BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Department of Social and Preventive Medicine at the University at Buffalo has trained some of the most respected epidemiologists in the U.S. and produced significant and innovative research in cancer, occupational, environmental, nutritional, reproductive and cardiovascular epidemiology.
In recognition of its contributions to the field, the Dec. 2 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology is dedicated to research by faculty members and graduates of the UB Department of Social and Preventive Medicine.
"The publication of this issue celebrates the rich legacy of the department and the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences," said Maurizio Trevisan, M.D., professor and chair of the department. "It affirms the important contribution that our training programs have made to the field of epidemiology and prevention."
Saxon Graham, Ph.D., one of the pioneers in the study of the relationship of diet and disease, spent his career at the University at Buffalo, where he conducted some of the earliest studies in the U.S. on the health benefits of a diet high in vegetables containing beta carotene, now shown to lower the risk of certain cancers.
Jo L. Freudenheim, Ph.D., associate professor, has continued that research, and in the past decade has earned a reputation as one of the nation's leading nutritional epidemiologists.
Other departmental research highlights include:
The issue's lead article, "Body Mass Index and Mortality in a General Population Sample of Men and Women," authored by Joan M. Dorn, Ph.D., assistant professor, reports that being overweight is a significant mortality risk factor for women and men less than 65 years old.
Other articles (news releases are attached) and lead authors include:
The issue begins with historical overviews of the UB medical school -- which marked its sesquicentennial in 1996 -- the department and epidemiology in Western New York, dating back to 1843. Graduate Philip C. Nasca, Ph.D., professor of epidemiology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, writes on current problems and future opportunities in the field and graduate Christine B. Ambrosone, Ph.D., discusses the new field of molecular epidemiology.
The final two studies concern the reliability of study participants' reports of lifetime drinking history (by Marcia Russell, UB clinical professor) and of reports of pap smears, breast exams and mammograms (by Richard B. Warnecke, Ph.D., formerly of UB, now of the University of Illinois at Chicago).
Graduates of the department include top officials and/or researchers at the National Cancer Institute, Monsanto Co., the National Center for Toxicological Research, New York State Department of Health, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Illinois Department of Public Health, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, University of Iowa and Northern California Cancer Center.
American Journal of Epidemiology