Dr. Hoch is one of the nation's foremost researchers on the Female Athlete Triad, a serious medical syndrome that is of particular concern today with more than 3 million girls playing high school sports, an increase of 800% since 1972. The Female Athlete Triad consists of three distinct but interrelated conditions - disordered eating, athletic amenorrhea (lack of menstrual cycle) and osteoporosis. Dr. Hoch's research has also discovered a disturbing link between this triad and the early onset of heart disease in young female athletes. But Dr. Hoch's work has also resulted in the discovery of some very promising treatments that can dramatically reduce the risks associated with the Female Athlete Triad.
Dr. Hoch is an Associate Professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin and serves as Director of the Women's Sports Medicine Center, one of only three such centers of its kind nationally and the only one in the Midwest. She received a Distinguished Alumna award from Marquette University in 2005 and has been named to Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare. An athlete herself, she serves as the team physician for Mount Mary College, Divine Savior Holy Angels High School and the US Junior National Speed Skating Team. She also is a consulting physician for the Milwaukee Ballet.
Dr. Hoch considers it part of her mission to educate young women, their parents and coaches and fellow physicians about the risks facing young women athletes who don't fuel their bodies enough to support their physical activity.