Harvard Catalyst Profiles

Dr. Stampfer's research program is broadly concerned with the etiology of chronic diseases, with particular focus on nutrition and cancer.

With colleagues in the Departments of Epidemiology and Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health, and at the Channing Division of Network Medicine and the Division of Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Dr. Stampfer is closely involved in four large prospective cohort studies:

Nurses' Health Study I (N = 121,700) - Co-Principal Investigator
Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (N = 51,259) - Founding co-Investigator
Physicians' Health Studies I and II (N = 22,071) - Founding co-Investigator
Nurses' Health Study II (N = 116,678) - Founding co-Investigator
In each of these studies, participants are surveyed every two years to gather information on diet, smoking, physical activity, medications, health screening behavior, and other variables. We also ascertain the new occurrence of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other serious illnesses, including diabetes, fractures, kidney stones, and pre-cancerous lesions.

In addition, Dr. Stampfer leads several other NIH-funded projects, and is co-Principal Investigator of a T32 NIH training programs that support pre-doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows.

All of these large-scale studies are continuing. Over the past twenty years, Dr. Stampfer has continuously been identified as among the five most highly cited scientists in clinical medicine.