Shuk-mei Ho, PhD is internationally recognized for her expertise in the role of hormones and endocrine disruptors on disease development including tumorigenesis in the prostate, ovary, endometrium and breast. She has also made significant contributions to the impact of heavy metals, oxidative stress and inflammation to carcinogenesis; discovery of biomarkers for cancer detection and patient classification, and mechanism-based drug development. Her research is pivotally anchored on modern investigative tools for genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, epigenomics, and informatics research that focus on improving predictive, preventive medicine.
Dr. Ho’s current research extends to developmental bases of disease susceptibility by applying epigenetics to epidemiological studies, addressing two of the important challenges of research in environmental exposure and human health - multiple exposures at various developmental stages and the trans-generational effects of exposure. Her recent findings on EDC exposure, including Bisphenol A, raise concerns on in utero exposure to EDC in food and drinking water. She also has preliminary data implicating epigenetic dysregulation of transcriptional regulation as the bases of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)-associated disorders such as asthma and cancer.
Past president of the Society for Basic Urological Research, Dr. Ho is an active participant in the American Urologic Society, the Endocrine Society, the Society for Basic Urologic Research, Prostate Cancer Research Program, the Society of Toxicology, and the American Association for Cancer Research. She regularly chairs scientific review and policy committees for the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense. She is a member of the Integration Panel of the Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Prostate Cancer Research Program, and is on the Emerging Science Committee of the National Academy of Science. Dr. Ho was honored in 2007 by the Senate of the 127th General Assembly of Ohio, and has received the Women in Urology Award from the SBUR and the Society of Women in Urology, primarily on her discovery of the adverse effects of early exposure to bisphenol A on prostate cancer risk. Dr. Ho also participated in a national review of key scientific literature linking environmental factors to female reproductive disorders. Collectively, her work has contributed to the recently passed “Toxic Toy Bill” in California and the re-examination of the risk of bisphenol A by the National Toxicology Program.
Dr. Ho has published over 178 papers in prestigious, peer-reviewed journals. She also serves as the Director of the NIEHS funded Center for Environmental Genetics, and the Director of the Genomic Microarray Laboratory. |
