Dr. Polyak is a leader in the molecular analysis of human breast cancer and in translating molecular findings into clinical practice — from new screening tests to potential new treatments. She has made significant contributions to characterizing the cell types involved in a tumor, identifying the genetic differences between normal and cancerous breast tissue, and defining the role of stem cells in breast cancer development. Dr. Polyak was at the forefront of optimizing cutting-edge gene-analysis technologies for studying samples of ductal carcinoma in-situ tissue that contains even the smallest number of breast tumor cells. Speaker(s)