Paolo Boffetta (born July 19, 1958) 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. In 2013, his candidacy for the position of Director of France's national center for research in epidemiology and public health was withdrawn as a result of his extensive consulting work for industry in lawsuits involving asbestos.[1][2]
In 1990, Boffetta moved to Lyon, France, to join the International Agency for Research on Cancer, IARC, first as medical officer until 1994 and later as chief of the Unit of Environmental Cancer Epidemiology (1995–2003). During this time he was also visiting scientist at the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, US National Cancer Institute, in Washington (1998/99), foreign adjunct professor, at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Microbiology and Tumour Biology Centre, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (2000–2006).[3]
In 2004 Boffetta moved back to IARC, Lyon to become group head and coordinator of the Genetics and Epidemiology Cluster.[4]
In 2020 he joined Stony Brook University, where he is a professor in the Department of Department of Family, Population & Preventive Medicine and associate director for population sciences at Stony Brook Cancer Center. Since 2018, he is a professor at the Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences of the University of Bologna.[6]
He was vice president of the International Prevention Research Institute in Lyon during 2009-2013.[9] He regularly serves as chair or member of national and international committees, including in particular review committees of the US National Institute of Health and the National Academy of Sciences. He is a fellow of the European Academy of Cancer Sciences and the New York Academy of Medicine.
Research
Boffetta's specific field of research is the study of environmental factors for cancer.[10] He always was very much interested in international collaboration why he was founding member and member of the executive committee of the several international research consortia, e.g. Interlymph – Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma consortium (2001–08), the ILCCO – Lung cancer consortium (2003-), the INHANCE – Head and neck cancer consortium (2004-), the PANC4 – Pancreatic cancer consortium, the StoP Project – Stomach cancer, and the ILCEC - liver cancer consortium.
Boffetta is involved in several case-control studies of molecular epidemiology in different organs and countries around the world. Paolo Boffetta is a Member of the Steering Committee of the Asia Cohort Consortium (ACC)[11] and was Chair of the Molecular Epidemiology Group (MEG) of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (2008–2009).[12]
He has been heavily involved in teaching activities during all his academic and research positions; e.g., at IARC he held the post of Director, IARC Course Programme (2000–2003 and 2004–2009). He was also Director of the IARC Fellowship Programme (2004–2009) and a Member of the UICC Fellowship Committee (2000–2009). He is currently teaching advanced epidemiology methods and cancer epidemiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, University of Bologna, and Harvard School of Public Health.
Boffetta's H-index is 157 (Web of Science) and 204 (Google Scholar).[13] He is listed among the top 20 Italian scientists.[14]
Conflicts of interest
Boffetta has disclosed conflicts of interest on several scientific publications pertaining to a variety of hazards, including asbestos,[15] benzene,[16] and arsenic.[17]
In 2011, Boffetta disclosed funding from the Chlorine Chemistry Division of the American Chemistry Council on an epidemiological review investigating cancer risk associated with exposure to 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzodioxin (TCDD),[18] a contaminant in Agent Orange, an herbicide used in the Vietnam War.
In 2013, an investigative report published by Le Monde described controversies regarding Boffetta’s research career as a paid consultant.[19] Boffetta was initially considered to be a candidate for the position of Director of France’s national center for research in epidemiology and public health, although upon scrutiny of his work as an industry consultant, including his co-founding of a Lyon-based scientific consulting firm receiving payments from industry, his candidacy was eventually withdrawn.
In 2024, Boffetta disclosed a financial relationship with the Arsenic Science Task Force, an industry group funding research on the health effects of arsenic,[20] to conduct an epidemiological review of arsenic exposure and the risk of head and neck cancer.
↑ Sassano, Michele; Sadat Seyyedsalehi, Monireh; Cosmin Siea, Andrei; Boffetta, Paolo (2024). "Occupational arsenic exposure and digestive and head and neck cancers: A systematic review and meta-analysis". Environ Res. 260 119643. Bibcode:2024ER....26019643S. doi:10.1016/j.envres.2024.119643. PMID39053758.
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