Profa. Pettan-Brewer received her veterinarian degree in Brazil at the Universidade Federal de Viçosa (UFV). Christina is currently a professor in the UW Department of Comparative Medicine. Her research focus is the basic biology of aging and age-related diseases, particularly cancer. She concentrated her studies on DNA damage and oxidative stress, genetic instability in different polymorphisms, and the investigation of DNA repair and antioxidant mechanisms during neoplastic progression.