Conférenciers invités

Dr Mary Schubauer-Berigan is head of the Monographs programme at the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Her staff organize systematic evaluations of epidemiologic, experimental, and mechanistic evidence to identify the preventable causes of human cancer. Mary has co-led the update of the methodologies for the Monographs and has led monographs on night shift work and occupational exposure as a firefighter.

Previously, Mary worked for two decades as an epidemiologist at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in the USA. She led studies of occupational exposures to beryllium, carbon nanotubes, ionizing radiation, and circadian disruption. Her research on lung cancer from beryllium exposure in workers was used by OSHA in setting a more protective occupational exposure limit. Mary has published more than 170 articles and book chapters. She received her PhD from the Medical University of South Carolina and a MS degree from the University of Minnesota. 

For over 55 years, the IARC Monographs program of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has been instrumental in identifying the causes of cancer in the workplace, in the environment, and in everyday life. Identifying the causes of cancer is a critical first step in cancer prevention. There are now 135 agents that have been classified as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1) by international, multidisciplinary Working Groups of independent experts convened by IARC. Occupational studies of cancer have been critically important to these classifications, with more than half of the Group 1 carcinogens occurring in the workplace and having had the most important evidence derived from studies among workers. This keynote address will highlight the roles of occupational exposure scientists, epidemiologists, and toxicologists in collaborating to draw robust conclusions about the causes of cancer in the workplace. The talk will highlight some of the recent and forthcoming evaluations that particularly relied upon workplace studies, including occupational exposure as a firefighter, automotive gasoline, and inorganic lead compounds and will provide examples of the impact of these evaluations for workplace cancer prevention.