Evidence synthesis and integration for cancer hazard identification: the IARC Monographs programme
For over 50 years, the Monographs programme of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has evaluated the carcinogenic hazard posed by more than 1,000 chemical, physical, biological, and complex agents, by convening international expert working groups to conduct in-depth appraisals of cancer epidemiology studies, animal cancer bioassays, and mechanistic evidence. The Monographs programme has been at the forefront of methodological developments in hazard identification, in championing evidence triangulation within and across evidence streams and developing the “key characteristics of carcinogens” framework to synthesize mechanistic evidence.
Dr Schubauer-Berigan will highlight the important role that the Monographs have had in cancer prevention, as well as lay out priorities for future evaluation to identify the preventable causes of human cancer.
Speaker:
Dr. Mary Schubauer-Berigan
Head, Evidence Synthesis and Classification Branch
Head, IARC Monographs Programme
International Agency for Research on Cancer
Mary Schubauer-Berigan, PhD, MS, FACE is Head of the Evidence Synthesis and Classification Branch of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), where she also heads the IARC Monographs programme. She joined IARC in 2018 as the senior epidemiologist for the Monographs. She currently manages a scientific and technical staff of 16 in leading evaluations of the epidemiologic, experimental, and mechanistic evidence bases to identify the preventable causes of human cancer. At IARC, Mary has co-led the update of the guiding principles (Preamble) for the Monographs, bringing increased transparency and scientific advances to this programme, which is essential for cancer prevention worldwide. She has been Responsible Officer for monographs on night shift work, opium consumption, and occupational exposure as a firefighter. She recently co-edited an IARC Scientific Publication on bias assessment in case-control and cohort studies for cancer hazard identification. She is Principal Investigator of grants from the U.S. National Institutes of Health and European Commission related to Monographs work.
Before joining IARC, Mary worked for nearly 20 years as an epidemiologist at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Cincinnati, OH, USA. At NIOSH, she led multidisciplinary teams conducting epidemiology studies of the health effects of occupational exposures to beryllium, carbon nanotubes, nuclear work, radon, cosmic radiation, and circadian disruption. Her research on lung cancer from beryllium exposure in workers was used by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration in setting a more protective occupational exposure limit for beryllium in 2017. Mary has co-authored over 150 publications on the above topics. She received a PhD in epidemiology from the Medical University of South Carolina and a MS in biology from the University of Minnesota.
