Elisabete Weiderpass

Elisabete Weiderpass-Vainio is a Brazilian cancer researcher who is Director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a part of the World Health Organization. Her research considers the epidemiology and prevention of cancer.

Early life and education Weiderpass is from Santo André, São Paulo. In an interview with The Lancet she explained that she grew up in a working-class family, and that it was unclear whether or not she would attend university. Her parents encouraged her to continue her studies, and she was approved to study medicine at the Federal University of Pelotas in south Brazil.

Research and career In the early 2000s, Weiderpass started to work in Sub-Saharan Africa with the International Agency for Research on Cancer. In 2005, she returned to the Karolinska Institute, where she continued to study the epidemiology of cancer. She was responsible for the Ugandan Collaboration of Infectious Diseases. The agency is based in Lyon. Weiderpass is the first woman to hold the position. She partnered with the European Society for Medical Oncology in 2020, working together to deliver a series of webinars and e-learning modules focussed on the elimination of cancer.

Awards and honours 2017 Elected Fellow of the European Academy of Cancer Sciences 2017 Gansu Foreign Experts Administration Dunhuang Award for Outstanding Foreign Expert

Select publications

Personal life Weiderpass is a naturalised Swedish and Finnish citizen. She is married to Harri Uolevi Vainio, a professor at Kuwait University.