World Cancer Day, held every 4 February, is a global initiative led by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) to raise awareness, improve education and catalyze action. This year’s theme is ‘Close the Care Gap: Uniting our voices and taking action’.
In celebration of this year’s theme, the PLOS blog, EveryONE, interviewed PLOS ONE author Richard Martin, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Bristol and co-lead researcher of the Integrative Cancer Epidemiology Programme (ICEP). In the interview he shared an overview of ICEP's aims and some recent research highlights, including exploring the link between obesity and cancer progression and research into different types of lung cancer, drawing on epidemiological methods such as Mendelian randomization.
Martin also discussed some of the challenges facing interdisciplinary research, the role of open science in overcoming these challenges, and how engagement with patient communities has increased the impact of ICEP research.