Marta Crous-Bou holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology (University of Girona - UdG, 2000), a Master’s Degree in Genetics (University of Girona - UdG, 2002) and a PhD in Epidemiology, Preventive Medicine and Public Health (Autonomous University of Barcelona - UAB, 2009).

After finishing her PhD focused on the interaction between genetic and environmental factors in the development of pancreatic cancer (UAB-Hospital del Mar, Barcelona; 2004-2009), she was awarded a Sara Borrell postdoctoral fellowship (Institute of Health Carlos III - ISCIII). She joined the Biomarkers and Susceptibility Unit at the Catalan Institute of Oncology- Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (ICO-IDIBELL, Barcelona; 2010-2012) to work on gene-environment interactions that influence colorectal cancer risk, and the discovery and validation of diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for colorectal cancer.

As part of the Sara Borrell, she developed part of her research at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health (Boston, US) where she was offered a Research Fellow position at the Chronic Disease Epidemiology Unit (Harvard Medical School) and Epidemiology Department (Harvard School of Public Health). Her postdoctoral training (2012-2016) took place in the context of the Nurses’ Health Study. She participated in multiple research projects on molecular epidemiology of complex diseases, specially focused on genetic susceptibility and molecular epidemiology of endometrial cancer, and environmental determinants of telomere length, among others. During this period, she was involved in large epidemiological case-control and cohort studies, as well as with large international consortia (Nurses’ Health Study - NHS; Epidemiology of Endometrial Cancer Consortium- E2C2).

In 2016 she joined the Barcelona Beta Brain Research Center - Pasqual Maragall Foundation (BBRC-FPM) as a principal investigator in Epidemiology and Genetics to identify genetic and lifestyle risk factors in order to prevent and/or delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. During this period (2016-2020) she led several projects on the role of biological aging on Alzheimer’s disease.

In February 2020 she joined the Unit of Nutrition and Cancer (UNAC) of the Cancer Epidemiology Research Program (PREC) at the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO). Her research focuses on role of environmental, lifestyle and nutritional factors on cancer risk and prognosis, specially dedicated to hormone- related cancers. She is involved in large epidemiological cohort studies, as well as with large international consortia (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition -EPIC).

Since 2017 she is adjunct assistant professor at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and has teaching responsibilities as co-instructor of EPI249: Molecular Biology for Epidemiologists. She is also associate editor for Cancer Causes and Control (Springer).