Andrea Lacroix

Andrea LaCroix, PhD, is the Distinguished Professor of Epidemiology and Chief of the Division of Epidemiology in the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of California, San Diego Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science. Her research specializes in the health of postmenopausal and older women, investigating behavioral, pharmaceutical, biomarker, and genetic factors contributing to chronic diseases including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and fractures. She earned a BSN in Nursing from Georgetown University in 1979, an MPH in Public Health Nursing from the University of North Carolina in 1981, and a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1984, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in cardiovascular disease at The Johns Hopkins University. Dr. LaCroix's career encompasses faculty membership at the University of Washington from 1989 to 2013 and Senior Scientific Investigator at the Group Health Research Institute during the same period. Previously, at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, she led activities for the Women's Health Initiative Clinical Coordinating Center for over 17 years.

Since joining UCSD around 2013, she has directed the Women's Health Center of Excellence, launched in December 2013, and led major initiatives such as the Data Coordinating Center for the Menopause Strategies: Finding Lasting Answers for Symptoms and Health (MsFLASH) network, which conducted clinical trials testing interventions for menopause symptoms, and the Objective Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health (OPACH) study. As a clinical trialist, she served as Seattle Principal Investigator for the Fracture Intervention Trial and the PEARL Trial. Dr. LaCroix is the author of approximately 300 publications, including "Muscular Strength and Mortality in Women Aged 63 to 99 Years" (JAMA Network Open, 2026), "Menopausal Hormone Therapy and Cardiovascular Diseases in Women With Vasomotor Symptoms" (JAMA Internal Medicine, 2025), "Epigenetic Clocks of Biological Aging and Risk of Incident Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia" (Aging Cell, 2026), and numerous contributions from the Women's Health Initiative studies. She received the McDougall Mentoring Award in 2010 for postdoctoral fellow development and has served on the National Advisory Council on Aging, the Clinical Trials Advisory Panel, and chaired the BCA-B Study Section for the National Institute on Aging. Her work has advanced epidemiologic studies, health services, and preventive interventions enhancing public health for women across the lifespan.