Dr. Peter Kanetsky is the Chair and Program Leader of Cancer Epidemiology at Moffitt Cancer Center. He has made seminal contributions to understanding the genetic susceptibility to melanoma and testicular germ cell tumors. Melanoma, a potentially lethal skin cancer, is the fifth most common cancer in the United States, and its incidence continues an upward trajectory. Increasing prevention behaviors such as responsible sun seeking and having skin examinations can ebb the rising tide of skin cancer diagnoses. Dr. Kanetsky led two precision prevention intervention trials both of which found that knowledge of inherited genetic risk can improve the practice of skin cancer risk behaviors.
He also is highly engaged in international consortium efforts to understand the interaction of inherited genetics and sun exposures among individuals who are members of melanoma-prone families. Testicular germ cell cancers are the most common cancer in men between the ages of 15 and 35. Although highly treatable, standard chemotherapies have unpleasant and sometimes severe adverse consequences that can lead to decreased quality of life. Dr. Kanetsky holds a leadership role in an international genetic research consortium that addresses a spectrum of scientific questions focused on testicular germ cell tumors to better serve this adolescent and young adult male population.
