Margaret R. Wrensch MPH, PhD
Professor in Residence of Neurological Surgery and Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Stanley D. Lewis and Virginia S. Lewis Endowed Chair in Brain Tumor Research
Co-Director, Division of Neuroepidemiology
Dr. Wrensch is investigating the genetic and molecular epidemiology of adult brain cancer as principal investigator of the ongoing population-based case-control San Francisco Bay Area Adult Glioma Study. She is also Principal Investigator of one of the Department's four Specialized Program of Research Execllence (SPORE) grant projects. The studies recently discovered inherited variation in several regions of the human genome that alter risk for developing glioma. Future studies will examine how such variants influence risk and whether inherited variation influences survival after glioma diagnosis.
Education, Training, and Previous Positions
- 1971: BSc, Ohio State University
1973: MSc, Ohio State University
1977: MPH, University of California, Berkeley
1983: PhD, University of California, Berkeley
1985-1986: Assistant Research Epidemiologist, UCSF
1986-present: Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, UCSF
1993-1995: Chief, Division of Epidemiology at the Parnassus Campus, UCSF
2001: Interim Head, Cancer Epidemiology Division, UCSF
2001-present: Adjunct Investigator, Kaiser Permanente, Division of Research, Oakland, CA
Selected Professional Memberships and Appointments
- American Association for Cancer Research
Society of Neuro-Oncology
Brain Tumor Epidemiology Consortium (US co-President 2008-2010)
Selected Honors and Awards
- 1976-1980: Public Health Service trainee
1980-1982: National Cancer Institute trainee
1980-1982: Grossman Endowment recipient
1994: Nominated, Excellence in Small Group Teaching, UCSF
2000: Society of Neuro-oncology/American Brain Tumor Foundation Award for Excellence in Epidemiology, 5th Annual Meeting
2003: Marin Breast Cancer Watch, Community Breast Cancer Research Award
2003: Susan Love MD Breast Cancer Foundation, Otto W. Sartorius, MD Award for Excellence in Research
Selected Recent Publications
Wrensch M, Jenkins RB, Chang JS, et al. Variants in the CDKN2B and RTEL1 regions are
associated with high-grade glioma susceptibility [published online ahead of print July 5, 2009]. Nature Genetics.
Houseman EA, Christensen BC, Karagas MR, Wrensch MR, Nelson HH, Wiemels JL, Zheng S, Wiencke JK, Kelsey KT, Marsit CJ. Copy number variation has little impact on bead-array-based measures of DNA methylation [published online ahead of print July 19, 2009]. Bioinformatics.
Wiemels JL, Wilson D, Patil C, Patoka J, McCoy L, Rice T, Schwartzbaum J, Heimberger A, Sampson JH, Chang S, Prados M, Wiencke JK, Wrensch M. IgE, allergy, and risk of glioma: Update from the San Francisco Bay Area Adult Glioma Study in the Temozolomide era. Int J Cancer 2009;125(3):680-687.
Il'yasova D, Marcello JE, McCoy L, Rice T, Wrensch M. Total dietary antioxidant index and survival in patients with glioblastoma multiforme [published online ahead of print April 12, 2009]. doi: 10.1007/s10552-009-9338-7.
McKean-Cowdin R, Barnholtz-Sloan J, Inskip PD, Ruder AM, Butler M, Rajaraman P, Razavi P, Patoka J, Wiencke JK, Bondy ML, Wrensch M. Associations between polymorphisms in DNA repair genes and glioblastoma. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009;18(4):1118-26.
Marsit CJ, Christensen BC, Houseman EA, Karagas MR, Wrensch MR, Yeh RF, Nelson HH, Wiemels JL, Zheng S, Posner MR, McClean MD, Wiencke JK, Kelsey KT. Epigenetic profiling reveals etiologically distinct patterns of DNA methylation in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Carcinogenesis 2009;30(3):416-22.
Pico AR, Smirnov IV, Chang JS, Yeh RF, Wiemels JL, Wiencke JK, Tihan T, Conklin BR, Wrensch M. SNPLogic: an interactive single nucleotide polymorphism selection, annotation, and prioritization system. Nucleic Acids Res 2009;37(Database issue):D803-9.
Felini MJ, Olshan AF, Schroeder JC, Carozza SE, Miike R, Rice T, Wrensch M. Reproductive factors and hormone use and risk of adult gliomas. Cancer Causes Control 2009;20(1):87-96.
Bondy ML, Scheurer ME, Malmer B, Barnholtz-Sloan JS, Davis FG, Il'yasova D, Kruchko C, McCarthy BJ, Rajaraman P, Schwartzbaum JA, Sadetzki S, Schlehofer B, Tihan T, Wiemels JL, Wrensch M, Buffler PA; Brain Tumor Epidemiology Consortium. Brain tumor epidemiology: consensus from the Brain Tumor Epidemiology Consortium [review]. Cancer 2008;113(7 Suppl):1953-68.
Chang JS, Yeh RF, Wiencke JK, Wiemels JL, Smirnov I, Pico AR, Tihan T, Patoka J, Miike R, Sison JD, Rice T, Wrensch MR. Pathway analysis of single-nucleotide polymorphisms potentially associated with glioblastoma multiforme susceptibility using random forests. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2008;17(6):1368-73.
Davis FG, Malmer BS, Aldape K, Barnholtz-Sloan JS, Bondy ML, Brännström T, Bruner JM, Burger PC, Collins VP, Inskip PD, Kruchko C, McCarthy BJ, McLendon RE, Sadetzki S, Tihan T, Wrensch MR, Buffler PA. Issues of diagnostic review in brain tumor studies: from the Brain Tumor Epidemiology Consortium. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2008;17(3):484-9.
Felini MJ, Olshan AF, Schroeder JC, North KE, Carozza SE, Kelsey KT, Liu M, Rice T, Wiencke JK, Wrensch MR. DNA repair polymorphisms XRCC1 and MGMT and risk of adult gliomas. Neuroepidemiology 2007;29(1-2):55-8.
Keegan TH, Chang ET, John EM, Horn-Ross PL, Wrensch MR, Glaser SL, Clarke CA. Recent changes in breast cancer incidence and risk factor prevalence in San Francisco Bay Area and California women: 1988-2004. Breast Cancer Res 2007;9(5):R62 [Epub ahead of print].
Malmer B, Adatto P, Armstrong G, Barnholtz-Sloan J, Bernstein JL, Claus E, Davis F, Houlston R, Il'yasova D, Jenkins R, Johansen C, Lai R, Lau C, McCarthy B, Nielsen H, Olson SH, Sadetzki S, Shete S, Wiklund F, Wrensch M, Yang P, Bondy M. GLIOGENE an International Consortium to Understand Familial Glioma. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2007;16(9):1730-4.
Felini MJ, Olshan AF, Schroeder JC, North KE, Carozza SE, Kelsey KT, Liu M, Rice T, Wiencke JK, Wrensch MR. DNA repair polymorphisms XRCC1 and MGMT and risk of adult gliomas. Neuroepidemiology 2007;29(1-2):55-8.
Wiemels JL, Wiencke JK, Kelsey KT, Moghadassi M, Rice T, Urayama KY, Miike R, Wrensch M. Allergy-related polymorphisms influence glioma status and serum IgE levels. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2007;16(6):1229-35.
Hansen HM, Wiemels JL, Wrensch M, Wiencke JK. DNA quantification of whole genome amplified samples for genotyping on a multiplexed bead array platform. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2007;16(8):1686-90.
Claus EB, Black PM, Bondy ML, Calvocoressi L, Schildkraut JM, Wiemels JL, Wrensch M. Exogenous hormone use and meningioma risk: what do we tell our patients? [Review] Cancer 2007;110(3):471-6.
Gupta N, Park J, Solomon C, Kranz DA, Wrensch M, Wu YW. Long-term outcomes in patients with treated childhood hydrocephalus. J Neurosurg 2007;106(5 Suppl):334-9.
Fisher JL, Schwartzbaum JA, Wrensch M, Wiemels JL. Epidemiology of brain tumors [Review]. Neurol Clin 2007;25(4):867-90, vii.
Wu Y, Green NL, Wrensch MR, Zhao S, Gupta N. Ventriculoperitoneal shunt complications in California: 1990 to 2000. Neurosurgery 2007;61(3):557-63.
Wiencke JK, Zheng S, Jelluma N, Tihan T, Vandenberg S, Tamguney T, Baumber R, Parsons R, Lamborn KR, Berger MS, Wrensch MR, Haas-Kogan DA, Stokoe D. Methylation of the PTEN promoter defines low-grade gliomas and secondary glioblastoma. Neuro Oncol 2007;9(3):271-9