Faculty Profile
Jo L. Freudenheim
PhD
Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs
SUNY Distinguished Professor
Research Topics/Projects
Cancer epidemiology, using epidemiologic tools to understand carcinogenesis at the population, individual, tissue and molecular levels to better prevent and control the disease risk and progression. Much of my work includes a focus on nutrition and alcohol. Recent projects include examination of factors associated with mortality after a breast cancer diagnosis, breast cancer epidemiology in Puerto Rico, and examination of reduction of alcohol consumption in relation to cancer risk and mortality. In addition, I am working on a project regarding caregiving and caretaking among those with disability.
Summary
Jo Freudenheim, PhD, is a SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health. She received a doctorate degree in nutritional sciences and a master's degree in preventive medicine from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She subsequently came to UB for postdoctoral training in cancer epidemiology and then was appointed to the faculty in the Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health. Freudenheim is also adjunct professor of oncology at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and affiliated scientist at the Research Institute on Addictions. Her research focuses on breast cancer epidemiology and prognosis including an examination of breast tumor characteristics, of factors related to disparities in breast cancer among Puerto Rican women (the Atabey study), the role of exposures including nutrition and alcohol during the life course and breast cancer risk (the WEB study), the role of the microbiome in cancer risk and examination of reduction of alcohol consumption in relation to cancer risk and mortality.
Education
- PhD, nutritional sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1986
- MS, preventive medicine (epidemiology), University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1986
- MS, nutritional sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1984
- RD, Lutheran General Hospital, Park Ridge, Illinois, 1977
- BS, human nutrition, magna cum laude, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, 1975
Professional Training
- Postdoctoral fellow, Cancer Epidemiology, Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, State University of New York at Buffalo, 1987-1988
- Intern, clinical nutrition, Lutheran General Hospital, Park Ridge, Illinois, 1976-1977
Professional Affiliations
- American Association for Cancer Research (Women in Cancer Research, Population Sciences Working Group)
- American College of Epidemiology (fellow)
- American Epidemiological Society
- American Society for Nutrition (fellow)
- Society for Epidemiologic Research
- Editorial Board, Current Epidemiology Reports
Honors, Awards, Other Significant Contributions
- National Academies, Science, Engineering and Medicine, Committee on Review of Evidence on Alcohol and Health, 2024-25
- Overall chair, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), WHO, IARC Handbooks of Cancer Prevention Volume 20a: Reduction of Alcohol consumption, 2022-2023. Fellow, American Society for Nutrition, 2023
- Abraham Lilienfeld Award, American Public Health Association Epidemiology Section, for excellence in teaching epidemiology during the course of a career, 2020
- Distinguished postdoc mentor award, University at Buffalo, 2009
- Lydia Jane Roberts Memorial Lecturer, University of Puerto Rico Faculty of Education, 2007
- SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Research and Scholarship, 2005
- Fellow, American College of Epidemiology, 1997