Michelle Hildebrandt
Assistant Professor
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Department of Epidemiology
My research program is focused on identifying genetic and phenotypic factors that are associated with outcomes following cancer diagnosis, including quality of life, response to therapy, toxicities, survival, and late-effects. I direct three parallel epidemiology recruitment studies in childhood and AYA cancers to enable a genetic and molecular approach to understand risk, outcomes, and late-effects in 1) childhood cancer patients, 2) long-term childhood cancer survivors, and 3) Hodgkin lymphoma survivors. The research efforts in childhood and AYA long-term survivors have currently focused on the predictors and mechanisms for the development of anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity and cardiovascular dysfunction and are supported by a CPRIT IIRA-CCA grant and MD Anderson Cancer Survivorship Research Seed funding. These studies bridge epidemiology and clinical research in a growing cohort of survivors to basic/laboratory-based studies of cellular changes in induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes following exposure to anthracyclines. In addition to survivorship research, I am a multiple PI of a R01 grant that is conducting next generation sequencing to identify novel ovarian cancer susceptibility genes in women who are BRCA1/2 negative. This effort includes extensive collaboration across five institutions and more broadly within the international Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC). This grant is an extension of ongoing efforts in ovarian cancer that strives to clarify the genetic mediators of risk and clinical outcomes in this population. I lead a testicular cancer case-control study within the international Testicular Cancer Consortium (TECAC) that supports efforts to identify common variants that confer risk to testicular cancer with studies also focusing on differences by race/ethnicity and pharmacogenetic endpoints. I also collaborate within the InterLymph Consortium and the Multiple Myeloma Working Group on myeloma and NHL molecular epidemiology studies of cancer susceptibility and outcomes – also with an emphasis on disparities, particularly in myeloma.
Education & Training
Ph.D. - Mayo Clinic College of Medicine - 2007