Sir Richard Peto (born 14 May 1943) is an English statistician and epidemiologist who is Professor of Medical

Statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...

and

Epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and Risk factor (epidemiology), determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population, and application of this knowledge to prevent dise ...

at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, 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 List of oldest un ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Education

He attended Taunton's School in

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

and subsequently studied the Natural Sciences Tripos at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

followed by a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

degree in Statistics at

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

Career and research

His career has included collaborations with Richard Doll beginning at the Medical Research Council Statistical Research Unit in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. He set up the Clinical Trial Service Unit (CTSU) in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

in 1975 and is currently co-director. Peto's paradox is named after him.

Awards and honours

He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1989 for his contributions to the development of

meta-analysis Meta-analysis is a method of synthesis of quantitative data from multiple independent studies addressing a common research question. An important part of this method involves computing a combined effect size across all of the studies. As such, th ...

. He is a leading expert on deaths related to

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

use. "When Sir Richard Peto began work with the late Richard Doll fifty years ago, the UK had the worst death rates from smoking in the world. Smoking was the cause of more than half of all premature deaths of British men." He was knighted for his services to epidemiology and to cancer prevention in 1999, and he received an honorary Doctor of Medical Sciences degree from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

in 2011.

Personal life

His brother Julian Peto, with whom he has published work in mathematical statistics (e.g. on the logrank test), is also a distinguished epidemiologist.

Selected publications

* * * * * * * * Peto R, Schneiderman M, eds. Quantification of occupational cancer. Cold Spring Harbor, NY: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 1981. . * * Peto R, zur Hausen H, eds. Viral etiology of cervical cancer. Cold Spring Harbor, NY: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 1986. . * * * Peto R, Imperial Cancer Research Fund (Great Britain), World Health Organization, et al. Mortality from smoking in developed countries, 1950–2000: indirect estimates from national vital statistics. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. . * * * * * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peto, Richard 1943 births Living people Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge British epidemiologists English statisticians Fellows of Green Templeton College, Oxford Members of the French Academy of Sciences Donald Reid Medalists Royal Medal winners Winners of the Heineken Prize Fellows of the Royal Society Knights Bachelor Fellows of the AACR Academy Tobacco researchers Members of the National Academy of Medicine