Heather Joanne Baer ScD

Heather J. Baer, ScD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, and an Associate Epidemiologist in the Division of General Medicine and Primary Care at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She received her ScD in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health in 2005.

Dr. Baer’s research focuses on the role of lifestyle factors in the etiology and prevention of chronic disease. She has conducted a number of studies to examine how factors such as obesity, diet, and physical activity affect risk of breast and ovarian cancer and overall mortality in women. Her recent work focuses on how to address lifestyle factors in the clinical setting.

She has been involved in several studies examining documentation and diagnosis of overweight and obesity in children and adults, and she currently is leading a project to develop and evaluate tools within electronic health records to help primary care clinicians with the assessment and management of overweight and obesity.