Current Research and Scholarly Interests
Scientific interests: 1) cancer etiology (diet and familial), 2) cancer surveillance, and 3) cancer outcomes. Director of the Northern California Cancer Center (NCCC) from 1992-2002, currently Chief Scientific Officer. Professor of Epidemiology and Associate Director of Population Sciences at the Stanford Comprehensive Cancer Center, since 2005.
In the 1970s authored papers of diet and colon, stomach, and oral cancers in New York. In Utah, Principal Investigator (PI) for a Program Grant of diet and colon cancer. Created a nutrient database, including home preserved foods and examined diet by site in the colon - fat was related to cancer in the ascending colon and protein in the descending colon (West, et al. Am J. Epid. 130:883-894, 1989). Reported effects of iron, energy, physical activity, tobacco, alcohol, coffee, and caffeine. Pl of a study of diet and prostate cancer, publishing the effects body mass, tobacco, alcohol, coffee, tea, theobromine, cadmium, occupation, and dietary nutrients. Significant associations for older men with aggressive tumors - total energy and dietary fat had significant associations, while none were found for body mass, physical activity, zinc, cadmium, selenium, vitamin C, or Beta-carotene (West, et al. Cancer Causes and Control, 2:85-94, 1991). Published on genetic and non-genetic factors in androgen production and clearance, familial factors and plasma and sex-steroid levels, and nutrition on sex-steroid levels in male twins (Bishop, et al. Genetic Epidemiology, 5:43-59,1988).
In California, investigator in collaborative study of prostate cancer, finding dietary fat associated with prostate cancer but not inter-ethnic differences (Whittemore, et al. J Natl Cancer Inst, 87:652-61, 1995). Published papers on diet and thyroid cancer and diet and cancer in a cohort of California teachers (Horn-Ross, et al. Cancer Causes Control 13:407-415,2002).
In the 1980s, published regarding cancer in Mormons and non-Mormons (West et al. J Natl Cancer Inst. 65:1083-1095, 1980). As PI of the Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry, developed a surveillance research team that published on cancer incidence and survival trends, especially Asians (e.g. OMalley et al. Cancer, 97:5:1303-1311, 2003; Phren, et al. Cancer Incidence in Chinese, Japanese, and Filipinos in the US and Asia, 1988-1992. Union City, CA: NCCC, 1999.) Identified the extent and characteristics of misclassified Hispanic (Stewart et al. Am J Epidemiol,149:1063-71, 1999) and Asian (Swallen et al Ethnic Dis., 8:218-227, 1998) patients.
Recent focus on cancer treatment and outcomes - finding use of adjuvant chemotherapy for stage III colon or stage II or III rectal cancer varied from 88%-11% in young and old patients and by hospital (51%-79%) (Ayanian, et al. J Clin Oncol. 21:7:1293-1300, 2003). Co-Investigator of the Cancer Care Outcomes Research Study (CanCORS) for colorectal and lung cancer that recruited over 5,000 colorectal and 5,000 lung cancer patients from which interview and medical record information regarding quality of life, treatment, health communications, and outcomes is being collected. (Ayanian J, et al. J Clin Oncology, 22 (15), 2992-2996, 2004). Contributed to collaborative studies such as the National Bladder Cancer Study (Hartge et al. J Natl Cancer Inst. 70:1021-1026, 1983), the cancer and steroid hormones (CASH) study, and a study of young Asian women and breast cancer (Ziegler et al. J Natl Cancer Inst, 85:1819-1827,1993). Co-Investigator of the Northern California component of the Collaborative Family Registry (CFR) for breast cancer. Group has recruited over 11,000 families for which epidemiologic, family history, and biospecimen data are available (John, et al. Breast Cancer Research, 6,:R375-R389, 2004. Helped create the California Teachers Study (cohort of 133,000 California teachers) who are followed for cancer and other outcomes. (Bernstein, et al. Causes Control, 13:625-635, 2002).
