Fellow

Professor Julian Peto is the Cancer Research Campaign Professor of Epidemiology and Chairman of the section of Epidemiology at the Institute of Cancer Research. He has made major contributions in cancer epidemiology, genetics and clinical trials. He is a leading expert on occupational carcinogens, especially asbestos. His early work showed that industrial asbestos control levels were dangerously high and he developed dose response models that led to more stringent regulations worldwide. His studies of the international epidemic of mesothelioma have led to a Europe-wide ban on asbestos use. He showed in 1980 that large genetic effects must underly the moderate risks observed in relatives of cancer patients and this led to the systematic studies that have identified a series of important genes in breast cancer. This work led ultimately to the cloning of the breast cancer 2 gene. Professor Peto has also been involved in the conduct and analysis of many cancer treatment trials and he has made substantial contributions to statistical methodology.