Researcher profile

Eduardo Franco

Professor Eduardo Franco is a Distinguished James McGill Professor in the Departments of Oncology and Epidemiology & Biostatistics at McGill University. He served as Director of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology (1995–2024) and Chair of the Department of Oncology (2011–23). Earlier, he was on the faculty of Université du Québec and Head of the Epidemiology Unit at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in São Paulo, Brazil. He holds biology degrees from the Universidade de Campinas and MPH and DrPH degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His early training included fellowships at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the U.S. National Cancer Institute, and Louisiana State University. Since 1985, his research has contributed to understanding and preventing cervical cancer and HPV‑related diseases, and to studies of upper aerodigestive tract, prostate, endometrial, and childhood cancers. His work spans cancer screening evaluation, measurement error, and factors influencing cancer survival. He has led international collaborations in the Americas, Europe, Africa, and through IARC. His research has been funded by CIHR, NIH, the National Cancer Institute of Canada, the Canadian Cancer Society, FRSQ, and the Cancer Research Society. As of March 2026, he had published more than 600 scientific papers (Google Scholar link: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=9GDejd4AAAAJ&hl=en). His work has appeared in The Lancet, JAMA, NEJM, JNCI, BMJ, and PLOS Medicine. He is Editor‑in‑Chief of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute and JNCI Monographs, and Editor‑in‑Chief Emeritus of Preventive Medicine and Preventive Medicine Reports. He has served on more than a dozen major editorial boards, on scientific and grant‑review panels internationally, and twice advised the U.S. President’s Cancer Panel. Professor Franco has mentored 101 graduate students, 36 postdoctoral fellows, and 41 undergraduate trainees, and has taught widely in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. He has held leadership roles in 68 conference committees, chaired the 16th World Congress of Epidemiology, and served as Vice-President and President of the Canadian Society for Epidemiology and Biostatistics. He is President‑Elect of the International Epidemiological Association (2024–27). His honours include major lifetime achievement awards from McGill and international organizations, and national distinctions such as Officer of the Order of Canada, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and Foreign Fellow of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.