Graham Colditz


Graham Andrew Colditz MD, DrPH is an Australian chronic disease epidemiologist. He is the inaugural Niess-Gain Professor at Washington University School of Medicine, where he is Associate Director for Prevention and Control at the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center. He directs the Master of Population Health Science at Washington University School of Medicine. During medical training he was excited by the potential for prevention of chronic diseases. With encouragement from mentors he pursued training in the USA as it was routine for academics in Australia to obtain overseas training at that time. He is internationally recognized for leadership in cancer prevention, and is often interviewed by media for input on this topic. With members of Cancer Prevention and Control at Siteman, he blogs on issues relating to cancer prevention and screening. According to Google Scholar statistics, Colditz has the highest h-index of any living author, second only to Michel Foucault.

Birth and education

Colditz was born in Australia and educated at Newington College. He was active in cricket and rugby at Newington. He received his B.Sc. and medical degree from the University of Queensland, Australia, where he served as President of the Australian Medical Students Association in 1977. He obtained his M.P.H. and Doctorate in Public Health from Harvard University School of Public Health. Placing great importance on applying the scientific evidence amassed through research, Dr. Colditz has taken the lead on a number of large health communication projects, including the development of the long-running, popular health risk assessment, Your Disease Risk. At Siteman he leads efforts to promote cancer prevention in the community