Michel Coleman BA BM BCh MSc FFPH

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Background

Since 1995, he has been Professor of Epidemiology and Vital Statistics at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. He was Deputy Chief Medical Statistician at the Office for National Statistics from 1995 to 2004 and Head of the Cancer and Public Health Unit at the School from 1998 to 2003. He has previously worked for the World Health Organisation at the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon (1987-1991), and was Medical Director of the Thames Cancer Registry in London (1991-1995). His main interests include trends in cancer incidence, mortality and survival, and the application of these tools to the public health control of cancer.

Teaching

He teaches on the MSc Epidemiology and other Master's courses, and supervises research degree students. He co-directs the annual short course on cancer survival with Dr Bernard Rachet, and is often invited to teach in other countries.

Research

We are funded by Cancer Research UK as the Cancer Survival Group to quantify, describe and explain patterns and trends in cancer survival by socio-economic group, geographic area and ethnicity, in collaboration with many research partners in the UK and around the world. We also develop the methodology and tools for survival analysis. We maintain a STATA program for relative survival analysis, freely available on the web; it has been downloaded by more than 230 partners world-wide. We recently updated national estimates of the socio-economic gradient in cancer survival in England and Wales among four million adults diagnosed with one of 20 major cancers between 1971 and 1999 and followed up to December 2001. We produce cancer survival estimates for Health Authorities, Government Office Regions and Cancer Networks in England for use in the NHS as High-Level Performance Indicators. We recently published the first world-wide comparison of cancer survival up to 1999 among 1.9 million patients diagnosed with cancer of the breast (F), colon, rectum or prostate in 31 countries on five continents (CONCORD study). With the Childhood Cancer Research Group in Oxford and the UK Children's Cancer Study Group, we aim to measure trends in the cure rate for UK children with leukaemia between 1971 and 2000. In February 2008, we published a book on cancer control in Europe, together with the Slovenian Government, the European Union and Prof Martin McKee at the School.

Selected publications

• Woods, L.M.; Rachet, B.; Cooper, N.; Coleman, M.P.; Predicted trends in long-term breast cancer survival in England and Wales. Br J Cancer, 2007; 96(7):1135-8
• Coleman, M.; Not credible: a subversion of science by the pharmaceutical industry. Commentary on A global comparison regarding patient access to cancer drugs (Ann Oncol 2007; 18 Suppl 3: pp 1 75). Ann Oncol, 2007; 18(9):1433-5
• Barrett, G.; Cassell, J.A.; Peacock, J.L.; Coleman, M.P.; National survey of British public's views on use of identifiable medical data by the National Cancer Registry. BMJ, 2006; 332(7549):1068-72
• Gatta, G.; Ciccolallo, L.; Kunkler, I.; Capocaccia, R.; Berrino, F.; Coleman, M. P.; de Angelis, R.; Faivre, J.; Lutz, J. M.; Martinez, C.; Moller, T.; Sankila, R. Survival from rare cancer in adults: a population-based study Lancet Oncology, 2006; 7(2):132-140
• Woods, L.M.; Rachet, B.; Coleman, M.P.; Origins of socio-economic inequalities in cancer survival: a review. Ann Oncol, 2005; 17(1):5-19
• Sant, M.; Allemani, C.; Berrino, F.; Coleman, M. P.; Aareleid, T.; Chaplain, G.; Coebergh, J. W.; Colonna, M.; Crosignani, P.; Danzon, A.; Federico, M.; Gafa, L.; Grosclaude, P.; Hedelin, G.; Mace-Lesech, J.; Garcia, C. M.; Møller, H.; Paci, E.; Raverdy, N.; Tretarre, B.; Williams, E. M. I. Breast carcinoma survival in Europe and the United States - A population-based study Cancer, 2004; 100(4):715-722
• Coleman, M.P.; Quaresma, M.; Berrino, F.; Lutz, J.M.; De Angelis, R.; Capocaccia, R.; Baili, P.; Rachet, B.; Gatta, G.; Hakulinen, T.; Micheli, A.; Sant, M.; Weir, H.K.; Elwood, J.M.; Tsukuma, H.; Koifman, S.; Azevedo e Silva, G.; Francisci, S.; Santaquilani, M.; Verdecchia, A.; Storm, H.H.; Young, J.L.; the CONCORD Working Group, .; Cancer survival in five continents: a worldwide population-based study (CONCORD). Lancet Oncol, 2008; 9(8):730-756
• Ciccolallo, L.; Capocaccia, R.; Coleman, M.P.; Berrino, F.; Coebergh, J.W.; Damhuis, R.A.; Faivre, J.; Martinez-Garcia, C.; Møller, H.; Ponz de Leon, M.; Launoy, G.; Raverdy, N.; Williams, E.M.; Gatta, G.; Survival differences between European and US patients with colorectal cancer: role of stage at diagnosis and surgery. Gut, 2005; 54(2):268-73

Full publications listing (since 2001)