After receiving an M.P.H. in epidemiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Dr. Brinton joined the NCI as a staff fellow in 1976. She earned a Ph.D. in epidemiology from The Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health in 1979, and subsequently conducted postdoctoral research at Oxford University in the United Kingdom. Dr. Brinton was appointed Acting Chief of the Environmental Studies Section in 1984, and in 1996 became Chief of the Environmental Epidemiology Branch (later called the Hormonal and Reproductive Epidemiology Branch). In 2016 she was named Scientific Advisor for International Activities. She retired from federal service in 2017. She served on the Executive Board of the Society for Epidemiologic Research, and was elected president of the organization in 1990. Dr. Brinton has received the PHS Special Recognition Award and the NIH Director's Award for innovative leadership in women's health research. She has also been honored by receipt of the H.A. Tyroler Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of North Carolina and the American College of Epidemiology’s Abraham Lilienfeld Award and the 2015 Society for Epidemiologic Research Career Accomplishment Award.

Cancer; Evidence-based public healthl; Health behavior; Health communication; HPV vaccination