Dr Petra Wark

M.Sc. Ph.D.

Petra has a MSc in Biomedical Health Sciences from the University of Nijmegen (now: Radboud University; major: epidemiology, minors: oncology, nutrition, psychology; 2000) and a PhD from Wageningen University, the Netherlands. Her thesis examined the relationships of dietary, lifestyle, and heritable risk factors with histopathological and molecular characteristics of colorectal polyps and cancer. Whilst working on her PhD, she completed several courses in Applied Statistics and Biostatistics at Hasselt University, Belgium (2000-2003), and she was as guest researcher at the Department of Nutrition of Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, US for nine months (2003). From 2005 to 2008 she worked at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) in the Cancer Research UK Epidemiology and Genetics Group; she was, amongst others, involved in studies on the long-term health effects of the use of ovulation-stimulation drugs and immunosuppression as well as in a methodological project embedded in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study (in collaboration with Imperial College). Petra's interest in teaching and education became clear when she was doing LSHTM's Introductory Certificate in Learning and Teaching (2007-2008).

She has been working at Imperial College since 2009. She organises the International Course in Nutritional Epidemiology, the first edition of which took place in 2009. She also contributes to several teaching units on epidemiology at undergraduate and postgraduate level. This -  in combination with her research that concentrates on the nutritional and lifestyle determinants of cancer and longevity in the EPIC study - perfectly matches Petra's ambitions. 

Selected Publications