Mary H. Ward, Ph.D.

Dr. Mary Ward has made important contributions to our understanding of the potential carcinogenic effects of drinking water contaminants, pesticides, and persistent pollutants (POPs) in relation to the etiology of childhood leukemia, gastrointestinal cancers, thyroid, and other cancers. Her foundational work established the use of geographic information systems (GIS) for exposure assessment of environmental contaminants, a method that is widely used today in a range of epidemiological investigations. Her research on ingestion of nitrate in drinking water had important national policy implications under Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Safe Drinking Water Act.

Dr. Ward received an M.S. in ecology from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a Ph.D. in epidemiology from The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland. She completed postdoctoral work in the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch within the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, was appointed as a tenure-track investigator in 1999, and received tenure in 2008. Dr. Ward retired in October 2024, but continues to serve the Division as a Scientist Emerita.

Among her many awards, Dr. Ward received the DCEG Mentoring Award in 2011 and the NCI Women Scientist Advisors' Mentoring and Leadership Award in 2016. She is a Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology and an elected member of the American Epidemiological Society.