Petra Peeters is professor of Chronic Disease Epidemiology at the Julius Center of health sciences and primary care in the UMC Utrecht. Peeters will make her inaugural address at the Imperial College in London where she’s also employed. Could you introduce yourself? “Although I always wanted to study medicine, I started out with mathematics due to the numerus fixus. When I finally got into medicine I really enjoyed it, but an elective in Tanzania deeply influenced me. After working in those barren circumstances I found myself unable to work in a Dutch medical setting. That’s why I got into epidemiology. I always have been good at crunching numbers and I liked the idea of applying mathematics to medical problems. So I obtained a PhD in epidemiology at Nijmegen University in 1989 and subsequently became associate professor of clinical epidemiology at the Julius Center. In 2007 I was appointed professor of chronic disease epidemiology at the Faculty of Medicine in Imperial College, London, UK.”
What’s your research about? “I’m interested in life style factors influencing cancer risk. The better part of my research in the early nineties has gone into recruiting over 17,000 Dutch women in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. We collected detailed dietary and other lifestyle data, aswell as blood samples. This data collection really is an epidemiological gold mine which we are still exploring. It showed for example that vegetable and fruit intake is not associated with risk for breast cancer, while previously it had been thougth to protect against this form of cancer. Also in the European PANACEA project we try and identify determinants of obesity.”
What are you proud of? “In the Cobra study, ‘Core Biopsy after Radiological localisation’, we investigated whether it would be possible to replace surgical excision of suspected breast cancer lesions with stereotactic large-core needle biopsy in over a thousand women. It turned out that needle biopsy indeed reduced the time to diagnosis and the time to complete surgical treatment of nonpalpable breast cancer. It also reduced the number of surgical procedures required for complete surgical treatment of nonpalpable breast cancer. I found this a very rewarding study that visibly improved clinical practice and benefited women suspected of breast cancer.”
Why the UMC Utrecht?
“After completing my PhD in Nijmegen I looked for a change of venue to continue my career. Since the UMC Utrecht coordinated the largest cohort study into breast cancer at the time it seemed pretty logical to move here. Ever since, epidemiology at the UMC Utrecht has only gained mass and importance so I still feel I’m well placed here. Plentiful collaborations with clinical researchers make it a very good environment for devising clinical epidemiological trials. Though it can be hard at times to find the right match between epidemiological and clinical research questions because health care is organized per organ while epidemiology typically takes a systemic approach.”
Future plans? “Imaging technology and medical knowhow move forward at a breakneck pace. Testing and treatment options increase and so does the need for thorough evaluation of relevance and cost effectivity. How do we optimally use all the knowledge coming towards us? I’m for example interested in the use of MRI and blood biomarkers for early diagnosis of breast cancer.”