About

The Division of Public Health Sciences is home to the nation's oldest and largest program devoted to cancer-prevention research—an important endeavor, considering that many cancers may be avoidable by changes in lifestyle. The Division was originally established within the Hutchinson Center in 1975 as the Program in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. In 1983, it gained Division status coincident with the creation of the Cancer Prevention Research Program, the first NCI funded cancer prevention research unit.

The PHS Division is organized into six administrative programs. Each of these programs has a faculty with a wide range of interests and an interactive and interdisciplinary research orientation. These programs and their respective program heads are as follows:

• Biostatistics and Biomathematics
  Dr. Charles Kooperberg and Dr. Steven Self
  The Biostatistics & Biomathematics Program provides statistical collaboration and coordination for research programs within and outside the center, develops and evaluates new quantitative methods for the efficient design and analysis of a broad range of biomedical studies and constructs biomathematical models of carcinogenesis and other biological processes.
   
• Cancer Biology
  Dr. Denise Galloway
  The Cancer Biology Program applies molecular biology, genetics, pathology, epidemiology, and biostatistics to studies of human populations, focusing on the root causes of cancer.  This program is jointly sponsored by the Division of Public Health Sciences and the Human Biology Division.
   
• Cancer Prevention
  Dr. Polly Newcomb
  The Cancer Prevention Program uses interdisciplinary approaches to evaluate the causes, detection and control of cancer in laboratory, clinic and community-based studies.
   
• Computational Biology
  Dr. Martin McIntosh
  Scientists within the Computational Biology Program use and develop computational methods and tools to address biological questions. The Program encompasses a wide range of bioinformatic and computational approaches.
  
• Epidemiology
  Dr. Kathleen Malone
  The Epidemiology Program seeks to determine the causes of cancers through studies in human populations of personal exposures, behavioral characteristics, and genes that may influence a person’s chances of developing one or more cancers.
   
• Molecular Diagnostics
  Dr. Sam Hanash
  The Molecular Diagnostics Program works to discover accurate methods for determining an individual's cancer risk; detecting cancer at its earliest, most curable stage; classifying the type and extent of cancer, once diagnosed; and monitoring response to therapy and disease progression.
   

Faculty of the PHS Division also actively participate in several of the Hutchinson Center's interdisciplinary scientific programs, including leadership of the Center's gastroenterology, prostate, and breast cancer initiatives.

The PHS Division's mission is to identify strategies that will ultimately reduce the incidence of and mortality from cancer and other diseases. PHS faculty focus on determining causes of cancer, helping to identify and assess effective screening and treatment methods, developing prevention strategies that reduce the risk of cancer, and developing research strategies to assist people to change behaviors toward healthier lifestyles. This prevention-oriented research also extends to other diseases, including HIV/AIDS, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and fractures.