Lorelei Mucci
Primary Faculty

Lorelei Mucci

Professor of Epidemiology

Epidemiology

lmucci@hsph.harvard.edu


Overview

My major area of research and teaching is cancer epidemiology. I am the Director of the Cancer Epidemiology and Cancer Prevention Program (Area of Interest) within the Department of Epidemiology here at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH). In addition, I am Leader of the Cancer Epidemiology Program at the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center.

After receiving my doctoral degree in epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (formerly the Harvard School of Public Health), I trained as a post-doctoral fellow in cancer epidemiology at the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. At the Karolinska, I gained expertise in using nationwide health registries to examine cancer etiology and formed a long-term partnership with epidemiology colleagues in the Nordic countries. For the past 9 years, my primary faculty appointment has been at the Harvard Chan School, where my research uses integrative molecular epidemiology approaches within cohorts in the United States and globally to investigate research questions focused on cancer etiology, mortality, and survivorship. I serve as co-Principal Investigator for the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (https://sites.sph.harvard.edu/hpfs/) as well as IRONMAN (see below). Below is a summary of some major areas of interest.


Bibliography

Circulating insulin-like growth factors and risks of overall, aggressive and early-onset prostate cancer: a collaborative analysis of 20 prospective studies and Mendelian randomization analysis.

Watts EL, Perez-Cornago A, Fensom GK, Smith-Byrne K, Noor U, Andrews CD, Gunter MJ, Holmes MV, Martin RM, Tsilidis KK, Albanes D, Barricarte A, Bueno-de-Mesquita HB, Cohn BA, Deschasaux-Tanguy M, Dimou NL, Ferrucci L, Flicker L, Freedman ND, Giles GG, Giovannucci EL, Haiman CA, Hankey GJ, Holly JMP, Huang J, Huang WY, Hurwitz LM, Kaaks R, Kubo T, Le Marchand L, MacInnis RJ, Männistö S, Metter EJ, Mikami K, Mucci LA, Olsen AW, Ozasa K, Palli D, Penney KL, Platz EA, Pollak MN, Roobol MJ, Schaefer CA, Schenk JM, Stattin P, Tamakoshi A, Thysell E, Tsai CJ, Touvier M, Van Den Eeden SK, Weiderpass E, Weinstein SJ, Wilkens LR, Yeap BB, Allen NE, Key TJ, Travis RC.

Int J Epidemiol. 2023 02 08. 52(1):71-86. PMID: 35726641

Clonal hematopoiesis and risk of prostate cancer in large samples of European ancestry men.

Wang A, Xu Y, Yu Y, Nead KT, Kim T, Xu K, Dadaev T, Saunders E, Sheng X, Wan P, Pooler L, Xia LY, Chanock S, Berndt SI, Gapstur SM, Stevens V, Albanes D, Weinstein SJ, Gnanapragasam V, Giles GG, Nguyen-Dumont T, Milne RL, Pomerantz MM, Schmidt JA, Stopsack KH, Mucci LA, Catalona WJ, Hetrick KN, Doheny KF, MacInnis RJ, Southey MC, Eeles RA, Wiklund F, Kote-Jarai Z, de Smith AJ, Conti DV, Huff C, Haiman CA, Darst BF.

Hum Mol Genet. 2023 01 13. 32(3):489-495. PMID: 36018819


News

Why more sex may lower prostate cancer risk

Frequent ejaculation has been linked with decreased prostate cancer risk. One reason may be that frequent ejaculation may help clear potentially cancer-causing substances from the prostate, according to Harvard Chan School's Lorelei Mucci.

Diet may influence risk of aggressive prostate cancer

Dietary patterns that are associated with inflammation and insulinemia—a condition marked by high levels of insulin in the blood—may put men at an increased risk for aggressive forms of prostate cancer, according to new research led by Harvard…