Personalized and Predictive Medicine

Melinda Butsch Kovacic, MPH, PhD

Title

Assistant Professor

Appointment

Personalized and Predictive Medicine

Email

but4no@cchmc.org

Phone

513-803-0130

Fax

513-636-1657

Bio

Dr. Butsch Kovacic's long-term goal is to make an important contribution towards improving health of children and families in the United States. To do so, she plans to meld classical and molecular epidemiologic approaches with innovative laboratory and clinical research methods to expand the understanding of immune-related chronic diseases and translate her findings into clinical practice. Her current funded research seeks to identify molecular, genetic, environmental and/or immunologic biomarkers of asthma and allergic disease with the goal of developing more personalized prevention strategies and tailored treatment options. In addition, Dr. Butsch Kovacic continues to explore how persistent human papillomavirus infection alters cervical cancer; and in the near future, she hopes to evaluate it's prevalence in normal children compared to children with Fanconi Anemia.

Credentials

MPH: Quantitative Methods. Harvard University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, 2003
PhD: Biochemistry, the Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 2002
Postdoctoral Fellowship: Epidemiology/Public Health, Cancer Prevention Fellowship, Hormonal and Reproductive Epidemiology Branch, Division of of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, 2002-2006

Awards and Honors

Invited, Intensive Grant Writing Workshop, Grant Writers' Seminars and Workshops, LLC, 2007
Certificate of Appreciation in Recognition of Meritorious Service to the National Postdoctoral Association, 2006
American Association for Cancer Research Scholar-in-Training/Molecular Epidemiology Working Group Travel Award, 2006
Roche Biochemicals / Veterinary Biosciences Distinguished Publication Award, 2nd place, 2001
The Ohio State University Graduate School Leadership Award, 2001
Veterinary Biosciences PEGS Travel Grant Award, 2000
Rustbelt RNA Meeting Oral Presentation Award, 2nd place, 2000

Research

Gene-environment interactions and biomarkers in asthma and allergic disease
Human papillomavirus and cancer

Research Grants and Contracts

CCHMC General Clinical Research Center Clinical Research Feasibility Funds Award, Proof of Concept: DEP Exposure & GST Variants Modulate Systemic Oxidative Stress in Allergic Children, 12/2007-12/2008, PI

Publications, Most Recent

Kovacic MB, Katki H, Kreimer A, Sherman ME. Epidemiologic Analysis of Histologic Cervical Inflammation: Relationship to Human Papillomavirus Infections.Human Pathology. Epub Ahead of Time.

Gravitt P, Kovacic MB (co-first authors), Castle PE, Herrero R, Schiffman M, Concepción Bratti M, Hildesheim A, Morales J, Alfaro M, Sherman ME, Wacholder, Rodriguez AC, Burk RD. Viral Load of Human Papillomavirus Type 16 is Uniquely Associated with Cervical Disease.Int J Cancer 2007;121(12):2787-93.

Bolinger C, Roberts Hartman T, Yilmaz A, Kovacic MB, Fernandez S, Ye J, Forget M, Green P, Boris-Lawrie K. RNA helicase A interacts with divergent lymphotropic retroviruses and is necessary for human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 replication.Nucleic Acids Research 2007;35(8):2629-42.

Kovacic MB, Castle PE, Herrero R, Schiffman M, Sherman ME, Wacholder S, Rodriguez AC, Hutchinson ML, Concepción Bratti M, Hildesheim A, Morales J, Alfaro M, Burk RD. Relationships of Human Papillomavirus Type, Qualitative Viral Load & Age to Cytologic Abnormality.Cancer Research 2006;66(20):10114-9.

Kovacic MB, Martin M (co-first authors), Gao X, Fusenko T, Chen CJ, Cheng YC, Apple R, Hildesheim A, Carrington M. Variation of the Killer Cell Immunoglobulin-like Receptors (KIRs) and HLA-C Genes in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma.Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention 2005;14(11):2673-7.

Butsch M, Boris-Lawrie K. The Destiny of Unspliced Retroviral RNA: Ribosome and/or Virion. (Review). J Virology 2002;76(7):3089-3094.

Butsch M, Boris-Lawrie K. Translation is Not Required to Generate Virion Precursor RNA in Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type I Infected T-Cells.J Virology 2000;74(24):11531-7.

Butsch M, Hull S, Wang Y, Roberts T, Boris-Lawrie K. The 5' RNA Terminus of Spleen Necrosis Virus Contains a Novel Post-Transcriptional Control Element that Facilitates Human Immunodeficiency Virus Rev/RRE-Independent Gag Production.Virology 1999;73(6):4847-55.

Presentations, Most Recent

Effects of Diesel Exhaust Particle Exposure & Glutathione S-Transferase Polymorphisms on Atopy & Allergic Disease. Presented at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center Personalized & Predictive Medicine Conference Series; 2007; Cincinnati, OH.

Evaluation of the Presence & Functionality of HPV in Fanconi Anemia Patients. Presented at the CCHMC HPV Minisymposium; 2007; Cincinnati, OH.

Effects of Diesel Exhaust Exposure & Glutathione S-Transferase Polymorphisms on Allergic Disease. Presented at the Clinical Immunology Society - Hypersensitivity & Allergic Diseases School; 2007; Estes Park, CO.

Pharmacogenetics: Personalizing Medicine Here and Now. Presented at the University of Cincinnati Department of Environmental Health - Biostatistics & Epidemiology Program Seminar; 2007; Cincinnati, OH.

Local Immune Response in a HPV World. Presented at the University of Louisville School of Public Health & Information Sciences Special Seminar; 2006; Louisville, KY.

Influence of HPV Type and Viral Load on Cytologic Abnormality. Presented at the International Papillomavirus Meeting; 2006; Prague, Czech Republic.

Immunity in the Cervical Microenvironment. Presented at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center - The Personalized & Predictive Medicine Program Special Seminar; 2006; Cincinnati, OH.

Relationships of HPV Type, Viral Load and Age with Cytologic Abnormality. Presented at the University of Cincinnati - The Institute for the Study of Health Outcomes Seminar; 2006; Cincinnati, OH.

Unraveling the Natural History of HPV: The Key to the Preventing Cervical Cancer. Presented at the Northwestern University Department of Preventive Medicine Special Seminar; 2006; Chicago, IL.

The Natural History of HPV: HPV Type and Host Immunity. Presented at the University of Arkansas School of Public Health Special Seminar; 2006; Little Rock, AR.

Unraveling the Natural History of HPV: The Role of Type and Host Immunity. Presented at the University of Cincinnati Department of Environmental Health Special Seminar; 2006; Cincinnati, OH.

Unraveling the Natural History of Human Papillomavirus: The Impact of Immune Infiltrates in the Cervical Microenvironment. Presented at The Ohio State University School of Public Health Weekly Colloquium; 2006; Columbus, OH.

Construction and Validation of a Cervical Tissue Microarray: A Novel Tool for Investigating Cell-Mediated Immune Responses to Human Papillomavirus Infection and Identifying Biomarkers Predictive of Clinical Outcomes. Presented at a New Investigators Workshop at the American Society of Preventive Oncology Annual Meeting; 2006; Bethesda, MD.