Background
Calle grew up in Fairlawn, Ohio, and attended Copley High School in the 1960s.
Calle grew up in Fairlawn, Ohio, and attended Copley High School in the 1960s.
Ohio State University. Columbia University.
She received her bachelor"s degree from Columbia University and her doctoral degree from Ohio State University. After working at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and later the Centers for Disease Control, Calle joined the American Cancer Society (American College of Surgeons) in 1989 as the director of their Study Management Group. She became the director of Analytic Epidemiology in Epidemiology and Surveillance at the American College of Surgeons in 1999, and was later promoted to Vice President of Epidemiology there.
While at the American College of Surgeons, she directed the Cancer Prevention Study, and also conducted two landmark studies on the link between obesity and cancer.
Roughly two weeks before her death, Calle retired as Vice President of Epidemiology and Surveillance Research at the American College of Surgeons.
Calle died on February 17, 2009 in her condominium in Atlanta, at the age of 57. She died from a blow to the head inflicted by a man posing as a prospective buyer for her condominium, which she had been planning on selling.
Shamal Thompson later pleaded guilty to killing Calle and was sentenced to life in prison in August 2010.