Paolo Boffetta

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Paolo Boffetta
Born (1958-07-19) July 19, 1958 (age 66)
Turin, Italy
Alma mater University of Turin
Known forResearch on cancer epidemiology
Scientific career
Fields Epidemiology
Institutions Stony Brook University, University of Bologna

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candidacy for the position of Director of France's national center for research in epidemiology and public health was withdrawn as a result of his extensive consulting work for industry in lawsuits involving asbestos.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]

Contents

Biography

A video of Boffetta discussing his research with the World Trade Center Health Program to reconstruct first responders' exposure to carcinogens during the September 11 attacks

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]

Between 2009 and 2020, he worked at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai as a professor. [5]

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 is an adjunct professor at the Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health. [7] at the Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University, [8]

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 118 (Web of Science) and 173 (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.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epidemiology</span> Study of health and disease within a population

Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution, patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population, and application of this knowledge to prevent diseases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Passive smoking</span> Inhalation of tobacco smoke by persons other than the intended active smoker

Passive smoking is the inhalation of tobacco smoke, called passive smoke, secondhand smoke (SHS) or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), by individuals other than the active smoker. It occurs when tobacco smoke diffuses into the surrounding atmosphere as an aerosol pollutant, which leads to its inhalation by nearby bystanders within the same environment. Exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke causes many of the same health effects caused by active smoking, although at a lower prevalence due to the reduced concentration of smoke that enters the airway.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer is an intergovernmental agency forming part of the World Health Organization of the United Nations. Its role is to conduct and coordinate research into the causes of cancer. It also collects and publishes surveillance data regarding the occurrence of cancer worldwide.

Occupational lung diseases comprise a broad group of diseases, including occupational asthma, industrial bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), bronchiolitis obliterans, inhalation injury, interstitial lung diseases, infections, lung cancer and mesothelioma. These can be caused directly or due to immunological response to an exposure to a variety of dusts, chemicals, proteins or organisms. Occupational cases of interstitial lung disease may be misdiagnosed as COPD, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, or a myriad of other diseases; leading to a delay in identification of the causative agent.

Molecular epidemiology is a branch of epidemiology and medical science that focuses on the contribution of potential genetic and environmental risk factors, identified at the molecular level, to the etiology, distribution and prevention of disease within families and across populations. This field has emerged from the integration of molecular biology into traditional epidemiological research. Molecular epidemiology improves our understanding of the pathogenesis of disease by identifying specific pathways, molecules and genes that influence the risk of developing disease. More broadly, it seeks to establish understanding of how the interactions between genetic traits and environmental exposures result in disease.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip J. Landrigan</span> American epidemiologist and pediatrician

Philip John Landrigan, is an American epidemiologist and pediatrician. He has campaigned against substances in the environment that are harmful to children, such as lead and asbestos. He is also concerned with environmental pesticides.

A co-carcinogen is a chemical that promotes the effects of a carcinogen in the production of cancer. Usually, the term is used to refer to chemicals that are not carcinogenic on their own, such that an equivalent amount of the chemical is insufficient to initiate carcinogenesis. A chemical can be co-carcinogenic with other chemicals or with nonchemical carcinogens, such as UV radiation.

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

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Philippe Autier is a Belgian epidemiologist. He is doing research on cancer, where he contributed to the understanding of the role of UV exposure in cancer 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.

David A. Savitz is a professor of Community Health in the Epidemiology Section of the Program in Public Health, Vice President for Research, and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, at The Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and Associate Director for Perinatal Research in The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Women & Infants Hospital, both in Providence, Rhode Island. Savitz is the author of Interpreting epidemiologic evidence: strategies for study design and analysis (ISBN 0-19-510840-X) and more than 275 peer-reviewed articles. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 2007.

Irva Hertz-Picciotto is an environmental epidemiologist best known for her studies of autism. She is Professor and Chief of the Division of Environmental and Occupational Health in the Department of Public Health Sciences, at the University of California, Davis (UC-Davis). In addition, she is on the Research Faculty of the MIND Institute at UC-Davis; the Deputy Director of the UC-Davis Center for Children's Environmental Health; and on the faculty of the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health of the Universities of California at Berkeley, Davis, and San Francisco. Hertz-Picciotto serves on the advisory board of the anti-toxic chemical NGO Healthy Child, Healthy World.

Occupational cancer is cancer caused by occupational hazards. Several cancers have been directly tied to occupational hazards, including chimney sweeps' carcinoma, mesothelioma, and others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curtis C. Harris</span> American cancer researcher

Curtis. C. Harris is the head of the Molecular Genetics and Carcinogenesis Section and chief of the Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis at the Center for Cancer Research of the National Cancer Institute, NIH.

Cornelia "Neli" Ulrich is Executive Director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI), Jon M. and Karen Huntsman Presidential Professor in Cancer Research, and former Division Chief of Cancer Population Sciences in the Department of Population Health Sciences at the University of Utah.

Adele Chandler Green is an Australian epidemiological senior scientist at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Brisbane and is the institute's Head of Cancer and Population Studies Group.

Dennis J. Paustenbach PhD, CIH, DABT, is an American scientist, businessman, researcher, and author. Dennis is the senior scientist and head of the risk assessment group at TRC Companies which is an international engineering firm. Paustenbach’s group risk methods to characterize occupational and environmental health hazards. He is the founder and former president of ChemRisk, a consulting firm specializing in the use of toxicology, exposure science, epidemiology and health physics to characterize the hazards of chemicals in soil, air, water, food, sediments and consumer products. He was, for about 4 years, a Group Vice-President at Exponent; a publicly traded consulting firm. He has been criticized for ChemRisk's role in serving the Pacific Gas and Electric Company in a case involving contamination with hexavalent chromium, which later became the basis for the film Erin Brokovich.

Tommaso A. Dragani is an Italian genetic epidemiologist whose research is focused on understanding the genetic control of complex phenotypes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elisabete Weiderpass</span> Brazilian cancer researcher

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrea 't Mannetje</span> New Zealand-based epidemiologist (1972–2023)

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References

  1. ↑ Foucart, Stephane. "Epidémiologie: des liaisons dangereuses" . Retrieved 5 October 2024.
  2. ↑ Ruff, Kathleen (2014). "Conflict of Interest, Tailored Science, and Responsibility of Scientific Institutions and Journals". New Solutions. 24 (3). Retrieved 6 October 2024.
  3. ↑ Newsletter MEP, KI
  4. ↑ Biographical sketch of Paolo Boffetta at IARC Archived 2010-04-13 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ Contact details of Paolo Boffetta at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine Archived 2010-10-22 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ "Paolo Boffetta — Università di Bologna — Home Page".
  7. ↑ Contact details of Paolo Boffetta at the Harvard School of Public Health
  8. ↑ Press release about new appointments at Vanderbilt University
  9. ↑ "Paolo Boffettas' biography on the website of International Prevention Research Institute". Archived from the original on 2010-10-03. Retrieved 2010-10-18.
  10. ↑ Abstract of Contribution of environmental factors to cancer risk, Br Med Bull. 2003;68:71-94.
  11. ↑ General Membership Meeting Agenda, ACC Archived 2011-07-25 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ↑ Conference about the Future of Molecular Epidemiology, AACR [ permanent dead link ]
  13. ↑ Paolo Boffetta's publications
  14. ↑ "Top Italian Scientists Home".
  15. ↑ Graziosi, Francesca; Caffaro, Paola; Bonetti, Mattia; Roccuzzo, Francesco; Rota, Samantha; Boffetta, Paolo (2023). "Quantitative assessment of asbestos fibers in some normal and pathological extra-abdominal tissues-a scoping review". J Occup Med Toxicol. 18 (1). Retrieved 6 October 2024.
  16. ↑ Sassano, Michele; Sadat Seyyedsalehi, Monireh; Boffetta, Paolo (2024). "Occupational benzene exposure and colorectal cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis". Environ Res. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
  17. ↑ 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. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
  18. ↑ Boffetta, Paolo (2011). "TCDD and cancer: A critical review of epidemiologic studies". Crit Rev Toxicol. 41 (7). Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  19. ↑ Foucart, Stephane. "Epidémiologie: des liaisons dangereuses" . Retrieved 5 October 2024.
  20. ↑ "Comments on the Draft IRIS Toxicological Review of Inorganic Arsenic [CASRN 7440-38-2]". EPA.gov.
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