Whittemore named epidemiology chief
BY JOYCE THOMAS
Alice Whittemore, professor of epidemiology and of biostatistics, has been named chief of the epidemiology division in the Department of Health Research and Policy (HRP) effective this July, Dr. Eugene A. Bauer, vice president and Medical School dean, announced this month.
Whittemore, a distinguished researcher in the field of cancer epidemiology, succeeds Jennifer Kelsey, professor of health research and policy, who was named epidemiology division chief when she joined Stanford in 1991. Whittemore has served as acting chief since last summer, while Kelsey has been on sabbatical.
"Alice Whittemore is an outstanding epidemiologist, and we are delighted that she is willing to take on this position," said Dr. Mark Hlatky, professor and chair of HRP.
"I would like to acknowledge Jennifer Kelsey's accomplishments over the past seven years in building the epidemiology division and establishing the master's and doctoral programs in epidemiology," he added.
Whittemore is a member of the Institute of Medicine and a recipient of a National Cancer Institute Outstanding Investigator Award. Her research focuses on population-based studies aimed at understanding the etiologies of cancers of the prostate, breast and ovary. These studies use population-based registries for linkage analysis in search of cancer-susceptibility genes, for the study of interactions between genes and the environment, and for estimates of the proportions of cancer cases attributable to specific genes.
Recipient of a PhD in mathematics from the City University of New York in 1967, Whittemore held faculty posts at Hunter College and at New York University Medical Center before joining Stanford University in 1978 as a senior research scientist in statistics. She became a professor in the School of Medicine in 1979. Since 1984 she has also served as epidemiology director for the Northern California Cancer Center.
Whittemore is a reviewer for
numerous scientific journals, including Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, Cancer Research and the New England Journal of
Medicine. She is a frequent invited lecturer, both nationally and
internationally, on topics in genetic epidemiology, statistical
genetics, and prevention of cancers of the breast, ovary and
prostate. SR