Dimitrios Trichopoulos, Vincent L. Gregory Professor of Cancer Prevention at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), was one of three recipients of a medal of honor from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the World Health Organization. The award was presented on May 9 at the IARC Headquarters in Lyon, France.
Trichopoulos has conducted seminal work linking passive or "second-hand" smoking to lung cancer. He has also shed light on a host of other health issues, including the role of the Mediterranean diet in decreasing cancer and heart disease risk and increasing longevity. His current main research interest is the evaluation of the hypothesis that hormone-dependent breast cancers have their origin in intrauterine life.
The other two recipients of medals of honor this year were Mariano Barbacid, Director of the Spanish National Cancer Research Center, and Nancy Brinker, founder of The Susan G. Komen Foundation.
To read more about Trichopoulos, see: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/review/review_fall_04/rvw_trichopoulos.html.