Friends of IARC

"IARC has done an enormous service over the decades in its descriptive statistics from different parts of the world."

Sir Richard Peto is a professor of medical statistics and epidemiology and a co-director of the Clinical Trial Service Unit at the University of Oxford. He studied natural sciences at Cambridge University and obtained his M.Sc. in statistics at the University of London. 

Sir Richard′s work has included studies of the causes of cancer in general and of the effects of smoking in particular, and the establishment of large-scale randomized trials of the treatment of cancer and various other diseases. He has been instrumental in introducing combined “meta-analyses” of results from diverse studies. Sir Richard was knighted in 1999 for his services to epidemiology and cancer prevention. He devotes much of his energy to advising and providing information on “avoidable death”. His work continues to have a direct influence on public policy and adult mortality in many countries. Sir Richard was awarded the IARC Medal of Honour in 1995 and in 2008.