Susan Shaw Devesa (born June 24, 1944) is an American cancer epidemiologist who conducts

descriptive research Descriptive research is used to describe characteristics of a population or phenomenon being studied. It does not answer questions about how/when/why the characteristics occurred. Rather it addresses the "what" question (what are the characterist ...

of the patterns of cancer in the United States. She was a section chief of descriptive studies at 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. ...

Life

Devesa was born June 24, 1944, in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

She completed a B.A. in mathematics from

Earlham College Earlham College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Richmond, Indiana. The college was established in 1847 by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and has a strong focus on Quake ...

in 1966. She studied in France for a portion of her undergraduate degree. In 1966, Devesa joined the

demography Demography () is the statistical study of human populations: their size, composition (e.g., ethnic group, age), and how they change through the interplay of fertility (births), mortality (deaths), and migration. Demographic analysis examine ...

section in the

biometry Biostatistics (also known as biometry) is a branch of statistics that applies statistical methods to a wide range of topics in biology. It encompasses the design of biological experiments, the collection and analysis of data from those experime ...

branch at the

(NCI). She earned a M.H.S. (1974) and Ph.D. (1979) in epidemiology from the

Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is the public health graduate school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university primarily based in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded as the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene a ...

in 1974. Her dissertation was titled ''A study of the association of cancer incidence with income and education among whites and blacks''. Earl L. Diamond was her doctoral advisor. Devesa was appointed chief of the descriptive studies section in 1993. She is a fellow of the

American College of Epidemiology The American College of Epidemiology (ACE) is an American organization incorporated in 1979 to support and promote the work of American epidemiologists. It is based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Members of the American College of Epidemiology are ...

. She received the

United States Public Health Service The United States Public Health Service (USPHS or PHS) is a collection of agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services which manages public health, containing nine out of the department's twelve operating divisions. The assistant s ...

(PHS) special recognition award for descriptive studies of the changing patterns of cancer in the United States, which have provided clues to etiologic risk factors, and the NCI division of cancer epidemiology and genetics (DCEG) exemplary service award in recognition of sustained research accomplishments and outstanding service to the Division and the NCI, resulting in the advancement of the goals of the National Cancer Program.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devesa, Susan Shaw Living people Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health alumni National Institutes of Health people Cancer epidemiologists American women epidemiologists American epidemiologists 20th-century American women scientists 21st-century American women scientists 1944 births Earlham College alumni Scientists from Washington, D.C. 20th-century American women civil servants

Life

See also

References