Faculty

Sara Lindstroem

Associate Professor, Epidemiology
Director of Research, Epidemiology


Education

MSc Engineering Physics, Umea University, 2004
PhD Genetic Epidemiology, Umea University, 2007

Contact


University of Washington
Box 351619
Department of Epidemiology
Hans Rosling Center for Population Health, 874A
Seattle, WA 98195
View Website »

Bio

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Dr. Lindstroem (Lindstrom/Lindström) is a genetic epidemiologist who seeks to understand the genetic contribution to complex disease with an emphasis on cancer. She works at the intersection of statistical genetics and genetic epidemiology, where she always seeks to apply novel statistical methods on large-scale -omics data. By leveraging large-scale population-based studies, she studies how our genes and environment affect our risk of developing disease. She leads multiple international efforts to study genetic risk factors for cancer and mammographic density (R01CA194393, R01CA244670), and she is studying the genetics underlying a range of outcomes in people living with HIV (R01DA047045). Dr. Lindstroem also teaches PHG511 “Genetic Epidemiology”, EPI583 “Epidemiology Seminars”, and co-teaches the “Genetic Epidemiology” module as part of the UW Summer Institute of Statistical Genetics (SISG).

Research Areas

Research Interests

My research focuses on understanding the genetic contribution to common complex diseases, with a primary emphasis on cancer and linked traits. By leveraging long-running large population-based studies, I investigate how our genetics and environment affect our risk of developing disease.

Current research projects include studying the shared genetic origin between common cancers and the genetics underlying childhood obesity, breast tissue composition and venous thromboembolism. I am also interested in finding approaches to incorporate information about the functional characteristics of the genome in my studies. Finally, I am involved in several large-scale international collaborations that study the genetics underlying breast and prostate cancer.

Recent Publications (PubMed)

Performance of an image-only deep learning breast cancer risk model with the addition of a polygenic risk score.
(2026 Apr 6)
Br J Cancer
Azam S, Lamb LR, Eliassen AH, King TA, Specht M, Kraft P, Lindstrom S, Lehman CD, Tamimi RM
Improving isoform-level eQTL and integrative genetic analyses of breast cancer risk with long-read RNA transcript assemblies.
(2026 Mar 25)
bioRxiv
Head ST, Nemani A, Chang YH, Harrison TA, Bresnahan ST, Rothstein JH, Sieh W, Lindström S, Bhattacharya A
Rare germline variants contribute to glioma predisposition: Whole-genome analysis of a regional cohort of glioma patients.
(2026 Jan-Dec)
Neurooncol Adv 8(1): vdag038
Rosenbaum A, Wibom C, Hammermeister Suger A, Pensch R, Roy A, Brännström T, Rentoft M, Forsberg-Nilsson K, Lindblad-Toh K, Lindström S, Dahlin AM, Melin B
Integrative screening identifies functional variants and VNTRs underlying GWAS signals at the 5p15.33 multi-cancer susceptibility locus.
(2026 Mar 7)
medRxiv
O'Brien A, Kong H, Patel H, Ho M, Patel MB, Zhong J, Xu M, Papenberg BW, Connelly KE, Collins I, Hennessey R, Thakur R, Sowards H, Funderburk K, Luong T, Florez-Vargas O, Myers T, Jermusyk A, Gorman B, Luo W, Jones K, Das S, Pancreatic Cancer Cohort and Case-Control Consortia (PanScan/PanC4), Melanoma Meta-Analysis Consortium, International Lung Cancer Consortium (ILCCO), Lan Q, Rothman N, McKay JD, Hung RJ, Amos CI, Iles MM, Koutros S, Landi MT, Law MH, Stolzenberg-Solomon RZ, Wolpin BM, Hassan M, Klein AP, Antwi SO, Orr N, Chanock SJ, Lindström S, Hoskins JW, Stern MH, Andresson T, Shi J, Prokunina-Olsson L, Choi J, Brown KM, Amundadottir LT
A retrospective cohort study of clinical characteristics and healthcare contacts in Sweden prior to suicide in individuals with heart disease.
(2026 Feb 9)
BMC Prim Care 27(1): 66
Öberg NP, Lindström S, Bergqvist E, Ehnvall A, Vaez M, Sellin T, Sunnqvist C, Waern M, Westrin Å
Show complete publication list