Residence Dardilly, France Education University of Glasgow Role Epidemiologist | Name Peter Boyle Nationality British Fields Epidemiology | |
Institutions International Prevention Research Institute Known for Contribution to cancer epidemiology Notable awards Knight's Cross of Order of Merit of Republic of Poland, 2000 Books Search: A Computer Package to Assist the Statistical Analysis of Case-Control | ||
Peter Boyle, FRSE FFPH FRCPS(Glas) FRCP(Edin) FMedSci, (born 8, June 1951) is a British epidemiologist. He has done research on globalisation of cancer, where he has shown the dramatic increase of cancer in low- and medium income countries.
Contents
Biography
Boyle was born in Glasgow, Scotland and studied statistics at the University of Glasgow (BSC in 1974) and received a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Epidemiology in 1985 from the University of Glasgow, Faculty of Medicine).
He initially wanted to become a teacher but became fascinated in Science and worked from 1974–77 as a statistician at the University Department of Medicine, Glasgow and the following 7 years at the West of Scotland Cancer Surveillance Unit in Glasgow. In 1984 he moved to Boston and worked at the Departments of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health and the Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute as Instructor and Assistant Professor. During this time Boyle has coauthored his first two Lancet publications on cancer mortality in Scotland. In 1986, he returned to Europe and became Scientist and Group Head at the International Agency for Research on Cancer, IARC, in Lyon, France. In 1991 he again moved, this time to Milan, Italy to become the first chairperson of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Director of the Division of Cancer Control of the European Institute of Oncology, EIO. During this time the European Code against Cancer was developed and updated to its current 3rd edition under the leadership of Peter Boyle (2003).
In 2003 he was elected the 4th Director of IARC and moved back to Lyon, a position he held from 2004–2008. He stood as a candidate for a second term as Director but was not successful.
In 2009 Peter Boyle was the founding President of a new private research institute, named International Prevention Research Institute, based in Lyon, France.
Beside his main appointments he holds several (visiting and/or honorary) professorships from different Universities, incl. University of Birmingham (1996–), University of Milan (1996–2004), University of Pittsburgh (1996–2002), University of Glasgow (1998–), University of Innsbruck (1998), University of Oxford (2003–).
He was editor-in-chief (together with Carlo La Vecchia and Alec Walker) of the Journal of Epidemiology and Biostatistics from 1995–2003 and of the European Journal of Cancer from 1990–1994. Peter Boyle was associate editor of Oncology and Haematology Literature Service from 1993–1998 and still is it for the journals Annals of Oncology (since 1999) and the British Journal of Urology International (since 2002). Furthermore he was or is a member of the editorial boards of the following Journals, Cancer Causes and Control (1990–1994), Swiss Journal of Social and Preventive Medicine (1990–present), British Journal of Cancer (1990–1997), Prospectives (1990–99), BPH Observer (1990–99), The Breast (journal) (1991–97), Oral Oncology (1991–present), European R and D Database (1993–98), Lung Cancer (1995–present), Journal of Radiation Therapy (1996–present), European Cancer News (1996–98), Journal of Gynecologic Oncology (1996–present), Annals of Oncology (1996–present), URO (Portuguese Journal of Urology) (1996–present), Breast Cancer Online (1999–present), Lancet (2003–present), Nature Reviews Urology (2004–present), Molecular Oncology (2006–present).
Peter Boyle has published more than 500 articles in scientific journals and is co-/author of some 23 books, including textbooks and cancer atlases.
Scientific work
Boyle's specific field of research is prevention research. He has contributed to the fields of tobacco and lung cancer, breast cancer and prostate cancer. Peter Boyle is an internationally well known cancer prevention advocate (European Code against Cancer, or The Globalisation of Cancer).
Peter Boyle is and was member of many national and international scientific committees, including Secretary, Epidemiology and Prevention Branch, EORTC, Brussels (1986–92), Chairman, Epidemiology and Prevention Branch, European Society of Mastology (1989–1997), International Prostate Health Council (1989–2003), Scientific Advisory Board, European School of Oncology, Milan (1992–1999), Chairman, European Commission Expert Committee Cancer Plan (2000–2004), Chairman, Scientific Evaluation Committee, European Tobacco Fund, EC (1999–2002), CEO Advisory Committee, American Cancer Society (2002–present), International Affairs Committee, American Association for Cancer Research (2003–present), Multidisciplinary Oncology Committee, European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) (2006–present), International Affairs Committee, American Society of Clinical Oncology (2008–present).
He received many awards, medals and is member of many scientific societies, among which are Honorary Member of the Argentine Medical Association (1996), Knight's Cross of Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (2000), Fellow of Royal Society of Edinburgh (2000), Award from the President of Israel for Lifetime Contribution to Cancer Research, on Occasion of 50th Anniversary of Israel Cancer Association, Jerusalem (2002), Honorary Member, Hungarian Cancer Society (2003), Honorary Member, European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ESTRO) in 2003, Award of Honorary Doctor of Science by University of Aberdeen (2006) and Elected Fellow of Academy of Medical Sciences (2006), Elected Fellow of Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (2006), elected full member of ESMO (first non-medical oncologist elected to full membership) in 2006, Gold Award of the Health Promotion Foundation of Poland (2008), received the ESMO Lifetime Achievement Award (2014).