Janet Stanford

Janet Stanford, Ph.D. Public Health Sciences Division

A Word from Janet
"I thrive on challenges and the Hutchinson Center allows the pursuit of scientific passions and supports such goals."

Biography

As Janet Stanford shifts her weight on her snowboard, she finds exhilaration. She carves perfect powder turns in a field of fresh snow in the mountains.

Stanford has blazed her own trail in epidemiological research, too. In the early 1990s, a hunt for answers following her father's prostate-cancer diagnosis revealed a discouraging lack of information on the causes of prostate cancer and how the disease and various treatments affected men's lives. "It quickly became apparent to me that somebody needed to work on these questions," she said. "I thrive on challenges and the Hutchinson Center allows the pursuit of scientific passions and supports such goals."

The hope of cancer prevention motivates Stanford on a very personal level. Five of her close family members have fought cancer. "I look at my son, and I am inspired to do something to prevent him from getting prostate cancer like both of his grandfathers," she said.

Stanford became one of the first Center researchers to focus on prostate cancer epidemiology and today is recognized worldwide as an expert in the field. Her numerous studies and leadership of the Program in Prostate Cancer Research have illuminated many of the environmental, behavioral and genetic factors that can cause the disease.

She also helps lead a nationwide research project of more than 2,000 people in more than 300 families exploring why prostate-cancer risk is higher is some families. Understanding the inherited genetic mutations for prostate cancer may provide new clues to help diagnose, treat, cure and even prevent it in future generations.

 

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	Dan Gottschling Katie Peichel Rainer Storb

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	Katie Peichel
	Janet Stanford
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