In Canada, cancer is the leading cause of death. Though advances in the treatment of cancer are important to reduce the burden of this deadly disease, equally important is the endeavour to identify what causes cancer to prevent it from occurring in the first place. I am a cancer epidemiologist with expertise in investigating the role of environmental, lifestyle, occupational and individual susceptibility factors in cancer etiology. I have pursued this field of research within a range of disciplines combining approaches from epidemiology, occupational hygiene, clinical medicine, and mechanistic toxicology. 

My program of research on cancer prevention is organized into three themes; with ongoing studies operating within these research themes. 

I. Modifiable factors for cancer prevention 

Study 1: The association between occupational physical activity and lung cancer risk (funded by CIHR) 

II. Sex and gender differences in cancer etiology 

Study 2: Occupational exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals and colorectal cancer risk (funded by CIHR) 

Study 3: Occupational exposures of women: development of a job exposure matrix to provide gender-specific estimations of exposure (funded by IRSST) 

III. A molecular epidemiologic approach to investigating environment-cancer relationships 

Study 4: Environmental influences in colorectal cancer etiology: a molecular epidemiology study on the role of epigenetics