Heather Eliassen

Heather Eliassen is Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH), Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS), and Associate Epidemiologist in the Channing Division of Network Medicine (CDNM) at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH). She serves as co-PI of the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) cohorts, Director of the BWH/Harvard Cohorts Biorepository, and Associate Director of CDNM.

• Education: ScD in Epidemiology (2004), ScM in Epidemiology (2001) from HSPH, AB in History (1995) from Dartmouth

Her research connects lifestyle factors, biomarkers, and hormones to breast cancer risk/survival. Key contributions include demonstrating how postmenopausal weight loss and carotenoid levels reduce breast cancer risk, and uncovering hormonal mechanisms like anti-Müllerian hormone's role in premenopausal cancer risk. Her metabolomics work identified ten premenopausal risk-associated metabolites.

Recent publications focus on dietary patterns (plant-based vs. pro-inflammatory), oxidative stress, and metabolomic signatures of diabetes/aging. She secured NIH R01, P01, and Komen grants, and served on NCI Cohort Consortium steering committee (Chair 2022).

• Leadership: Co-PI of NHS cohorts, Biorepository Director
• Teaching: Primary instructor for EPI246, co-instructor for EPI205
• Mentoring: Guided 9 master’s, 4 doctoral, 3 visiting, and 10 postdoctoral students