Friends of IARC

"Cancer is one of the main diseases responsible for the global disease burden. As in general in public health, evidence-based prevention should be the key strategy, if possible. This calls for high-level research. IARC, under the auspices of the World Health Organization, is our forum for such high-level international cancer research. The track record of IARC in this is excellent."

Professor Pekka Puska has served as a Member of Parliament in Finland since 2017, after a previous stint as a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 1991. Professor Puska was Director General of the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Finland, from 2009 to 2013, and before that was Director of the National Public Health Institute of Finland (2003–2009). Professor Puska worked for the World Health Organization in Geneva as Director for Noncommunicable Disease Prevention and Health Promotion from 2001 to 2003.

From 1972 until 1997, Professor Puska was the Director and Principal Investigator of the North Karelia Project, a public health project targeting noncommunicable diseases – particularly cardiovascular disease – in Finland. During his 25-year tenure, premature mortality from heart disease among the working-age population in Finland declined by 80%, and many in the international community cite the project as the model for successful population-based prevention of cardiovascular disease. Professor Puska holds a Ph.D. from the University of Kuopio and an M.D. and Master of Political Science from the University of Turku. He is past president of the International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI) and of the World Heart Federation. He served on the IARC Governing Council from 2004 to 2013, and he was its chair from 2011 to 2013.