James R. Cerhan, M.D., Ph.D., is a Professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Quantitative Health Sciences and the Ralph S. and Beverly Caulkins Professor of Cancer Research at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.  He also serves as the Co-Leader of the Population Sciences Program in the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center.

Dr. Cerhan received his Ph.D. in Epidemiology in 1991, and his M.D. in 1993, both from the University of Iowa.  He then completed a post-doctoral fellowship in cancer epidemiology at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

His research uses epidemiologic approaches to study the causes and outcomes of cancer in human populations.  His major contributions have been on identifying genetic, environmental, lifestyle, and biological factors that are responsible for causing lymphoma and improving the outcomes of patients with lymphoma.  His program has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since 1995, and he has published over 500 papers in the peer-reviewed literature.  He currently co-leads the Lymphoma Epidemiology of Outcomes (LEO) cohort, a NIH-funded study involving eight academic centers.

Dr. Cerhan has provided extensive service to the National Cancer Institute, American Association for Cancer Research, American Cancer Society, Lymphoma Research Foundation and other professional organizations, and he is currently an elected member representing the United States on the Scientific Council of the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France.  Dr. Cerhan has received many awards and honors, including election into the American Epidemiological Society; an Outstanding Alumni Award for Career Achievement, conferred by the University of Iowa College of Public Health; and an Outstanding Service Award, conferred by the National Cancer Institute.