Dr. Loffredo is an internationally known researcher and educator in the fields of global cancer epidemiology and birth defects. His research focuses on environmental and genetic causes, and especially on the roles that genetics play in mediating the risks from environmental chemical exposures. His research spans liver, bladder, and lung cancer in relation to chronic infections such as HCV, and environmental factors such as pesticides and secondhand smoke.
Dr. Loffredo has been the principal investigator of five NIH-funded R01 grants and several smaller studies, with currently funded research on diabetes and fatty liver disease disparities relevant to liver cancer in the greater Washington, DC region, and liver cancer related projects in Russia and Thailand. His research record includes more than 200 peer-reviewed research papers, and several books and book chapters.
Dr. Loffredo works extensively with international colleagues. His work on hepatitis C virus and environmental factors related to liver cancer involves collaboration with experts in Egypt, Thailand, Sweden and Russia. His NIH-funded research projects on liver and bladder cancers are located in Egypt, where these two types of cancers are much more common than in the U.S., and where the lessons learned on the roles of HCV, environment, and genetics will have important implications for the control of these health problems in the U.S. His work on carcinogens in Egypt, starting in 1997 and funded continuously through the present time, formed the basis for a successful application to the NIH Fogarty International Center to establish a tobacco research center in Cairo, under his direction and in collaboration with the Egypt Ministry of Health and Population. This center built the necessary infrastructure for Egypt to develop, test, and implement effect tobacco control policies. R01 funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse enabled his team to study tobacco and other substance use among Egyptian youth.
Current projects in cancer research include a long-running grant (>15 years) from the Department of Energy to study the cancer outcomes of a cohort of workers in Russia who were exposed to plutonium and other radiation in the manufacture of nuclear weapons. Liver cancer is among the major concerns in that cohort. Dr. Loffredo's team from Georgetown University works on strengthening biorepository infrastructure to support cancer research in that project. Dr. Loffredo is also part of an NCI intramural collaboration with scientists in Thailand to study the causes of liver cancer and cholangiocarcinoma in that country. And locally, he collaborates with Howard University scientists on a newly funded study of cancer risk factor disparities, including diabetes, fatty liver disease, and hepatitis C, as part of a Research Center in Minority Institutions (RCMI) grant. and a P20 Cancer Education grant jointly awarded to Howard University and Georgetown.
Dr. Loffredo has been involved in local advocacy for public health. He was a charter member of the Children’s Environmental Health and Protection Advisory Committee (CEHPAC) to the legislature of the State of Maryland, and served for over 10 years under appointment by two successive governors. CEHPAC reviews existing laws and regulations for their impacts on children’s health, and advises the legislature on these matters through policy statements and critiques, and direct testimony. Dr. Loffredo was recently called upon to testify in support of proposed regulations to expand smoke-free ordinances in Maryland. He was also a past member of the State of Maryland Cancer Control Committee.
Dr. Loffredo teaches and mentors graduate students in epidemiology, global health, and biostatistics. He teaches a foundation course in public health and epidemiology at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and directs the cancer epidemiology track within the MS Program in Epidemiology.
Academic Appointment(s)
- Secondary
- Professor, SOM - Biostatistics, Bioinformatics and Biomathematics