Dr. Heather M. O'Hagan

Heather M. O’Hagan earned a B.S. in Biology from the College of William and Mary and a Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Michigan. Her doctoral research under the mentorship of Dr. Mats Ljungman focused on mechanisms of activation of the tumor suppressor p53 after DNA damage and the inhibition of transcription. She completed her postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Dr. Stephen Baylin at the Johns Hopkins University where she researched DNA damage-induced epigenetic alterations and how the epigenetic silencing of key genes contributes to carcinogenesis. In 2013, she joined the Indiana University School of Medicine as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics and the Medical Sciences Program. In 2021, she was promoted to Associate Professor and gained tenure in 2022. She is also a member of the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center and the American Association for Cancer Research. The long-term goal of her group is to understand how epigenetic factors contribute to cancer initiation and progression.