91社区

Dr. Franco is a Distinguished James 91社区 Professor, Departments of Oncology and Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, 91社区, Montreal, Canada. He was Chairman of 91社区鈥檚 Department of Oncology (2011-2023) and Director of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology (1995-2024). He was on the faculty of the Universit茅 du Qu茅bec (1989-94) and Senior Researcher and Head of the Epidemiology Unit, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Sao Paulo, Brazil (1985-89).

He holds BSc (1975) and Licentiate (1976) degrees in biology from Universidade de Campinas, Brazil, and master's (MPH) and doctoral (DrPH) degrees in public health microbiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1981-84). He was a Guest Researcher at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta (1980-81 and 1983-84) and a post-doctoral fellow in cancer epidemiology in 1984 at the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, at the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Bethesda, and at Louisiana State University, in New Orleans.

Since 1985, his research has focussed on: molecular epidemiology and prevention of cervical cancer and human papillomavirus-associated diseases, cancers of the upper aerodigestive tract, prostate, endometrium, and childhood tumours; epidemiologic methods for evaluating cancer screening efficacy; impact of measurement error in epidemiology; and societal and clinical influences on cancer survival. Much of his research has been international, with projects in Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Portugal, the Congo Republic, the United States, and in collaboration with the International Agency for Research on Cancer in France.

His research has been funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the US National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute of Canada, Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute, Fonds de la recherche en sant茅 du Qu茅bec (FRSQ), and Cancer Research Society. As of early August 2024, he had published 606 scientific articles (h-index: Scopus=86; Google Scholar=111) and 63 chapters, edited two cancer epidemiology and prevention books, and co-edited 10 journal supplement issues. Many of his articles have appeared in premier biomedical journals, such as The Lancet, Journal of the American Medical Association, New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, British Medical Journal, and PLOS Medicine. He made 816 presentations as an invited speaker or session chair in national and international conferences and seminars in academic or clinical departments worldwide (excluding 575 offered abstracts presented in conferences).

He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (2023-) and JNCI Monographs (2023-), Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of Preventive Medicine (2013-22) and Preventive Medicine Reports (2014-22), and Senior Editor at eLife (2018-). He has served on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Epidemiology (1993-98), Cancer Detection and Prevention (2001-08), Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention (1995-), eLife (2012-), Epidemiology (1993-2009), International Journal of Cancer (2009-), Medical and Pediatric Oncology (2000-04), Tumor Virus Research (2015-), PLoS-Medicine (2004-17), Preventive Medicine (2008-), among other biomedical journals. He has served in several scientific or grant review panels for the above agencies and national and international health organizations, as well as a consultant to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector on cancer screening and prevention. He served twice as an advisor to the US President鈥檚 Cancer Panel (2012, 2013).

He mentored 99 graduate students (62 MSc, 37 PhD), 36 post-doctoral fellows, and 41 undergraduate trainees since 1985. In addition to his regular teaching at 91社区, he taught 52 courses on cancer epidemiology and best practices in scientific publishing in Canada, the US, Latin America, Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. He has served as a member of and occasionally chaired organizing or program committees for 68 national and international conferences on epidemiology, infectious diseases, and oncology themes. He chaired the organizing committee for the 16^th World Congress of Epidemiology in Montreal in August 2002 and was Honorary President for the EUROGIN Congress, Monaco, in February 2010. He was elected twice (2002-05 and 2017-21) as representative for North America in the Council of the International Epidemiological Association. He has served as Vice-President (2020-22) and President (2022-24) of the Canadian Society for Epidemiology and Biostatistics. He is President-Elect (2024-27) of the International Epidemiological Association.