Professor of Population and Precision Health, Department of Public Health Sciences
Steering Committee, The Institute for Population and Precision Health (IPPH)
Director, Research, Family Medicine
Co-Director, The Translational Research Core, CACHET
Co-Director, The Community Engagement Core, CACHET
The University of Chicago
Dr. Brisa Aschebrook-Kilfoy is a Professor in the Departments of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences at the University of Chicago and a nationally recognized epidemiologist whose research focuses on understanding how environmental, lifestyle, genetic, and molecular factors contribute to cancer and chronic disease risk. Her work integrates environmental exposure science, molecular epidemiology, and population-based research to advance precision approaches to disease prevention and improve population health.
A major focus of Dr. Aschebrook-Kilfoy's research is the development and application of large-scale epidemiologic cohorts and research infrastructure to investigate the complex relationships between environmental exposures, biological pathways, and chronic disease outcomes. She serves as Scientific Director and Principal Investigator of the Chicago Multiethnic Prevention and Surveillance Study (COMPASS), a large, deeply characterized cohort integrating extensive environmental, genomic, metabolomic, microbiome, and cardiometabolic data with electronic health records and longitudinal health outcomes. She also holds a leadership role in the NIH All of Us Research Program at the University of Chicago, contributing to the development of one of the nation's largest and most diverse precision medicine research resources. In addition, she leads research initiatives within the NHLBI-funded Multi-Ethnic Observational Study in American Asian and Pacific Islander Communities (MOSAAIC) and collaborates on several major national population health and cancer prevention studies.
Dr. Aschebrook-Kilfoy's research increasingly focuses on integrating high-resolution environmental exposure assessments with molecular biomarkers and clinical outcomes to identify novel mechanisms of disease and opportunities for prevention. Her investigations span air pollution, environmental metals, drinking water contaminants, and other environmental exposures, with particular emphasis on cancer and cardiovascular disease. An emerging area of her research examines lithium exposure across environmental and therapeutic settings, including its potential protective effects against cancer and other chronic diseases. This work combines environmental exposure modeling, epidemiologic analyses of medication use, and molecular biomarker studies to investigate biological mechanisms and potential preventive applications.
As Research Director for the Department of Family Medicine, Dr. Aschebrook-Kilfoy works to expand clinical and translational research opportunities across primary care settings, linking community-based populations, clinical data, biospecimens, and environmental information to address important questions in population health. She also serves in a leadership role in the Translational Research Core of the NIH-funded Chicago Center for Health and Environment (CACHET), supporting the integration of innovative environmental exposure assessment methods into human health research.
Dr. Aschebrook-Kilfoy received advanced training in cancer, environmental, and chronic disease epidemiology, including postdoctoral training in the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch of the National Cancer Institute. Her earlier research examined environmental and occupational risk factors for cancer, including nitrate, pesticides, and persistent organic pollutants, and included leadership of the North American Thyroid Cancer Survivorship Study. She has continued to advance interdisciplinary research at the intersection of environmental health, cancer epidemiology, and precision medicine. She is also committed to developing the next generation of scientists through research mentorship, interdisciplinary training, and leadership in environmental health sciences education via her R25. She serves as a standing member of an NIH study section focused on environmental determinants of disease.