Funmi Olopade, M.D.

Dr. Olopade is the Walter L. Palmer Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine and Human Genetics, Dean for Global Health, and director of the Center for Clinical Cancer Genetics at The University of Chicago. She is an internationally renowned expert in cancer risk assessment and management of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer. 

Using innovative high-throughput genomic technologies and bioinformatics, Dr. Olopade’s laboratory research is focused on molecular mechanisms of cancer through studies of genetic and non-genetic factors contributing to tumor progression in at-risk individuals and diverse populations. The overall goal of her research is to accelerate progress in global cancer research, and thereby improve health outcomes by developing novel management strategies based on an understanding of the altered genetic pathways in cancer cells. 

Dr. Olopade is an elected member of several honor societies, including the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. She has received numerous honors and awards, including honorary degrees from Bowdoin University and Princeton University, a MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Fellowship, the Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Scientist and Exceptional Mentor Award, an American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professorship, Officer of the Order of the Niger Award, Franklin D. Roosevelt Freedom from Want Award, and the Mendel Metal Award. 

She has served on the board of directors for the National Cancer Advisory Board and the American Board of Internal Medicine. Currently she serves on the board of directors for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the MacArthur Foundation. 

Dr. Olopade earned her medical degree at the University of Ibadan College of Medicine in Nigeria. She trained in internal medicine at Cook County Hospital in Chicago and in oncology, hematology and cancer genetics at the Joint Section of Hematology and Oncology at the University of Chicago.