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Suresh H. Moolgavkar, M.D., Ph.D.

Vice President, Principal Scientist & Center Director

Epidemiology & Computational Biology

Professional Profile


Dr. Suresh Moolgavkar has more than 30 years of experience in the fields of epidemiology, biostatistics, and quantitative risk assessment. He is internationally known for his work in developing mechanistically based dose-response models for carcinogenesis, and, in particular, for the two-mutation clonal expansion model, also known as the Moolgavkar-Venzon-Knudson (MVK) model. For the past decade, Dr. Moolgavkar has also been keenly interested in air pollution epidemiology. Dr. Moolgavkar retired from his position as a Full Member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in August 2008. He continues to be an Affiliate Investigator at the Center and Professor of Epidemiology and Adjunct Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Washington in Seattle. Dr. Moolgavkar has served on the faculties of Johns Hopkins University, Indiana University, University of Pennsylvania, and Fox Chase Cancer Center. He has been a visiting scientist at the Radiation Effects Research Foundation in Hiroshima, the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, and the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg. Dr. Moolgavkar has served on numerous review panels and as a consultant to the National Cancer Institute, EPA, Health and Welfare, Canada, The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the California Air Resources Board (CARB), and the CIIT Centers for Health Research, among others.

Dr. Moolgavkar is the author or co-author of more than 160 papers and contributed chapters in the areas of epidemiology, biostatistics, and quantitative risk assessment, and has edited three books in these areas. He was the senior editor of a monograph, Quantitative Estimation and Prediction of Human Cancer Risk, published by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. He is an elected member of the American Epidemiological Society. Dr. Moolgavkar has served on the editorial boards of Genetic Epidemiology and Inhalation Toxicology, and is currently Associate Editor for Health and Environment of Risk Analysis—An International Journal. Dr. Moolgavkar has published numerous epidemiological and toxicological papers on lung cancer, including lung cancer following radiation and exposure to fibers. Dr. Moolgavkar was a member of the working group involved in the writing of the IARC monograph on tobacco smoking in 1986 (IARC monograph 38).

Dr. Moolgavkar was given the Founders’ Award by the CIIT Centers for Health Research in 1990 and the Distinguished Achievement Award by the Society for Risk Analysis in 2001. He is an elected member of the American Epidemiological Society and a Fellow of the Society for Risk Analysis, the premier international organization for risk assessment.

Dr. Moolgavkar’s research has been supported largely by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Energy, and EPA.

  • Ph.D., Mathematics, Johns Hopkins University, 1973
  • M.D., University of Bombay, India, 1965
  • Senior Fellow, Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, 1976–1977
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Departments of Pharmacology and Biophysics, Johns Hopkins Medical School, Baltimore, Maryland, 1966-1968
  • Elected Member, American Epidemiological Society
  • Distinguished Achievement Award, Society for Risk Analysis, 2001
  • Founders’ Award, Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology, 1990
  • Lester R. Ford Award of Mathematical Association of America, 1977
  • Faculty Research Fellowship of Indiana University, 1974–1976

    • Professor, Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, 1984–present
    • Adjunct Professor, Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Washington, 2004–present
    • Affiliate Investigator, The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 2008–present
    • Member, Graduate Faculty, University of Washington, 1984–present