Olufunmilayo I Olopade

Biography

Olufunmilayo I. Olopade, MD, FACP, is the Walter L. Palmer Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine and Human Genetics and the Director, Center for Clinical Cancer Genetics and Global Health at the University of Chicago. She is an expert in cancer risk assessment and individualized treatment for the most aggressive forms of breast cancer, having developed novel management strategies based on an understanding of the altered genes in individual patients. She stresses comprehensive risk reducing strategies and prevention in high-risk populations, as well as earlier detection through advanced imaging technologies.

Dr. Olopade is internationally renowned for her expertise in breast cancer, and her research has advanced early detection, treatment and prevention of breast cancer in high risk women. A distinguished scholar and mentor, Olopade has received numerous honors and awards including honorary degrees from six universities and a 2005 MacArthur Fellowship (“Genius grant”) for “translating findings on the molecular genetics of breast cancer in African and African-American women into innovative clinical practices in the United States and abroad.” She serves as a director on several Civic and Corporate Boards.

Dr. Olopade has received numerous honors and awards, including honorary degrees from North Central, Dominican, Bowdoin and Princeton universities. She is also a recipient of the Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Scientist and Exceptional Mentor Award, an American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professorship, a MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Fellowship and Officer of the Order of the Niger Award, and the Giants of Cancer Care Award. Dr. Olopade is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. She serves as director on several Civic and Corporate Boards.  In 2021, Dr. Olopade was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Election to the National Academy of Sciences is considered one of the highest scientific honors. Each year, members are nominated and elected for their distinguished and continuing accomplishments in original research, by current Academy members. Dr. Olopade is one of the 120 members, including 59 women, elected in 2021.

Academic Areas

• Strategy and Leadership