Teaching

Analyses of major causes of mortality in the US since 1900: cancer, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, diabetes, infectious diseases. Analytical models to derive estimates for historically variant population risk factors and physiological rate parameters. Analysis of familial data to separately estimate inherited and environmental risks. Basic population genetics of dominant, recessive, and non-deleterious inherited risk factors.

Analysis of potentially important risk factors for common diseases in the general environment and the workplace: air-, food- and water-borne chemicals; subclinical infections; diet and lifestyle choices. Analysis of history of changes in common disease rates. General paradigm of environmental sources and exposure of human subpopulations, uptake, internal distribution and metabolism of xenobiotics. Measurement of xenobiotic chemicals and allobiotic life forms in human tissues. Potential pathways of induced pathogenesis: mutagenesis, inflammation, hormonal mimicry.

Logic and technology needed to discover genetic and environmental causes and accelerating factors for common human cancers. Analyses of large organized historical public health databases using quantitative carcinogenesis cascade models. Java-based model construction for mono- and multi-genic inherited risk for late onset (sporadic) cancers. Analyses of historical and clinical data to define role of environmental risk factors. Meets with 20.102. Graduate students complete additional work.