Our Faculty

Briseis Aschebrook-Kilfoy, PhD

Associate Professor of Population and Precision Health, Department of Public Health Sciences

Steering Committee, The Institute for Population and Precision Health (IPPH)

Director, The Epidemiology Research and Recruitment Core, UCCCC

Co-Director, The Integrated Health Sciences Facility Core, CACHET

Co-Director, The Community Engagement Core, CACHET

The University of Chicago





The major focus of Dr. Aschebrook-Kilfoy's research is to elucidate the role of environmental, lifestyle, and genetic factors in the development of cancer and chronic disease. She received training in environmental, chronic disease, and cancer epidemiology, with specific training and expertise in key research areas to study the impact of the urban exposome on population and precision health. As a postdoctoral fellow at the National Cancer Institute in the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, She led multiple projects addressing environmental exposures, genetic risk, and chronic disease. A major focus of her work was evaluating nitrate (from dietary and water sources), pesticides, and other persistent organic pollutant exposure on cancer risk. Dr. Aschebrook-Kilfoy has extensive training and experience conducting environmental exposure assessments using both traditional and molecular approaches. As an Associate Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Chicago, she has been developing epidemiologic resources and cohorts to study the impact of the environment on human health in Chicago and beyond as the Director of the Epidemiology Research and Recruitment Core and as a Co-Investigator on key Institute for Population and Precision Health (IPPH) projects including the Chicago Multiethnic Prevention and Surveillance Study, the All of Us Research Program and the NCI Connect Study. She is PI of the largest thyroid cancer survivorship study to date- The North American Thyroid Cancer Survivorship Study. As a Co-investigator in the Chicago Center for Health and the Environment (CACHET) and Co-Director of the CACHET Integrated Health Sciences Facility Core (a NIEHS P30 center core), Dr. Aschebrook-Kilfoy has been doing extensive work on the integration of novel air pollution monitoring technologies into large population health studies from the South Side of Chicago to Bangladesh. She is also the contact mPI of a NIEHS funded R25 training program to promote EHS studies and careers by engaging underrepresented undergraduates in Chicago in EHS research (Up on EHS).

The National Cancer Institute
Bethesda, MD
Post Doctoral Felllow - Environmental Epidemiology
2011

Yale University
New Haven, CT
PHD - Chronic Disease Epidemiology
2009

Yale University
New Haven, CT
MPhil - Environmental Health Sciences
2008

Yale University
New Haven, CT
MPH - Social and Behavioral Sciences (Epi)
2006

The University of Chicago
Chicago, IL
BA - Biology and The History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Science and Medicine (HiPSS)
2001

Household air pollution disparities between socioeconomic groups in Chicago.
Household air pollution disparities between socioeconomic groups in Chicago. Environ Res Commun. 2024 Sep 01; 6(9):091002.
PMID: 39238838

Differing associations of PM2.5 exposure with systolic and diastolic blood pressures across exposure durations in a predominantly non-Hispanic Black cohort.
Differing associations of PM2.5 exposure with systolic and diastolic blood pressures across exposure durations in a predominantly non-Hispanic Black cohort. Sci Rep. 2024 08 31; 14(1):20256.
PMID: 39217205

Contextual Deprivation, Race and Ethnicity, and Income in Air Pollution and Cardiovascular Disease.
Contextual Deprivation, Race and Ethnicity, and Income in Air Pollution and Cardiovascular Disease. JAMA Netw Open. 2024 Aug 01; 7(8):e2429137.
PMID: 39158908

Assessment of unmeasured confounding in the association between perceived discrimination and mental health in a predominantly African American cohort using g-estimation.
Assessment of unmeasured confounding in the association between perceived discrimination and mental health in a predominantly African American cohort using g-estimation. Int J Epidemiol. 2024 Jun 12; 53(4).
PMID: 38961645

Long-term exposure to ambient air pollution and measures of central hemodynamics and arterial stiffness among multiethnic Chicago residents.
Long-term exposure to ambient air pollution and measures of central hemodynamics and arterial stiffness among multiethnic Chicago residents. Environ Health. 2024 May 07; 23(1):47.
PMID: 38715087

Uterine Fibroid Prevalence in a Predominantly Black, Chicago-Based Cohort.
Uterine Fibroid Prevalence in a Predominantly Black, Chicago-Based Cohort. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2024 Feb 14; 21(2).
PMID: 38397711

Air quality and cancer risk in the All of Us Research Program.
Air quality and cancer risk in the All of Us Research Program. Cancer Causes Control. 2024 May; 35(5):749-760.
PMID: 38145439

The Role of Health Insurance Type and Clinic Visit on Hypertension Status Among Multiethnic Chicago Residents.
The Role of Health Insurance Type and Clinic Visit on Hypertension Status Among Multiethnic Chicago Residents. Am J Health Promot. 2024 03; 38(3):306-315.
PMID: 37879000

Duration-sensitive association between air pollution exposure and changes in cardiometabolic biomarkers: Evidence from a predominantly African American cohort.
Duration-sensitive association between air pollution exposure and changes in cardiometabolic biomarkers: Evidence from a predominantly African American cohort. Environ Res. 2024 Jan 01; 240(Pt 2):117496.
PMID: 37884074

Evaluating the impact of sickle cell disease on COVID-19 susceptibility and severity: a retrospective cohort study based on electronic health record.
Evaluating the impact of sickle cell disease on COVID-19 susceptibility and severity: a retrospective cohort study based on electronic health record. Front Epidemiol. 2023; 3:1241645.
PMID: 38455889

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