DF/HCC Program Affiliation

Gynecologic Cancers, Co-Leader
Cancer Epidemiology

DF/HCC Associations

Principal Investigator, Ovarian Cancer SPORE
Member, Center Scientific Council

Research Abstract

Dr. Cramer's research has focused on the epidemiology of gynecologic cancers with a particular focus on ovarian cancer. Dr. Cramer authored the first case-control study describing an association between talc use and ovarian cancer. Factors affecting the ovarian pituitary axis are another focus of Dr. Cramer's research on ovarian cancer. In papers published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute dealing with reproductive and familial risk factors and in one published in the NEJM on oral contraceptive and ovarian cancer, he argued that the epidemiologic data on ovarian cancer was more consistent with a role for excessive gonadotropin stimulation of the ovaries as a cause of the disease rather than the popular "incessant ovulation" theory. Citing animal models, he proposed that high gonadotropins might derive from factors that prematurely deplete the follicular pool or from lack of factors which act to suppress gonadotropins. He continues to pursue both environmental and genetic determinants which may operate through either pelvic contamination or disruption of the ovarian/pituitary axis to cause ovarian cancer.

Publications

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