David J. Hunter
Emeritus Faculty

David J. Hunter

Vincent L. Gregory Professor of Cancer Prevention, Emeritus

Epidemiology

dhunter@hsph.harvard.edu

Other Positions

Professor of Medicine, Emeritus

Emeritus

Harvard Medical School


Overview

David Hunter's principal research interests are the etiology of cancer, particularly breast, ovarian, prostate and skin cancer. He was an investigator on the Nurses' Health Study, a long-running cohort of 121,000 US women, and was project director for the Nurses' Health Study II, a newer cohort of 116,000 women. He analyzes inherited susceptibility to cancer and other chronic diseases using genetic techniques and studying molecular markers of environmental exposures. Dr. Hunter supervised laboratories at the Harvard School of Public Health in which gene sequence information from these samples is obtained. He was Co-Chair of the NCI Breast and Prostate Cancer Cohort Consortium and co-director of the NCI Cancer Genetic Markers of Susceptibility (CGEMS) Special Initiative. He collaborated with investigators at the School and in Tanzania to understand the relationship of nutritional status to progression of HIV disease and perinatal transmission. Professor Hunter was the Director of the Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention from 1997-2003, and was Founding Director of the Program in Molecular and Genetic Epidemiology (now Program in Genetic Epidemiology and Statistical Genetics), Harvard School of Public Health. Hunter was Acting Dean of the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health in 2015-2016 and before that Dean for Academic Affairs at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health 2009-2015.

In 2017, Hunter moved to the University of Oxford as the Richard Doll Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine, and as a Governing Board Fellow of Green Templeton College. He directs a Unit focused on translating disease risk information into population health and clinical practice. He is Chief Science Advisor to Our Future Health, a major cohort initiative of the UK Government. In 2021 he was elected as a Fellow by distinction of the UK Faculty of Public Health, and elected as a Fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences.

MB, BS, 1982
University of Sydney Medical School

MPH, 1985
Harvard School of Public Health

ScD, 1988
Harvard School of Public Health


Bibliography

Publisher Correction: Understanding the genetic complexity of puberty timing across the allele frequency spectrum.

Grant SFA, Gudnason V, Hayward C, Kolcic I, Kraft P, Lawlor DA, Martin NG, Nøhr EA, Pedersen NL, Pennell CE, Ridker PM, Robino A, Snieder H, Sovio U, Spector TD, Stöckl D, Sudlow C, Timpson NJ, Toniolo D, Uitterlinden A, Ulivi S, Völzke H, Wareham NJ, Widen E, Wilson JF, Pharoah PDP, Li L, Easton DF, Njølstad PR, Sulem P, Murabito JM, Murray A, Manousaki D, Juul A, Erikstrup C, Stefansson K, Horikoshi M, Chen Z, Farooqi IS, Pitteloud N, Johansson S, Day FR, Perry JRB, Ong KK, Kentistou KA, Kaisinger LR, Stankovic S, Vaudel M, Mendes de Oliveira E, Messina A, Walters RG, Liu X, Busch AS, Helgason H, Thompson DJ, Santoni F, Petricek KM, Zouaghi Y, Huang-Doran I, Gudbjartsson DF, Bratland E, Lin K, Gardner EJ, Zhao Y, Jia RY, Terao C, Riggan MJ, Bolla MK, Yazdanpanah M, Yazdanpanah N, Bradfield JP, Broer L, Campbell A, Chasman DI, Cousminer DL, Franceschini N, Franke LH, Girotto G, He C, Järvelin MR, Joshi PK, Kamatani Y, Karlsson R, Luan J, Lunetta KL, Mägi R, Mangino M, Medland SE, Meisinger C, Noordam R, Nutile T, Concas MP, Polašek O, Porcu E, Ring SM, Sala C, Smith AV, Tanaka T, van der Most PJ, Vitart V, Wang CA, Willemsen G, Zygmunt M, Ahearn TU, Andrulis IL, Anton-Culver H, Antoniou AC, Auer PL, Barnes CLK, Beckmann MW, Berrington de Gonzalez A, Bogdanova NV, Bojesen SE, Brenner H, Buring JE, Canzian F, Chang-Claude J, Couch FJ, Cox A, Crisponi L, Czene K, Daly MB, Demerath EW, Dennis J, Devilee P, De Vivo I, Dörk T, Dunning AM, Dwek M, Eriksson JG, Fasching PA, Fernandez-Rhodes L, Ferreli L, Fletcher O, Gago-Dominguez M, García-Closas M, García-Sáenz JA, González-Neira A, Grallert H, Guénel P, Haiman CA, Hall P, Hamann U, Hakonarson H, Hart RJ, Hickey M, Hooning MJ, Hoppe R, Hopper JL, Hottenga JJ, Hu FB, Huebner H, Hunter DJ, Jernström H, John EM, Karasik D, Khusnutdinova EK, Kristensen VN, Lacey JV, Lambrechts D, Launer LJ, Lind PA, Lindblom A, Magnusson PKE, Mannermaa A, McCarthy MI, Meitinger T, Menni C, Michailidou K, Millwood IY, Milne RL, Montgomery GW, Nevanlinna H, Nolte IM, Nyholt DR, Obi N, O'Brien KM, Offit K, Oldehinkel AJ, Ostrowski SR, Palotie A, Pedersen OB, Peters A, Pianigiani G, Plaseska-Karanfilska D, Pouta A, Pozarickij A, Radice P, Rennert G, Rosendaal FR, Ruggiero D, Saloustros E, Sandler DP, Schipf S, Schmidt CO, Schmidt MK, Small K, Spedicati B, Stampfer M, Stone J, Tamimi RM, Teras LR, Tikkanen E, Turman C, Vachon CM, Wang Q, Winqvist R, Wolk A, Zemel BS, Zheng W, van Dijk KW, Alizadeh BZ, Bandinelli S, Boerwinkle E, Boomsma DI, Ciullo M, Chenevix-Trench G, Cucca F, Esko T, Gieger C.

Nat Genet. 2024 Jul 09. PMID: 38982295

Understanding the genetic complexity of puberty timing across the allele frequency spectrum.

Petricek KM, Zouaghi Y, Huang-Doran I, Gudbjartsson DF, Bratland E, Lin K, Gardner EJ, Zhao Y, Jia RY, Terao C, Riggan MJ, Bolla MK, Yazdanpanah M, Yazdanpanah N, Bradfield JP, Broer L, Campbell A, Chasman DI, Cousminer DL, Franceschini N, Franke LH, Girotto G, He C, Järvelin MR, Joshi PK, Kamatani Y, Karlsson R, Luan J, Lunetta KL, Mägi R, Mangino M, Medland SE, Meisinger C, Noordam R, Nutile T, Concas MP, Polašek O, Porcu E, Ring SM, Sala C, Smith AV, Tanaka T, van der Most PJ, Vitart V, Wang CA, Willemsen G, Zygmunt M, Ahearn TU, Andrulis IL, Anton-Culver H, Antoniou AC, Auer PL, Barnes CLK, Beckmann MW, Berrington de Gonzalez A, Bogdanova NV, Bojesen SE, Brenner H, Buring JE, Canzian F, Chang-Claude J, Couch FJ, Cox A, Crisponi L, Czene K, Daly MB, Demerath EW, Dennis J, Devilee P, De Vivo I, Dörk T, Dunning AM, Dwek M, Eriksson JG, Fasching PA, Fernandez-Rhodes L, Ferreli L, Fletcher O, Gago-Dominguez M, García-Closas M, García-Sáenz JA, González-Neira A, Grallert H, Guénel P, Haiman CA, Hall P, Hamann U, Hakonarson H, Hart RJ, Hickey M, Hooning MJ, Hoppe R, Hopper JL, Hottenga JJ, Hu FB, Huebner H, Hunter DJ, Jernström H, John EM, Karasik D, Khusnutdinova EK, Kristensen VN, Lacey JV, Lambrechts D, Launer LJ, Lind PA, Lindblom A, Magnusson PKE, Mannermaa A, McCarthy MI, Meitinger T, Menni C, Michailidou K, Millwood IY, Milne RL, Montgomery GW, Nevanlinna H, Nolte IM, Nyholt DR, Obi N, O'Brien KM, Offit K, Oldehinkel AJ, Ostrowski SR, Palotie A, Pedersen OB, Peters A, Pianigiani G, Plaseska-Karanfilska D, Pouta A, Pozarickij A, Radice P, Rennert G, Rosendaal FR, Ruggiero D, Saloustros E, Sandler DP, Schipf S, Schmidt CO, Schmidt MK, Small K, Spedicati B, Stampfer M, Stone J, Tamimi RM, Teras LR, Tikkanen E, Turman C, Vachon CM, Wang Q, Winqvist R, Wolk A, Zemel BS, Zheng W, van Dijk KW, Alizadeh BZ, Bandinelli S, Boerwinkle E, Boomsma DI, Ciullo M, Chenevix-Trench G, Cucca F, Esko T, Gieger C, Grant SFA, Gudnason V, Hayward C, Kolcic I, Kraft P, Lawlor DA, Martin NG, Nøhr EA, Pedersen NL, Pennell CE, Ridker PM, Robino A, Snieder H, Sovio U, Spector TD, Stöckl D, Sudlow C, Timpson NJ, Toniolo D, Uitterlinden A, Ulivi S, Völzke H, Wareham NJ, Widen E, Wilson JF, Pharoah PDP, Li L, Easton DF, Njølstad PR, Sulem P, Murabito JM, Murray A, Manousaki D, Juul A, Erikstrup C, Stefansson K, Horikoshi M, Chen Z, Farooqi IS, Pitteloud N, Johansson S, Day FR, Perry JRB, Ong KK, Kentistou KA, Kaisinger LR, Stankovic S, Vaudel M, Mendes de Oliveira E, Messina A, Walters RG, Liu X, Busch AS, Helgason H, Thompson DJ, Santoni F.

Nat Genet. 2024 Jul. 56(7):1397-1411. PMID: 38951643

Fine-mapping analysis including over 254,000 East Asian and European descendants identifies 136 putative colorectal cancer susceptibility genes.

Chen Z, Guo X, Tao R, Huyghe JR, Law PJ, Fernandez-Rozadilla C, Ping J, Jia G, Long J, Li C, Shen Q, Xie Y, Timofeeva MN, Thomas M, Schmit SL, Díez-Obrero V, Devall M, Moratalla-Navarro F, Fernandez-Tajes J, Palles C, Sherwood K, Briggs SEW, Svinti V, Donnelly K, Farrington SM, Blackmur J, Vaughan-Shaw PG, Shu XO, Lu Y, Broderick P, Studd J, Harrison TA, Conti DV, Schumacher FR, Melas M, Rennert G, Obón-Santacana M, Martín-Sánchez V, Oh JH, Kim J, Jee SH, Jung KJ, Kweon SS, Shin MH, Shin A, Ahn YO, Kim DH, Oze I, Wen W, Matsuo K, Matsuda K, Tanikawa C, Ren Z, Gao YT, Jia WH, Hopper JL, Jenkins MA, Win AK, Pai RK, Figueiredo JC, Haile RW, Gallinger S, Woods MO, Newcomb PA, Duggan D, Cheadle JP, Kaplan R, Kerr R, Kerr D, Kirac I, Böhm J, Mecklin JP, Jousilahti P, Knekt P, Aaltonen LA, Rissanen H, Pukkala E, Eriksson JG, Cajuso T, Hänninen U, Kondelin J, Palin K, Tanskanen T, Renkonen-Sinisalo L, Männistö S, Albanes D, Weinstein SJ, Ruiz-Narvaez E, Palmer JR, Buchanan DD, Platz EA, Visvanathan K, Ulrich CM, Siegel E, Brezina S, Gsur A, Campbell PT, Chang-Claude J, Hoffmeister M, Brenner H, Slattery ML, Potter JD, Tsilidis KK, Schulze MB, Gunter MJ, Murphy N, Castells A, Castellví-Bel S, Moreira L, Arndt V, Shcherbina A, Bishop DT, Giles GG, Southey MC, Idos GE, McDonnell KJ, Abu-Ful Z, Greenson JK, Shulman K, Lejbkowicz F, Offit K, Su YR, Steinfelder R, Keku TO, van Guelpen B, Hudson TJ, Hampel H, Pearlman R, Berndt SI, Hayes RB, Martinez ME, Thomas SS, Pharoah PDP, Larsson SC, Yen Y, Lenz HJ, White E, Li L, Doheny KF, Pugh E, Shelford T, Chan AT, Cruz-Correa M, Lindblom A, Hunter DJ, Joshi AD, Schafmayer C, Scacheri PC, Kundaje A, Schoen RE, Hampe J, Stadler ZK, Vodicka P, Vodickova L, Vymetalkova V, Edlund CK, Gauderman WJ, Shibata D, Toland A, Markowitz S, Kim A, Chanock SJ, van Duijnhoven F, Feskens EJM, Sakoda LC, Gago-Dominguez M, Wolk A, Pardini B, FitzGerald LM, Lee SC, Ogino S, Bien SA, Kooperberg C, Li CI, Lin Y, Prentice R, Qu C, Bézieau S, Yamaji T, Sawada N, Iwasaki M, Le Marchand L, Wu AH, Qu C, McNeil CE, Coetzee G, Hayward C, Deary IJ, Harris SE, Theodoratou E, Reid S, Walker M, Ooi LY, Lau KS, Zhao H, Hsu L, Cai Q, Dunlop MG, Gruber SB, Houlston RS, Moreno V, Casey G, Peters U, Tomlinson I, Zheng W.

Nat Commun. 2024 Apr 26. 15(1):3557. PMID: 38670944


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