Janet L. Stanford, PhD, MPH

Dr. Janet L. Stanford is a founding member of the Program in Prostate Cancer Research at Fred Hutch, which aims to understand the causes and underlying biology of prostate cancer to develop new prevention approaches, treatments and cures. Dr. Stanford, a cancer epidemiologist, studies the role of environmental, lifestyle and genetic risk factors in prostate cancer development, disease progression and cancer-specific mortality. She also studies quality-of-life outcomes after diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer, and genetic alterations, or mutations, that may be useful as biomarkers for predicting prostate cancer risk and aggressiveness. Dr. Stanford has led landmark studies, including finding that higher consumption of cruciferous vegetables, moderate intake of red wine and regular use of aspirin are each associated with reduced risks of the disease. She also found that heavy, long-term cigarette smoking increases the risk of prostate cancer, but that risk declines for those who quit.