BIOGRAPHY

Elio Riboli is currently Professor of Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Imperial College London and the European coordinator of the European Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study. After graduating in Medicine and Surgery at the University Medical School, Elio Riboli joined the Department of Epidemiology at the National Institute of Tumours in Milan, in Italy, in 1978. A few years later, he moved to Lyon, in France, to work as Medical Officer of Epidemiology at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). There he was involved in the innovative research on the relationship between diet, nutrition, and cancer, becoming the first head of the IARC Nutrition and Cancer Programme. After a pilot phase, the EPIC study took shape in the early 1990s. As the European coordinator of the EPIC study, Elio Riboli has leaded this pioneer project from the beginning. The EPIC study has brought together 23 clinical centres across the Europe to collaborate, introduced several innovations in the prospective studies and demonstrated the role of nutrition, lifestyle, and hormones in the cancer development.