Mentor Name: Jenny Poynter

Germ cell tumor (GCT) patients comprise the 3rd largest group of childhood cancer survivors in the United States numbering over 38,000, yet little is known about late effects in this group due to their exclusion from previous large studies of childhood cancer survivors. The high survival rates are due to the effectiveness of platinum-based chemotherapy which has been the backbone of GCT treatment since the 1970s. Based on data from adult men with GCTs who are treated with the same cisplatin-based chemotherapy regimen, considerable late effects of cancer treatment are likely to exist including hearing loss, second cancers, mental health issues, heart disease and infertility. Hearing loss is the most impactful acute toxicity associated with cisplatin and can have especially profound impacts in young children. A better understanding of the late effects of treatment and who is most at risk can help guide prevention efforts and lead to the creation of tailored survivorship guidelines for this patient population. The GCT Outcomes and Late effects Data (GOLD) study is a new cohort of GCT survivors designed to understand how GCT treatment impacts the future health and wellbeing of individuals diagnosed during childhood and adolescence. The primary goal of this POST project is to collect information surrounding late effects of treatment in the GOLD study, with a particular focus on hearing loss. The student will become acquainted with best practices and methods in data collection for epidemiological studies of childhood cancer. He will be involved with participant contact, data cleaning and quality control, and data analysis. He will also work with the bioinformatics team on an analysis of genetic susceptibility to hearing loss. The study will further the student’s learning about epidemiological study methods, while simultaneously contributing to the field of pediatric cancer research.