Associate Director of Population Sciences
Research Programs: Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention, Prevention & Etiology
Professor, Department of Pediatrics

ross@epi.umn.edu
612-626-2902, office

Dr. Ross received a Ph.D. in epidemiology from the University of Minnesota in 1994 and joined the faculty of the Division of Pediatric Epidemiology and Clinical Research, University of Minnesota, in 1995. She is currently professor and director of the Division of Pediatric Epidemiology & Clinical Research. She is also associate director for Population Sciences in the University of Minnesota Cancer Center. She holds an adjunct appointment in the Division of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health and is a full member of the graduate faculty. In addition to her training in epidemiology, she has considerable laboratory experience in molecular biology. She has over 100 scientific publications. She is the principal investigator of two NCI grants investigating the causes of leukemia in children and adults. She also directs a laboratory that is investigating genetic and environmental mechanisms in cancer. Dr. Ross is currently chair of the Epidemiology Committee in the Children's Oncology Group (C.O.G.), a consortium of hospitals and institutions in North America that treat approximately 90% of all children diagnosed with cancer. As chair, Dr. Ross is overseeing the direction of epidemiological research of childhood cancer in C.O.G. She is the principal investigator of the Childhood Cancer Research Network within C.O.G., which will be launched in 2007. The CCRN will serve as a childhood cancer registry in C.O.G. and will enroll children and their parents in order to facilitate studies in the causes and consequences of childhood cancer.

Research Interests

Integrating molecular biology with epidemiologic studies of cancer; current areas of research include: etiology of infant leukemia, the role of growth factors in cancer biology, and regulation of gene expression by environmental agents.

Selected Publications

Linabery AM, Olshan AF, Gamis AS, Smith FO, Heerema NA, Blair CK, Ross JA. Exposure to medical test irradiation and acute leukemia among children with Down syndrome: a report from the Children’s Oncology Group. Pediatrics 2006; 118:e1499-1508.

Peters AM, Blair CK, Verneris MR, Neglia JP, Robison LL, Spector LG, Reaman GH, Felix CA, Ross JA. Maternal hemoglobin concentration during pregnancy and risk of infant leukemia: a Children’s Oncology Group study. Br J Cancer 2006; 95:1274-6.

Spector LG, Davies SM, Robison LL, Hilden JM, Roesler M, Ross JA. Birth characteristics, maternal reproductive history, and the risk of infant leukemia: a report from the Children’s Oncology Group. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2007; 16:128-34.

Johnson KJ, Spector LG, Klebanoff MA, Ross JA. Childhood cancer and birthmarks in the collaborative perinatal project. Pediatrics. 2007 May;119(5):e1088-93.

Ross JA. Environmental and genetic susceptibility to MLL-defined infant leukemia. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. In press.

Bunin GR, Spector LG, Olshan AF, Robison LL, Roesler MR, Grufferman S, Shu XO, Ross JA. Secular trends in response rates for controls selected by random digit dialing in childhood cancer studies: A report from the Children’s Oncology Group. Am J Epidemiol. 2007 Jul 1;166(1):109-16. Epub 2007 Apr 23.

Spector LG, Hecht SS, Ognjanovic S, Carmella SG, Ross JA. Detection of cotinine in newborn dried blood spots. Cancer Epi Biom Prev.