Elisabete Weiderpass

Last updated
Elisabete Weiderpass
IARC Director Dr Elisabete Weiderpass.jpg
Born1965or1966(age 57–58) [1]
Alma mater Federal University of Pelotas
Karolinska Institute
Scientific career
Institutions International Agency for Research on Cancer
Karolinska Institute
Yale School of Public Health
Thesis Some hormonal factors in the etiology of endometrial cancer  (1999)

Elisabete Weiderpass-Vainio is a Brazilian cancer researcher who is Director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a part of the World Health Organization. Her research considers the epidemiology and prevention of cancer.

Contents

Early life and education

Weiderpass is from Santo André, São Paulo. [2] In an interview with The Lancet she explained that she grew up in a working-class family, and that it was unclear whether or not she would attend university. Her parents encouraged her to continue her studies, and she was awarded a scholarship to study medicine at the Federal University of Pelotas in south Brazil. [2] During her undergraduate degree, Weiderpass became increasingly interested in epidemiology and public health. She remained at the Federal University of Pelotas for her graduate studies, where she completed a master's degree in epidemiology. [2] Weiderpass moved to the Karolinska Institute for her doctoral studies, where she studied the aetiology of endometrial cancer. [3] [4]

Research and career

In the early 2000s, Weiderpass started to work in Sub-Saharan Africa with the International Agency for Research on Cancer. [2] These experiences inspired a career focused on reducing inequalities in cancer diagnosis and treatment. She developed and delivered training programmes for African medical doctors and researchers. [2] Her students included Jackson Orem, who went on to become Director of the Uganda Cancer Institute. [5] In 2005, she returned to the Karolinska Institute, where she continued to study the epidemiology of cancer. [2] Her research considers women's health, with a particular focus on identifying risk factors for certain forms of cancer. [6] She was responsible for the Ugandan Collaboration of Infectious Diseases. [6] Weiderpass found several lifestyle risk factors, such as tobacco use, diet and obesity, can have a marked impact on a person's likelihood to suffer from cancer. [2]

In 2007, Weiderpass was made Head of the Genetic Epidemiology Group at the Folkhälsan Research Center in Helsinki, where she spent over ten years. At the same time, she oversaw the Cancer Registry of Norway, which is located in the Institute of Population-based Cancer Research in Oslo, as well as at the University of Tromsø and Yale School of Medicine.[ citation needed ]

Weiderpass was elected Director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer in 2019. [7] [8] [9] The agency is based in Lyon. Weiderpass is the first woman to hold the position. [2] [4] In 2020, she launched the World Cancer Report, which provides an overview of current cancer research and information on strategies for cancer prevention. [10] She partnered with the European Society for Medical Oncology in 2020, working together to deliver a series of webinars and e-learning modules focussed on the elimination of cancer. [11]

Awards and honours

Select publications

Personal life

Weiderpass is a naturalised Swedish and Finnish citizen. [14] She is married to Harri Uolevi Vainio, a professor at Kuwait University. [15]

Related Research Articles

Sir Richard Peto is an English statistician and epidemiologist who is Professor of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology at the University of Oxford, England.

The Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) is a comprehensive regional and global research program of disease burden that assesses mortality and disability from major diseases, injuries, and risk factors. GBD is a collaboration of over 3600 researchers from 145 countries. Under principal investigator Christopher J.L. Murray, GBD is based in the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Devra Davis</span> American epidemiologist and writer

Devra Lee Davis is an American epidemiologist, toxicologist, and author of three books about environmental hazards. She was founding director of the Center for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, and is a former professor of epidemiology at University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. She has served on several governmental and non-governmental organizations, conducting research and advocacy into effects of pesticides, asbestos, and wireless radiation on human health, especially cancers.

Sir Rory Edwards Collins FMedSci FRS is a British physician who is Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at the Clinical Trial Service Unit within the University of Oxford, the head of the Nuffield Department of Population Health and a Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford. His work has been in the establishment of large-scale epidemiological studies of the causes, prevention and treatment of heart attacks, other vascular disease, and cancer, while also being closely involved in developing approaches to the combination of results from related studies ("meta-analyses"). Since September 2005, he has been the Principal Investigator and Chief Executive of the UK Biobank, a prospective study of 500,000 British people aged 40–69 at recruitment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Boyle (epidemiologist)</span> British epidemiologist (1951–2022)

Peter Boyle, FRSE FFPH FRCPS(Glas) FRCP(Edin) FMedSci, was a British epidemiologist. He conducted research on globalisation of cancer, where he showed the dramatic increase of cancer in low- and medium income countries.

Frederick Wabwire-Mangen is a Ugandan physician, public health specialist and medical researcher. Currently he is Professor of Epidemiology and Head of Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics at Makerere University School of Public Health. Wabwire-Mangen also serves as the Chairman of Council of Kampala International University and a founding member of Accordia Global Health Foundation’s Academic Alliance

Paolo Boffetta is an Italian epidemiologist. He is doing research on cancer and other chronic diseases, where he contributed to the understanding of the role of occupation, environment, alcohol, smoking and nutrition in disease development.

Carlo La Vecchia is an Italian epidemiologist. He is doing research on chronic diseases, where he contributed to the understanding of the risks related to diet, tobacco, oral contraceptive use and occupational or environmental exposure to toxic substances in cancer and other chronic diseases development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oriol Mitjà</span> Catalan researcher

Oriol Mitjà i Villar is a Catalan-born Spanish researcher and consultant physician in internal medicine and infectious diseases with expertise in poverty-related tropical diseases. He has conducted research at the Lihir Medical Centre in Papua New Guinea since 2010 on new diagnostic and therapeutic tools to eradicate yaws. He was awarded the Princess of Girona Award in the scientific research category. Currently at the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute, Mitjà is conducting research on SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and strategies to control the infection at a community level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miia Kivipelto</span> Finnish neurologist (born 1973)

Miia K. Kivipelto is a Finnish neuroscientist and professor at the University of Eastern Finland and Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. Her research focuses on dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

Xifeng Wu is a Chinese-American cancer epidemiologist known for her cohort studies designed to discover the causes of cancer. She has been Dean of the School of Public Health of Zhejiang University since March 2019. She previously served as Director of the Center for Public Health and Translational Genomics and the Betty B. Marcus Chair in Cancer Prevention at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center until she was forced to resign in January 2019, as part of the Trump administration's push to counter Chinese influence in American research according to Bloomberg Businessweek.

The Collaborative Group on Hormonal Factors in Breast Cancer (CGHFBC) is a group of scientific researchers who conduct meta-analyses of the worldwide epidemiological evidence on risk factors for breast cancer in women. It formed in 1992. Their earliest publications were a 1996 meta-analysis of 54 studies on hormonal birth control and breast cancer risk and a 1997 meta-analysis of 51 studies on menopausal hormone therapy and breast cancer risk. One of their recent publications was a 2019 meta-analysis of menopausal hormone therapy and breast cancer risk based on type and timing of therapy. In 2012, the group concluded in a meta-analysis of 117 studies that the incidence of breast cancer was increased by each year younger at menarche and each year older at menopause.

Kimberly A. Powers is an American epidemiologist who is an associate professor of epidemiology at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. She combines epidemiology, statistics and mathematical modelling to understand the transmission of infectious diseases. In 2011 her work on antiretroviral therapy for the management of human immunodeficiency virus was selected by Science as the breakthrough of the year. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Powers looked to understand the spread of SARS-CoV-2.

Peymané Adab is a British physician who is a Professor of Public Health at the University of Birmingham. She leads the Institute of Applied Health Research Chronic Disease Management Team. Adab investigates the epidemiology and management of obesity and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Lorna E. Thorpe is an American epidemiologist who is a professor and Director of the Division of Epidemiology at NYU Langone Health. She serves as Vice Chair of Strategy and Planning in the Department of Population Health and on the Board of the American College of Epidemiology.

Linda Sharples is a British statistician who is Professor of Medical Statistics at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Her research considers statistical analysis of medical interventions. She has provided expert advice to clinical trials on cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deborah F. Kelly</span> American biomedical engineer

Deborah F. Kelly is an American biomedical engineer who is a professor at Pennsylvania State University. Her research makes use of cryogenic electron microscopy to better understand human development and disease. She serves as President of the Microscopy Society of America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucy Chappell</span> British obstetrician and gynaecologist, researcher and chief executive officer

Lucy Chappell is a British professor of obstetrics at King’s College London and the Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA) for the UK Department of Health and Social Care. As part of her CSA role, she oversees the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) as Chief Executive Officer. Her research areas include medical problems during pregnancy such as pre-eclampsia, and the safety of medicines in pregnancy.

Melody Ding is an Associate Professor at the University of Sydney. Ding is an epidemiologist and population behavioural scientist in Sydney School of Public Health in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney. She is also a member of the Charles Perkins Centre and the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre. Ding's research aims to improve population health through epidemiological research and behavioural change.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rita Krishnamurthi</span> Epidemiologist in New Zealand

Rita V. Krishnamurthi is a New Zealand academic, and since 2023 is a full professor at the Auckland University of Technology, specialising in the epidemiology of stroke and dementia.

References

  1. ↑ "Preventing cancer in all corners of the world | Karolinska Institutet". ki.se. Retrieved 2022-07-30.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Egressa da UFPel será primeira mulher a assumir a direção da Agência Internacional para Pesquisa em Câncer". Coordenação de Comunicação Social (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2021-01-29.
  3. ↑ Weiderpass, Elisabete (1999). Some hormonal factors in the etiology of endometrial cancer (Thesis). Stockholm. OCLC   186951765.
  4. 1 2 Davies, Rachael (2019-04-27). "Elisabete Weiderpass: charting a new course for IARC" . The Lancet. 393 (10182): 1689. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(19)30866-9. ISSN   0140-6736. PMID   31034367. S2CID   205990613.
  5. ↑ "Part I: Cancer's Lonely Soldier". The World from PRX. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
  6. 1 2 "Elisabete Weiderpass Vainio | Medarbetare". staff.ki.se. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
  7. ↑ "Biography Elisabete Weiderpass | UICC". www.uicc.org. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
  8. ↑ "About the Director – IARC". www.iarc.who.int. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
  9. ↑ "Elisabete Weiderpass". medicine.yale.edu. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
  10. ↑ "Dr Elisabete Weiderpass presents World Cancer Report: Cancer Research for Cancer Prevention – IARC". www.iarc.who.int. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
  11. ↑ ESMO. "ESMO and IARC Join Forces to Improve Cancer Prevention Worldwide". www.esmo.org. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
  12. 1 2 "Elisabete Weiderpass – IARC". www.iarc.who.int. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
  13. ↑ "100 Influential Women in Oncology: Key Opinion Leaders to follow on Social Media in 2023". OncoDaily.
  14. ↑ "IARC Governing Council elects new IARC Director | UICC". www.uicc.org. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
  15. ↑ "Elisabete_Weiderpass - USERN". usern.tums.ac.ir. Retrieved 2021-01-29.

Bibliographic databases

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.