August 27, 2019

Dr. Melissa Bondy, Associate Director of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences and Section Chair of Epidemiology and Population Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine, has been named Stanford Medicine’s inaugural Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health and the Associate Director for Population Sciences at the Stanford Cancer Institute (SCI).

A renowned cancer epidemiologist, Dr. Bondy’s career embodies Stanford Medicine’s Precision Health vision and commitment to advancing personalized, proactive, and comprehensive care. She serves on the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Board of Scientific Advisors, where she provides direct counsel to the Director of the NCI, and is a member of the External Advisory Board for several NCI-designated cancer centers. Her more than 340 published peer-reviewed articles have contributed to a greater understanding of heredity and genetic susceptibility in the origination of brain and breast cancer and the identification of risk factors associated with disease patterns. Dr. Bondy leads the largest multi-national family study of glioma patients as well as an ongoing study of molecular predictors of survival after treatment for breast cancer. In 2018, she received the Visiting Scholar Award from the NCI Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics. 

Dr. Bondy has held academic leadership roles since 2001 when she began her tenure as the Director of the Center of Childhood Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention Center, a collaborative program among MD Anderson Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, and Texas Children's Hospital. Since 2011, Dr. Bondy has served in her current leadership role at Baylor College of Medicine's Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center where she has strengthened collaborations, built innovative programs, and helped accelerate research. Dr. Bondy’s efforts contributed to the NCI designating the Duncan Cancer Center a Comprehensive Cancer Center in 2015.

With Dr. Bondy’s oversight, the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health will enhance Stanford Medicine’s multidisciplinary efforts to improve the health of individuals and populations through the study of the distribution, determinants, and control of illness and impairment. As Associate Director for Population Sciences at the SCI, Dr. Bondy will lead the Population Sciences Program’s research that is designed to reduce the burden of cancer and improve outcomes for patients with cancer. She will support the vision for an expanded cancer population science effort by recruiting new faculty and catalyzing team science.