Heather Hampel completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Molecular Genetics at the Ohio State University in 1993. She attained her
Master’s degree in Human Genetics from Sarah Lawrence College in 1995.
She received certification from the American Board of Genetic Counseling in 1996.
She worked as a cancer genetic counselor at Memorial Sloan- Kettering Cancer Center before moving to The
Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center (OSUCCC) in 1997.
Currently, Heather is a Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and Associate Director of
the Division of Human Genetics. She is also the Associate Director of Biospecimen Research for the OSUCCC.
She was the study coordinator for the Columbus-area Lynch syndrome study which determined the frequency
of Lynch syndrome among newly diagnosed patients with these cancers.
This study culminated in first author publications in the New England Journal of Medicine in May of
2005, Cancer Research in August of 2006, and the Journal of Clinical Oncology in December of 2008.
She is now the PI of the Ohio Colorectal Cancer Prevention Initiative which is screening colorectal cancer
patients from 50 hospitals throughout the state for hereditary cancer syndromes. The first major publication
from that study showing that 16% of early-onset colorectal cancers are hereditary was published in 2017 in
JAMA Oncology. Heather Hampel was the Region IV Representative on the Board of Directors of the National Society
of Genetic Counselors in 2003-4. She was on the Board of Directors for the American Board of Genetic
Counseling from 2006-2011, serving as President in 2009 and 2010. She was elected to the Steering
Committee member of the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable in 2016. She has been on the Council of the
Collaborative Group of the Americas on Inherited Colorectal Cancer since 2016 and served as President in 2018.
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