Elisabete Weiderpass, MD, MSc, PhD, is Director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC),
the World Health Organization's specialized cancer agency, based in Lyon, France. She took office in
January 2019 and, in May 2023, was elected for a second five-year term, commencing on 1 January 2024.
Dr Weiderpass is an expert in cancer epidemiology and cancer prevention, with a particular interest in
cancer registration, the understanding of cancers and the implementation of effective prevention
strategies. She has published more than 1,000 scientific papers in peer-reviewed international journals.
She is a member of the EU Mission Board for Cancer, Chair of the Gustave Roussy Scientific Council,
a member of the Governing Council of INSERM, a member of the Scientific Council of the Centre Léon
Bérard, a Steering Committee member of the WHO Academy and, since 2025, a member of the French
National Academy of Medicine (Académie Nationale de Médecine).
Prior to joining IARC, Dr Weiderpass served as Head, Department of Research at the Cancer Registry of
Norway, and of the Genetic Epidemiology Group at the Folkhälsan Research Center in Finland. She was
Professor of Medical Epidemiology at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, and Professor of
Cancer Epidemiology at the Arctic University of Norway. She has held visiting professorship positions in
cancer epidemiology in Brazil, China, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Kuwait and is an honorary Adjunct
Professor at the Yale School of Public Health in the USA