to inform interventions and help achieve the goal of health equity. Thank you to the Sister Study participants for making this research possible!

Mandy Goldberg Epidemiologist, Postdoctoral Fellow - For the next steps of the Sister Study, I hope that we can take advantage of the detailed data that participants have generously provided over the years to identify modifiable factors that influence the risk of breast cancer and other chronic diseases and inform interventions to improve women’s health across the lifecourse.

Rena Jones NCI, Investigator Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch - The Sister Study is a valuable scientific resource for research into the environmental causes of cancer, and the willingness of participants to provide important details has shaped our ability to investigate cancer risk factors that are challenging to study.

Irina Khodush Data Processing Manager - For me the Sister study is my life without exaggeration. I've been working on the Sister study since it started in 2003. This is not my first or the only study I have worked on, but it's definitely my favorite. The Sister study participants are the best. Their dedication, their commitment, their willingness to provide everything they can do not stop to amaze me.

Cari Kitahara NCI, Senior Investigator- Radiation Epidemiology Branch - The Sister Study is an incredibly valuable resource for examining potential risk factors for thyroid cancer because of the large number of women participants and the vast amount of information that they graciously provided, from the surveys to the biospecimens.

Cindy Kleeberger Former Sister Study Laboratory Director - There is and always will be a special place in my heart for the Sister Study. I started on this project the first day of the pilot phase in 2003 as the Lab Director and continued in that role through the beginning of 2023. We built a new lab just for the Sister Study and processed over 3 million specimens from 50,000+ dedicated participants. I am so grateful to all the participants for their specimen donations and the endless work of the laboratory staff to process, store, and track all of these precious samples.

Kaitlyn Lawrence Staff Scientist - My past research in the Sister Study has assessed whether living in a neighborhood with a high concentration of household and population features characteristic of lower socioeconomic status (ie, a neighborhood with high deprivation) is associated with epigenetic markers of biological aging. The results of this study suggest that residing in a neighborhood with a higher deprivation index appears to be reflected by methylation-based markers of aging.

Sharonda Lovett PhD Student, Boston University - My favorite memory working as a Summer Student Fellow, by far, was the invaluable mentorship I received from Drs. Dale Sandler, Katie O’Brien, and Jennifer Woo. They provided a source of support to learn quickly and integrate my own ideas into my projects. My mentors have also shown me that they care about me as a person, just as much as they care about my research and professional development as an epidemiologist.

Yilda Macias PhD Student, University of Washington - In recent years, there has been great progress made with big data and machine learning. Looking ahead, my hopes are that these two tools continue to be utilized to better understand the rich data that has been, and will be, collected by the Sister Study. For instance, how certain environmental, genetic, and lifestyle factors work together to affect the risk of diseases, like cancer and diabetes, and how these findings can be used in the development of new strategies to predict and prevent health conditions in participants and the broader population.

Bre Macon Research Assistant (Medical Records) - The study is my chance to honor my paternal grandmother who was diagnosed with breast cancer during a time that a diagnosis was almost certainly death. It means that I contribute to compiling the information that will one day find the cure. As a black woman who was diagnosed with breast cancer before I turned 40, it also means that I get to work to make sure that our voices are heard and counted in research. Working for the study helps me feel like I am doing my part to find a cure for the next generation of women.

Kemi Ogunsina Epidemiologist, Postdoctoral Fellow - I've My hopes for Sister Study are that we continue to get to the potentially modifiable causes of breast cancers and other diseases. Guide policies that impact environmental exposures including personal care products. Empower women with information regarding disease risk factors and encourage an environment conducive to healthy living.

Sha-Mel Riggins Fulfilment Supervisor - The Sister Study to me means community engagement, teamwork, and immense dedication by its participants and Study staff. Continuous efforts by all parties to achieve one goal!

Emily Votmann NCI, Earl Stadtman Investigator- Metabolic Epidemiology Branch - My research focuses on how the human microbiome (the bacteria, fungi, and other microbes living in and on your body) is possibly associated with developing cancer at various body sites. In the Sister Study, I have focused on whether gum disease (a condition which is caused by speci?c oral bacteria) or tooth loss is related to risk of breast cancer or mortality. I found that gum disease is not associated with breast cancer risk, but tooth loss is associated with overall mortality.

Clare Weinberg Co-investigator - The idea for the Sister Study came out of a meeting between me and a few colleagues, who had been challenged to come up with a way to study environmental factors in relation to breast cancer. I suggested that recruiting sisters of women who had had breast cancer could provide a cohort of women who would be both motivated and at higher risk than the general population.

Faustine Williams NIMHD, Stadtman Investigator- Immigrant Health and Health Disparities (IHD) Research Laboratory - Our study examined breast cancer screening among women based on their place of birth, specifically focusing on U.S.-born non-Hispanic White women and foreign-born Hispanic women. We found that foreign-born Hispanic women were more likely to have never received breast cancer screening despite having a history of the disease, compared to U.S.-born non-Hispanic White women. The Sister Study, one of the few cohort studies that includes birthplace information, proved invaluable as I embarked on my research into immigrant health.

Clare Weinberg Co-investigator - The idea for the Sister Study came out of a meeting between me and a few colleagues, who had been challenged to come up with a way to study environmental factors in relation to breast cancer. I suggested that recruiting sisters of women who had had breast cancer could provide a cohort of women who would be both motivated and at higher risk than the general population.

Clare Weinberg Co-investigator - The idea for the Sister Study came out of a meeting between me and a few colleagues, who had been challenged to come up with a way to study environmental factors in relation to breast cancer. I suggested that recruiting sisters of women who had had breast cancer could provide a cohort of women who would be both motivated and at higher risk than the general population.

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