Science Article
September
5, 2002
Two decades of PHS growth, success reflect Prentice’s leadership
Longtime director looks forward to pair of sabbaticals
 PHS’ faculty and staff, grown to 800 from 150 in 1983, has worked “collaboratively, cooperatively and productively,” says Dr. Ross Prentice, departing director. PHOTO BY TODD MCNAUGHT |
By BARBARA BERG
As leader of the Public Health Sciences Division for almost two decades, Dr. Ross Prentice has overseen tremendous growth and accomplishment.
"I'm proud of the division's evolution to one of the leading groups on population research and cancer prevention," he said. "We've grown from about 150 staff in 1983 to more than 800. I'm gratified that we have worked collaboratively, cooperatively and productively."
After Nov. 1, when he steps down as division director, Prentice, a biostatistician, will shift his efforts back to his two primary research interests: the Women's Health Initiative Clinical Coordinating Center and statistical-methods development.
"I'll now be doing two half-time jobs instead of three," he said. Prentice will begin a three-month sabbatical in February to catch up on his research and hopes to take another of similar duration in 2004.
Among the accomplishments of PHS under Prentice's leadership are:
- Establishment of substantial research emphases in the epidemiology of various
cancers, including breast, colon, prostate, ovary, cervix, esophagus and lung.
These research developments have contributed greatly to center/consortium
programs in breast, prostate and genitourinary cancer, and to related Specialized
Programs of Research Excellence grants from the National Cancer Institute.
- Development of hypotheses and interventions or treatments for the prevention,
early detection and treatment of prominent cancers and other diseases and
the conduct or coordination of trials to test these hypotheses in the Women's
Health Initiative, the HIV/AIDS Vaccine and Prevention Trials Networks, the
Southwest Oncology Group, the Carotene and Retinol Efficiency Trial, the Shanghai
Breast Self Examination Study and the Early Detection Research Network.
- Development of research activities and clinical trials among residents of
the Pacific Northwest in such areas as smoking prevention and cessation; health-care
utilization; health-risk communication, and environmental, occupational and
iatrogenic (induced inadvertently by a physician or medical treatment) risk
assessment.
- A substantial emphasis on development and evaluation of the methodology needed for population research, and related research into the mathematical models of cancer and other diseases.
