Dr. Ward is a senior investigator in the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch within the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics at the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Ward’s research focuses on environmental and occupational causes of cancer, with special emphasis on drinking water contaminants, pesticides, and other chemicals in relation to the etiology of childhood leukemia, gastrointestinal cancers, and thyroid cancer. She is examining nitrate in drinking water and the diet with respect to cancers of the bladder, colon, stomach, esophagus, ovary, and thyroid. Dr. Ward is responsible for developmental work using geographic information systems for exposure assessment of environmental contaminants.