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Cohorts and consortia conference: a summary report (Banff, Canada, June 17–19, 2009)

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Abstract

Epidemiologic studies have adapted to the genomics era by forming large international consortia to overcome issues of large data volume and small sample size. Whereas both cohort and well-conducted case–control studies can inform disease risk from genetic susceptibility, cohort studies offer the additional advantages of assessing lifestyle and environmental exposure–disease time sequences often over a life course. Consortium involvement poses several logistical and ethical issues to investigators, some of which are unique to cohort studies, including the challenge to harmonize prospectively collected lifestyle and environmental exposures validly across individual studies. An open forum to discuss the opportunities and challenges of large-scale cohorts and their consortia was held in June 2009 in Banff, Canada, and is summarized in this report.

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Acknowledgments

The scientific and organizing committees would like to thank the conference speakers for their contributions: Paolo Boffetta, Graham Colditz, John Potter, Elio Riboli, Susan Hankinson, Laurence Kolonel, Michael Thun, Paula Robson, Rahman Jamal, Reza Malekzadeh, Zhengming Chen, Wei Zheng, Prabhat Jha, Daniela Seminara, Ellen Goode, Keun-Young Yoo, Paul Demers, Thomas Sellers, Isabel Fortier, Pierre Hainaut, Richard Gallagher, Jorn Olsen, Les Robison, Ross Prentice, Yutaka Yasui, Thomas Lumley, Kieran O’Doherty, Bartha Maria Knoppers, John McLaughlin, Louise Parker, John McPherson, Eric Paulos, and David Duggan. We gratefully acknowledge funding from the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canadian Breast Cancer Research Alliance, the Canadian Cancer Society, Alberta Cancer Foundation/Alberta Cancer Research Institute, Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research, and the University of Calgary.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Tisch Cancer Institute, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY, 10029, USA

    Paolo Boffetta

  2. International Prevention Research Institute, 95 cours Lafayette, 69006, Lyon, France

    Paolo Boffetta

  3. Institute For Public Health, Washington University In St Louis, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA

    Graham A. Colditz

  4. Division of Public Health Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1100 Fairview Ave N, PO Box 19024, Seattle, WA, 98109-1024, USA

    John D. Potter, Ross Prentice & Cornelia M. Ulrich

  5. Cancer Research Center, University of Hawaii, 1236 Lauhala Street, Honolulu, HI, 96813, USA

    Laurence Kolonel

  6. Department of Population Health Research, Alberta Health Services—Cancer Care, Suite 1400, Sun Life Place, 10123 99th Street, Edmonton, AB, T5N 3T2, Canada

    Paula J. Robson

  7. Digestive Disease Research Center, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, 14117, Tehran, Iran

    Reza Malekzadeh

  8. National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, 20892-7335, USA

    Daniela Seminara

  9. Department of Health Sciences Research, College of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA

    Ellen L. Goode & Gloria M. Petersen

  10. Department of Preventive Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, 103 Daehangno, Chongno-gu, Seoul, 110-799, Korea

    Keun-Young Yoo

  11. School of Environmental Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z2, Canada

    Paul Demers

  12. Cancer Control Research Program, BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Richard Gallagher

  13. School of Public Health, University of Alberta, 3-27 University Terrace, Edmonton, AB, T5R 3B9, Canada

    Yutaka Yasui

  14. W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics, University of British Columbia, 227-6356 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z2, Canada

    Kieran O’Doherty

  15. German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT), 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Cornelia M. Ulrich

  16. Department of Population Health Research, Alberta Health Services-Cancer Care, 1331 29th Street NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 4N2, Canada

    Ilona Csizmadi, Ernest K. Amankwah, Nigel T. Brockton, Karen Kopciuk, S. Elizabeth McGregor & Linda E. Kelemen

Authors
  1. Paolo Boffetta
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  2. Graham A. Colditz
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  3. John D. Potter
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  4. Laurence Kolonel
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  5. Paula J. Robson
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  6. Reza Malekzadeh
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  7. Daniela Seminara
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  8. Ellen L. Goode
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  9. Keun-Young Yoo
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  10. Paul Demers
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  11. Richard Gallagher
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  12. Ross Prentice
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  13. Yutaka Yasui
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  14. Kieran O’Doherty
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  15. Gloria M. Petersen
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  16. Cornelia M. Ulrich
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  17. Ilona Csizmadi
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  18. Ernest K. Amankwah
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  19. Nigel T. Brockton
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  20. Karen Kopciuk
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  21. S. Elizabeth McGregor
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  22. Linda E. Kelemen
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Paolo Boffetta or Linda E. Kelemen.

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Boffetta, P., Colditz, G.A., Potter, J.D. et al. Cohorts and consortia conference: a summary report (Banff, Canada, June 17–19, 2009). Cancer Causes Control 22, 463–468 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-010-9717-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-010-9717-0

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