This profile is part of a series to highlight the 16 researchers and one community member who will be honored at an April 21 ceremony. The recipients include the 2013 Scientist Laureate, six New Investigators, eight Distinguished Scientists, two Research Leadership awardees, and a Community Service to Research honoree.
- Name: Amr Soliman, M.D., Ph.D.
- Title: Professor and chair, department of epidemiology, College of Public Health
- Joined UNMC: August 2012
- Hometown: Cairo, Egypt
Describe your research briefly in layman’s terms.
My research is focused on investigating causes and risk factors of cancer and how that could help in cancer prevention and control. Most of my research studies are conducted in developing countries and minority settings in the U.S. I am particularly interested in investigating breast, colon and pancreatic cancers.
How does your research contribute to science and/or health care?
Extensive environmental exposures, high rates of infections and distinct genetic and/or lifestyle factors among many populations in developing countries may provide opportunities for elucidating cancer etiology. Cancer patterns in minorities in the U.S. show similarities to distinct epidemiologic cancer features in developing countries, and my studies of these similarities may improve our understanding of cancer epidemiology, risk factors, pathways of carcinogenesis, and cancer prevention and control.
What is the best piece of advice anyone ever gave you, professional or personal?
Don’t burn your bridges.
List three things few people know about you.
- I enjoy playing tennis.
- I like driving cars in different countries that I travel to, when I have a chance.
- My two children inherited/acquired my international bug or passion for work in different countries. My son, Ahmad, studies international politics at the Georgetown Graduate School of Foreign Service and my daughter, Ann, a junior at the University of Michigan, has attended courses and conducted international health research in Cyprus, Egypt, Ghana and Morocco. She plans to pursue graduate studies in international health.