- Walter L. Palmer Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine and Human Genetics
Director, Center for Clinical Cancer Genetics
Director, Susan and Richard Kiphart Center for Global Health and Social Development
The University of Chicago
Olufunmilayo I. Olopade, MD, FACP, is an expert in cancer risk assessment and individualized treatment for the most aggressive forms of breast cancer, having developed novel management strategies based on an understanding of the altered genes in individual patients. She stresses comprehensive risk reducing strategies and prevention in high-risk populations, as well as earlier detection through advanced imaging technologies. Olopade is internationally renowned for her expertise in breast cancer, and her research has advanced early detection, treatment, and prevention of breast cancer in high risk women.
A distinguished scholar and mentor, Olopade has received numerous honors and awards, including honorary degrees from six universities and a 2005 MacArthur Foundation Genius Fellowship for “translating findings on the molecular genetics of breast cancer in African and African-American women into innovative clinical practices in the United States and abroad.” Most recently, she was honored as a Giant in Cancer Care for Prevention/Genetics by Onc Live and is a 2021 inductee to the National Academy of Sciences. She is also a recipient of the Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Scientist and Exceptional Mentor Award, an American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professorship, and Officer of the Order of the Niger Award. Olopade is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. She currently serves on the board of directors for the MacArthur Foundation, Cancer IQ, and the Lyric Opera.
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