Dr. Ochs-Balcom is a genetic epidemiologist with a research
focus on genetics of complex traits, primarily obesity and breast
cancer. She joined the Department of Social and Preventive
Medicine in 2007 after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Case
Western Reserve University in the Division of Genetic and Molecular
Epidemiology under Dr. Robert Elston. She was appointed as an
assistant professor in 2009. She is currently working on a study of
genetic factors for breast cancer in African American families,
participating as an investigator in the Women’s Health
Initiative SHARe project, and studying the association of both
inherited and tumor genetic copy number variation and breast cancer
risk. She is broadly interested in applying the most up-to-date
tools that allow for investigation of how genetics contributes to
disease risk.
