Elio Riboli MD, PhD

Professor Elio Riboli’s career started at the Department of Epidemiology of the National Institute of Cancer, Milan (1978-1983). In 1983 Elio was appointed Medical Officer in Epidemiology at the International Agency for Research. While at IARC he engaged a novel area of research focusing on the role of diet, nutrition and endogenous hormones in cancer aetiology. In 1990 this materialised into the initiation of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), and its subsequent funding by the “Europe Against Cancer” programme of the EC, from 1992 onward. Over the past decade, Elio has led research contributing to the discovery of the role in cancer causation of metabolic factors (obesity, insulin resistance and other components of the so called “metabolic syndrome”).

These results have translated into worldwide public health guidance by international bodies such as the World Health Organisation and the World Cancer Research Fund. While working at IARC, during the period 1990-2005, Elio received joint appointments as Adjunct Professor in the Department of Environmental Medicine at New York University and as Senior Visiting Scientist at the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, in the USA.