Melissa Bondy appointed chair of Epidemiology and Population Health Department

Melissa Bondy, PhD, has been appointed chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, formerly known as the Department of Health Research and Policy.

The appointment takes effect Oct. 1.

Bondy, who comes to Stanford from Baylor College of Medicine, also will serve in the newly created role of associate director for population sciences at the Stanford Cancer Institute. In that role, she will spearhead the research enterprise of the institute’s population sciences program, which is designed to reduce the burden of cancer and improve outcomes for patients with cancer.

“Dr. Bondy is a renowned cancer epidemiologist whose leadership will elevate 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,” said Lloyd Minor, MD, dean of the School of Medicine. “We’re thrilled that she has joined our faculty. Her career has exemplified the core tenets of precision health.” 

Bondy earned a PhD in epidemiology at the University of Texas School of Public Health.  Before coming to Stanford, she spent nearly two decades at Baylor College of Medicine.In 2001, she became director of the Childhood Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention Center, a joint center of Baylor College of Medicine, MD Anderson Cancer Center and Texas Children’s Hospital. Ten years later, she took on a new role as the associate director of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciencesat Baylor College of Medicine’s Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center, where she focused much of her research on understanding heredity patterns and genetic susceptibilities in brain and breast cancer. 

“I’m excited to continue my work at Stanford, and to further develop and expand this new department,” Bondy said. “Part of that will be building an outstanding educational program and increasing the number of doctoral and postdoctoral students that we bring in.”

Bondy serves on the National Cancer Institute’s board of scientific advisers and is a member of the external advisory board for several NCI-designated cancer centers. Last year, she received the visiting scholar award from the NCI Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics. 

“My goal will be to try to find ways to genuinely influence and improve the way we evaluate and inform health at a population level,” Bondy said. “To do that, we will harness integrative epidemiology, with a focus on genomics and digital approaches to monitor population health. I also look forward to collaborating not only with those in the department, but with researchers from across the School of Medicine and around the campus.”