About Me

Originally from the mountains of Jefferson County, Colorado, I attended the Unversity of Colorado at Boulder studying infectious disease ecology with Pieter Johnson, PhD where I received a Goldwater Scholarship and graduated with highest honors. I then moved to Atlanta, Georgia and received a PhD from Emory University in Environmental Health Sciences with Lance Waller, PhD and funding from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program. I completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Cancer Institute through the Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program working with Rena Jones, PhD, MS and Mary Ward, PhD in the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch in the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics in Rockville, Maryland. I am now an Epidemiologist at Social and Scientific Systems, Inc. a division of DLH Corporation in Silver Springs, Maryland.

My research focuses on the (geo)spatial and environmental epidemiology of cancer and infectious disease. You can follow my research in progress on my GitHub. I have written scientific publications and have presented my research at numerous scientific conferences. I am an ad hoc reviewer for Annals of Epidemiology, Cancer Causes & Control, Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, Environmental Research, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, International Journal of Health Geographics, Methods in Ecology and Evoluation, PLoS - Neglected Tropical Diseases, and Scientific Reports.

Experience

Epidemiologist

Social & Scientific Systems, Inc., a division of DLH Corporation

Dec 2022 – Present Silver Springs, MD

Postdoctoral Cancer Prevention Fellow

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow

Featured Awards

NCI Director’s Intramural Innovation Award Program Career Development Award

National Cancer Institute Jan 2022 – Jan 2023

The competitive award supports support the development of highly innovative approaches and technology aimed at significant cancer–related problems. Winning proposals showed potential for significant scientific or public health impact, as well as approach, innovation, and programmatic relevance to the mission of the NCI Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics. Recipients will use their award in fiscal year 2022 with an upper limit of $15,000. My winning proposal was entitled ‘A new paradigm for environmental exposure assessment involving multiple chemicals: incorporating spatial components into mixture models for investigations of associated cancer risks.’

William G. Coleman Jr., Ph.D., Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Innovation Award

National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities Nov 2020 – Nov 2021

The competitive program supports the development of innovative research ideas and concepts within the NIH Intramural Research Program that have the potential for high impact in any area of minority health and health disparities research. Co-awarded with Drs. Jacqueline Vo, Naoise Synnott, and Derek Brown for a project entitled ‘HDoCS in PLCO: Health Disparities of Cancer Survivors in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial.’

DCEG Informatics Tool Challenge

Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics May 2020 – May 2021

The competitive program supports innovative approaches to epidemiological methods, data collection, analysis, and other research efforts using modern technology and informatics. Co-awarded with Dr. Derek Brown for a project entitled ‘sparrpowR: A flexible R package and webtool to estimate statistical power of a spatial cluster detection technique.’

Graduate Research Fellowship Program

National Science Foundation Jul 2014 – Jun 2018

This award recognizes and supports individuals early in their graduate training in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. In 2017, I received a supplemental NSF Graduate Research Internship Program to work with Dr. Sarah Bevins at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Wildlife Disease Program.

Contact Me

To Ian Buller:

8757 Georgia Avenue, Suite 1200, Silver Spring, MD 20910
12th Floor
DM Me