Program Co-Leader, Prevention & Etiology Research Program
Associate Professor, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health

lazov001@umn.edu
612-626-9099 — office

Dr. Lazovich is an associate professor in the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, in the School of Public Health. She completed her doctorate in epidemiology at the University of Washington in 1994 and has been on the faculty at the University of Minnesota since 1996. Dr. Lazovich is program co-leader for the Masonic Cancer Center's Prevention and Etiology Program, and serves as chair of the Minnesota Cancer Alliance, a statewide comprehensive cancer control effort to decrease cancer in Minnesota.

Research Interests

As a cancer epidemiologist, Dr. Lazovich has directed or collaborated on numerous etiologic and cancer control projects, utilizing a variety of epidemiologic study designs. She has conducted intervention studies to change diet, reduce work place carcinogens, and decrease smoking among adolescents. She has also examined efficacy of cancer screening, and patterns of care and quality of life for cancer patients. Currently, Dr. Lazovich is principal investigator of an NCI-funded, 5-year case control study (5R01CA106807-04) to examine indoor tanning, DNA repair genes and their interaction in relation to development of melanoma. She also has NCI funding to develop interventions to reduce indoor tanning use. She is a co-investigator for the Iowa Women's Health Study, a large cohort study of cancer with over twenty years of follow-up, and for the Minnesota Adolescent Community Cohort, a prospective study of the uptake of smoking over time among adolescents.

Selected Publications

Lazovich D, Stryker J, Mayer J, Hillhouse J, Dennis L, Pichon L, Pagoto S, Heckman C, Olson A, Cokkinides V, Thompson K. Measuring non-solar tanning behavior: indoor and sunless tanning. Arch Dermatol. 2008 Feb;144(2):225-30.

Robien K, Cutler GJ, Lazovich D. Vitamin D intake and breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women: the Iowa Women’s Health Study. Cancer Causes and Control. 2007;18(7):775-782.

Lazovich D, Forster J, Widome R, VanCoevering P. Tobacco possession, use and purchase laws and penalties in Minnesota: enforcement, tobacco diversion programs, and youth awareness. Nicotine & Tobacco Research. 2007;9(suppl 1);S57-S64.

Forster J, Lazovich D, Hickle A, Sorensen G, Demierre MF. Compliance with restrictions on sale of indoor tanning sessions to youth in Minnesota and Massachusetts. J Amer Acad Dermatol. 2006;55:962-7.

Sweeney C, Schmitz KH, Lazovich D, Virnig BA, Wallace RB, and Folsom AR. Functional limitations in elderly female cancer survivors. J Natl Ca Inst. 2006; 98:521-529.

Zeller S. Lazovich D, Forster J, Widome R. Do adolescent tanners exhibit dependency? J Amer Acad Dermatol. 2006;54(4):589-96.

Lazovich D, Sweeney C, Forster J. Prevalence of indoor tanning use in Minnesota, 2002. Arch Dermatol. 2005 Apr; 141(4):523-4.

Hickle A, Forster J, Lazovich D, Allwood P, Remba N, Grossmeier J, Sorensen G. Sanitarians' work with indoor-tanning businesses: findings from interviews in two major metropolitan areas. J Environ Health. 2005 Apr; 67(8):30-6, 54.

Limburg PJ, Anderson KE, Johnson TW, Jacobs DR Jr, Lazovich D, Hong CP, Nicodemus KK, Folsom AR. Diabetes mellitus and subsite-specific colorectal cancer risks in the Iowa Women's Health Study. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2005 Jan; 14(1):133-7.

Lazovich D, Forster J. Indoor tanning by adolescents: prevalence, practices and policies. Eur J Cancer. 2005 Jan; 41(1):20-7.

Stryker JE, Lazovich D, Forster JL, Emmons KM, Sorensen G, Demierre MF. Maternal/female caregiver influences on adolescent indoor tanning. J Adolesc Health. 2004 Dec;35(6):528.e1-9.