简介

Ronit Yarden, Ph.D., joined the department of Human Science at the School of Nursing and Health Studies as assistant professor in July 2009. Her research focuses on the role of the breast and ovarian tumor suppressor, BRCA1, in DNA damage signaling and maintenance of genomic stability to study fundamental biological processes and identify means for prevention as well as improved treatment options for breast cancer. Dr. Yarden is also a full member of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University. Dr. Yarden teaches Genetics in Health and Disease (4 credits) and Genome Instability and Human Disease (3 credits). Dr. Yarden earned her BSc in Biology and MSc in Immunology from the Tel Aviv University, Israel. Dr. Yarden earned her Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from Georgetown University where she studied the regulation of nuclear hormone receptors by growth factors and growth factor receptors. Her postdoctoral work focused on understanding the biology of the BRCA1 gene and she was the first to report that BRCA1 interacts with chromatin modifying enzymes and that BRCA1 is an integral component of the DNA damage response signaling at National Human Genome Research Institute, at NIH. Dr. Yarden relocated to Israel to establish her own lab at the Sheba Medical Center affiliated with Tel-Aviv University. While at Sheba Medical Center, her research focused on genetic factors that modify the risk of breast and ovarian cancer for BRCA1 and BRCA2 patients. While there, she taught histology of the female reproductive system to medical students and molecular characteristics of cancer to graduate student.