Professor Pier Alberto Bertazzi

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is deeply saddened by the passing of Professor Pier Alberto Bertazzi, MD, MPH, who died on 15 September 2021.

Professor Bertazzi was the director of the Milan Institute of Occupational Health from 2001 to 2005 and from 2010 to 2015, and was most recently a professor at the Medical School of the University of Milan. His life’s work focused on the use of epidemiological methods to study occupational risk factors, and on applying the findings of this research to reduce exposures to hazardous agents in the workplace and the environment.

Professor Bertazzi conducted epidemiological studies on the health effects, including cancer, of exposure to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin (TCDD) after a disastrous industrial accident in Seveso, Italy, in 1976 at a plant manufacturing 2,4,5-trichlorophenol. These landmark studies formed an important part of the evidence base leading to an IARC Monographs Working Group evaluation of TCDD as carcinogenic to humans, in 1997.

Professor Bertazzi also led and collaborated on many epidemiological studies of cancer with colleagues at IARC and elsewhere, including a pooled study on manufactured mineral fibres, which was influential in other IARC Monographs evaluations. Professor Bertazzi was a frequent and highly valued participant in IARC Monographs Working Groups, including in the evaluation of ethylene oxide and vinyl halides in 2007, and was a strong supporter of the IARC Monographs programme.

Later in his career, Professor Bertazzi’s research profoundly influenced the growing areas of molecular epidemiology and epigenetics. In addition to his high research profile, Professor Bertazzi was an excellent teacher and an active participant in the initiatives of international societies of occupational epidemiology. For example, he served as Scientific Chairman of the Centennial Congress of the International Commission on Occupational Health, held in Milan in 2006.

IARC scientists and staff members join with Professor Bertazzi’s family and friends in deeply mourning the death of a colleague who had a great passion for public health and for reducing carcinogenic exposures in the workplace and the environment.