Marcia L. Stefanick, PhD, Professor, Department of Medicine and Obstetrics & Gynecology, Stanford University

Research Description: Dr. Stefanick’s research focuses on chronic disease prevention (particularly heart disease, breast cancer, osteoporosis, and dementia) in both women and men. She is currently the Principal Investigator the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) Extension Study, which follows health outcomes in an original cohort of nearly 162,000 women aged 50-79 years at baseline (1993-1998) participating in the WHI Clinical Trials and Observational Study. As PI of the Stanford WHI Clinical Center, she recruited 4500 women, 1350 of whom participated in the WHI (Low-Fat) Diet Modification trial, the largest diet intervention trial ever conducted in older women, and was Chair of the WHI Steering and Executive Committees from 1998-2011. She is also currently PI of the WHI Strong and Healthy (WHISH) Trial which randomly assigned 49,331 WHI participants to a DHHS-based Physical Activity (PA) intervention in 2015 or “usual activity” Comparison to test the hypothesis that PA can reduce major cardiovascular events. Dr. Stefanick is also PI of the Osteoporotic Study of Men (MrOS) which has continued to study bone and body composition changes in an original cohort of nearly 6000 men aged 65 and over in 2001. As founding Director of the Stanford Women’s Health and Sex Diversity in Medicine (WHSDM, “wisdom”) Center, she plays a major role in promoting research and teaching on Sex and Gender in Human Physiology and Disease, Women’s Health and Queer Health and Medicine. Dr. Stefanick also plays major leadership roles at the Stanford School of Medicine, including as co-leader of the Population Sciences Program of the Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford’s NCI-funded comprehensive cancer center. Dr. Stefanick collaborates extensively with many members of the NORC.