News
18 May 2018

IARC Governing Council elects new IARC Director

Lyon, France, 17 May 2018 – The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Governing Council, which is composed of the Representatives of the IARC Participating States and of the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), today elected Dr Elisabete Weiderpass as the new Director of the Agency.

Header Paragraph

Dr Weiderpass will take office on 1 January 2019. IARC Directors are elected for a five-year term and are eligible for one further five-year term.

Elisabete Weiderpass, MD, MSc, PhD, is a Brazilian cancer researcher who is a naturalized Swedish and Finnish citizen. She is an expert in cancer epidemiology and cancer prevention. She currently serves as leader of the Department of Research at the Cancer Registry of Norway, and of the Genetic Epidemiology Group at the Folkhälsan Research Center in Finland. She is a Professor of Medical Epidemiology at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, and a Professor of Cancer Epidemiology at the Arctic University of Norway. She holds Adjunct Professorship positions in Cancer Epidemiology in Brazil, China, and the Islamic Republic of Iran, and is a Visiting Professor in Kuwait.

“I am delighted to have been selected as the next Director of the Agency, and I look forward to bringing my expertise to IARC and contributing to the important work of the Agency,” says Dr Weiderpass.

Dr Weiderpass will take over as IARC Director from Dr Christopher P. Wild, who has served two five-year terms since taking office on 1 January 2009. Dr Wild has supported the development of several major global initiatives aimed at developing the capacity and infrastructure for research, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, and he has overseen an increase in the number of IARC Participating States.

For more information

Please contact Véronique Terrasse, Communications Group, at +33 (0)4 72 73 83 66 or terrassev@iarc.fr or, IARC Communications, at com@iarc.fr

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is part of the World Health Organization. Its mission is to coordinate and conduct research on the causes of human cancer, the mechanisms of carcinogenesis, and to develop scientific strategies for cancer control. The Agency is involved in both epidemiological and laboratory research and disseminates scientific information through publications, meetings, courses, and fellowships. If you wish your name to be removed from our press release e- mailing list, please write to com@iarc.fr.

Last update

Friday 07 June 2019

Share this page