Heather M. Ochs-Balcom
PhD
Research Topics
Genetic epidemiology of complex traits; cancer health disparities; obesity and cancer risk; hormones and aging, women’s health.
Selected Publications
- HM Ochs-Balcom, L Preus, Z Du, RC Elston, CC Teerlink, G Jia, X Guo, Q Cai, J Long, J Ping, B Li, DO Stram, X-O, Shu, M Sanderson, G Gao, T Ahearn, KL Lunetta, G Zirpoli, MA Troester, EA Ruiz-Narváez, SA Haddad, J Figueroa, EM John, L Bernstein, JJ Hu, RG Ziegler, S Nyante, EV Bandera, SA Ingles, N Mancuso, MF Press, SL Deming, JL Rodriguez-Gil, S Yao, TO Ogundiran, O Ojengbe, MK Bolla, J Dennis, AM Dunning, DF Easton, K Michailidou, PDP Pharoah, DP Sandler, JA Taylor, Q Wang, KM O’Brien, CR Weinberg, CM Kitahara, W Blot, KL Nathanson, A Hennis, B Nemesure, S Ambs, LE Sucheston-Campbell, JT Bensen, SJ Chanock, AF Olshan, CB Ambrosone, OI Olopade, DV Conti, the GBHS Study Team, J Palmer, M García-Closas, D Huo, W Zheng, C Haiman. Novel breast cancer susceptibility loci under linkage peaks identified in African ancestry consortia. Hum Mol Genet 2024; 33(8):687-697. PMCID: PMC11000665.
- HM Ochs-Balcom, C Johnson, KA Guertin, B Qin, A Beeghly-Fadiel, F Camacho, TN Bethea, LF Dempsey, W Rosenow, CE Joslin, E Myers, PG Moorman, HR Harris, LC Peres, VW Setiawan, AH Wu, L Rosenberg, JM Schildkraut, EV Bandera. Racial differences in the association of body mass index and ovarian cancer risk in the OCWAA consortium. Br J Cancer 2022 2022; 127(11):1983-1990. PMCID: PMC9681872.
- LJ Mattick, JW Bea, L Singh, KM Hovey, HR Banack, J Wactawski-Wende, JE Manson, JL Funk, HM Ochs-Balcom. Serum follicle stimulating hormone and five-year change in adiposity in healthy postmenopausal women. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2022; 107(8):e3455-e3462. PMCID: PMC9282244.
- HM Ochs-Balcom, P Kanth, LA Cannon-Albright. Early-onset colorectal cancer risk extends to second- and third-degree relatives. Cancer Epidemiology 2021; 73:101973. PMCID: PMC8316419.
- TN Bethea1, HM Ochs-Balcom1, EV Bandera, A Beeghly-Fadiel, F Camacho, EK Cloyd, HR Harris, CE Joslin, E Myers, PG Moorman, LC Peres, VW Setiawan, AH Wu, L Rosenberg, JM Schildkraut. First- and second-degree family history of ovarian and breast cancers in relation to risk of invasive ovarian cancer in African American and White women. Int J Cancer 2021; 148(12):2964-2973. PMCID: PMC8353974.
- HM Ochs-Balcom, P Kanth, S Abdelrahman, JM Farnham, LA Cannon-Albright. Colorectal cancer risk based on extended family history and body mass index. Genet Epidemiol 2020; 44:778–784. https://doi.org/10.1002/gepi.22338. PMCID: PMC7722108.
- AW Kurian, R Bernhisel, K Larson, JL Caswell-Jin, AH Shadyab, H Ochs-Balcom, ML Stefanick. Prevalence of pathogenic variants in cancer susceptibility genes among women with postmenopausal breast cancer. JAMA 2020; 323(10):995-997.
- HM Ochs-Balcom, KM Hovey, C Andrews, JA Cauley, L Hale, W Li, JW Bea, GE Sarto, ML Stefanick, KL Stone, NB Watts, O Zaslavski, J Wactawski-Wende. Short sleep is associated with low bone mineral density and osteoporosis in the Women’s Health Initiative. J Bone Miner Res 2020; 35(2):261-268.
- JM Schildkraut, LC Peres, TN Bethea, F Camacho, D Chyn, EK Cloyd, EV Bandera, A Beeghly-Fadiel, CE Joslin, PG Moorman, E Myers, HM Ochs-Balcom, VW Setiawan, AH Wu, L Rosenberg. Ovarian cancer in women of African ancestry (OCWAA) consortium: a resource of harmonized data from eight epidemiologic case-control and cohort studies of African-American and white women. Cancer Causes Control 2019; 30(9):967-978.
- HM Ochs-Balcom, H Shaw, L Preus, JR Palmer, SA Haddad, L Rosenberg, EA Ruiz-Narvaez. Replication, fine mapping, and admixture mapping for birth weight loci in the Black Women’s Health Study. Human Genetics 2018;137(6-7):535-542. PMCID: PMC6330255.
- HM Ochs-Balcom, L Preus, J Nie, J Wactawski-Wende, L Agyemang, M Neuhouser, L Tinker, C Zheng, R Kazlauskaite, L Qi, LE Sucheston-Campbell. Physical activity modifies genetic susceptibility to obesity in postmenopausal women. Menopause 2018; 25(10):1131-1137. PMCID: PMC6136965.
- Y Wang, J Wactawski-Wende, L Sucheston-Campbell, L Preus, KM Hovey, J Nie, RD Jackson, SK Handelman, R Nassir, CJ Crandall, HM Ochs-Balcom. Gene-hormone therapy interaction and fracture risk in postmenopausal women. J Clin Endocrin Metab 2017; 102(6):1908-16. PMCID: PMC5470770.
- HM Ochs-Balcom, X Sun, Y Chen, J Barnholtz-Sloan, DO Erwin, L Jandorf, L Sucheston-Campbell, RC Elston. Putative linkage signals identified for breast cancer in African American families. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2015; 24(2):442-7. PMCID: PMC4323921.
- HM Ochs-Balcom, L Jandorf, Y Wang, D Johnson, V Meadows Ray, MJ Willis, DO Erwin. “It takes a village”: multilevel approaches to recruit African Americans and their families for genetic research. J Community Genet 2015; 6(1): 39-45. PMCID: PMC4286558.