David John Hunter is an Australian epidemiologist and the Richard Doll Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine at Oxford Population Health (the

Nuffield Department of Population Health The Nuffield Department of Population Health (NDPH) of Oxford University is located at the Old Road Campus in Headington, Oxford, England. It is one of the largest departments within Oxford University's Medical Sciences Division, University of Ox ...

at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

). He was previously a professor in Harvard University's departments of

Epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population. It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evide ...

and

Nutrition Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to support its life. It provides organisms with nutrients, which can be metabolized to create energy and chemical structures. Failure to obtain sufficien ...

. Hunter was associate epidemiologist, Channing Laboratory, Brigham and Women's Hospital, where he was involved with the programs in breast cancer, cancer epidemiology, and cancer genetics research teams. At Oxford he directs the Translational Epidemiology Unit and leads a collaborative project between Oxford and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Early life and education

David Hunter was born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, England and while a young child moved with his family to Sydney, Australia, where he earned his medical degree (MBBS) in 1982. He then moved to the United States for graduate study at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where he earned both a master's degree (MPH, 1985) and a doctorate (ScD, 1988) in public health.

Career

Hunter spent 33 years at Harvard where he was Acting Dean of the Faculty and before that Dean for Academic Affairs at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston. He is Vincent L. Gregory Professor in Cancer Prevention, Emeritus. he is Richard Doll Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine at the

. In 2021, he was elected a

Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) is an award for medical scientists who are judged by the UK Academy of Medical Sciences The Academy of Medical Sciences is an organisation established in the UK in 1998. It is one of ...

(FMedSci).

Research

Hunter's principal career research interests are the aetiology of various cancers, particularly breast, colorectal, and skin cancers, and prostate cancer in men. He was an investigator on the

Nurses' Health Study The Nurses Health Study is a series of prospective studies that examine epidemiology and the long-term effects of nutrition, hormones, environment, and nurses' work-life on health and disease development. The studies have been among the largest in ...

, a long-running cohort of 121,000 U.S. women, and was project director for the Nurses’ Health Study II, a cohort of 116,000 women followed since 1989. His focus is on genetic susceptibility to these cancers, and gene-environment interactions. This work was originally based in subcohorts of the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study of approximately 33,000 women and 18,000 men who have given a blood sample that can be used for DNA analysis.

Cancer Consortia

Until 2012, Hunter was co-chair of the

National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. T ...

(NCI) Breast and Prostate Cancer Cohort Consortium and co-director of the NCI Cancer Genetic Markers of Susceptibility (CGEMS) Special Initiative. These projects are large collaborative consortia in order to obtain the necessarily large sample sizes and to assess consistency of results across studies.

HIV research and global health

In the 1980s and 1990s, he collaborated with investigators in

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and

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

on early studies of HIV transmission, and subsequently he collaborated on studies of nutritional aspects of AIDS progression as they relate to child survival in affected populations. He co-edited a series of articles on

global health Global health is the health of the populations in the worldwide context; it has been defined as "the area of study, research and practice that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide". Problem ...

which were published in the ''

New England Journal of Medicine ''The New England Journal of Medicine'' (''NEJM'') is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals as well as the oldest continuously published one. His ...

'', for which he also serves as a statistical editor.

University of Oxford

In 2017, Hunter moved to the University of Oxford as the Richard Doll Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine in the

, and as a Governing Board Fellow of Green Templeton College. He directs a Unit focused on translating disease risk information into population health and clinical practice. he is Chief Science Advisor to Our Future Health a major initiative of the UK Government. In 2021, he was elected as a Fellow by distinction of the UK Faculty of Public Health, and elected as a Fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences.

Publications

January 26, 2015, Most cancers not just "bad luck"

NCBI publications for Dr. David Hunter

Publications (Since 2012) for David Hunter

Honours

Hunter was appointed as a

Companion of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Go ...

in the 2023 King's Birthday Honours for "eminent service to medicine as an epidemiologist, particularly in relation to disease prevention and early detection, and to the aetiology of breast, colorectal, prostate and skin cancers".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunter, David Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health faculty Australian oncologists People from Boston Genetic epidemiologists Living people Public health researchers Fellows of Green Templeton College, Oxford Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health alumni Sydney Medical School alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Companions of the Order of Australia