Allison Walsh Kurian is an American medical oncologist. She is a Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology & Population Health at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

and an oncologist at the

Stanford Cancer Institute The Stanford Cancer Institute is an NCI-designated Cancer Center at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA. It is one of eight comprehensive cancer centers in California. The Stanford Cancer Institute leverages the scientific, technological, and hum ...

Early life and education

Kurian was born to two academic parents;

Diana Chapman Walsh Diana Chapman Walsh was President of Wellesley College from 1993 to 2007. During her tenure, the college revised its curriculum and expanded its programs in global education, internships and service learning, and interdisciplinary teaching and le ...

, the former President of

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a Private university, private Women's colleges in the United States, historically women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henr ...

, and Christopher T. Walsh, a biochemist at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. Kurian earned her

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in Human Biology at

before earning her medical degree from

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

. She completed her residency training in Internal Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital and her medical fellowship in Medical Oncology at Stanford University, where she was simultaneously earning a master's degree in Epidemiology.

Career

Upon completing her fellowship, Kurian accepted a research scholar position supported by a Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health K12 award. In her role as an instructor in the Division of Oncology at the Stanford Cancer Genetics Clinic, she partook in an international study focusing on experimental technology to bring higher resolution and fewer risks than mammography and magnetic resonance imaging. In March 2008, she was appointed an

assistant professor Assistant professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doct ...

of medicine and health research and policy at Stanford University. Her research focus was on identifying risk for breast and ovarian cancer. By July, she received a Physician Faculty Scholars Award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to fund her study, "Optimizing the use of breast cancer risk-reduction strategies by patients and physicians." Kurian and her research team discovered that models used to identify cancer risks in women worked better on white women than other ethnic groups. In a study published in the ''

Journal of Clinical Oncology The ''Journal of Clinical Oncology'' is a peer-reviewed medical journal published 3 times a month by ASCO Publications. It covers research on all aspects of clinical oncology. The journal was established in 1983 and the editor-in-chief is Jonat ...

,'' she specifically addressed how computer models failed in predicting the presence of dangerous genetic mutations in Asian women compared to white women. In 2011, Kurian collaborated with epidemiologist and biostatistician Alice S. Whittemore to examine how women related to patients of hereditary mutation breast cancer, but lacked the mutation themselves, were of no higher risk of getting cancer than relatives of patients with other types of breast cancer. The next year, she was appointed director of Stanford Women's Clinical Cancer Genetics Program and sat on the Advisory Committee for the

California Health Care Foundation Based in Oakland, California, the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) is an independent, nonprofit philanthropy that focuses on improving the health care system for the people of California, especially low-income Californians. The organiza ...

. In this role, she continued to research on the identification of women with elevated breast and gynecologic cancer risk and the development of new techniques for early cancer detection and risk reduction. This resulted in the development of an online tool that helps people with BRCA mutations make preventive care decisions. In 2014, she conducted a study with Scarlett Gomez which found that breast cancer patients who undergo bilateral mastectomy are not guaranteed better survival rates. On December 1, 2015, Kurian was promoted to

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...

of medicine, health research, and policy. In this role, she collaborated with doctors at

Emory University Emory University is a private university, private research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded in 1836 as Emory College by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory. Its main campu ...

and the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

to study 83,000 women diagnosed with breast or ovarian cancer in California and Georgia between 2013 and 2014. The result of the study revealed that fewer than a quarter of the patients studied underwent

genetic testing Genetic testing, also known as DNA testing, is used to identify changes in DNA sequence or chromosome structure. Genetic testing can also include measuring the results of genetic changes, such as RNA analysis as an output of gene expression, or ...

for cancer-associated mutations, thus highlighting gaps between national guidelines for testing and actual testing practices. In 2020, she was elected to the

American Society for Clinical Investigation The American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), established in 1908, is one of the oldest and most respected medical honor societies in the United States. Organization and purpose The ASCI is an honorary society to which more than 2,800 p ...

. In 2024, Kurian and colleagu
Jennifer Caswell-Jin
were awarded th

for their contributions to cancer research and treatment, specifically their project, "Cascade testing for genetic cancer risk and follow-up care in rural Californian communities."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kurian, Allison Living people American oncologists American women oncologists Stanford University alumni Stanford University School of Medicine faculty Harvard Medical School alumni Members of the American Society for Clinical Investigation Year of birth missing (living people) Scientists from Boston