Peter Boyle, FRSE, FFPH, FRCPS(Glas), FRCP(Edin), FMedSci, died after a long illness on July 23 at his home in Lyon, France. He was 71.
He is known for his work in tobacco control, bringing orthodoxy and truth to interpretation of scientific data, his forecast of a cancer epidemic in the developing world, his advocacy of cancer prevention and his mentorship of young scientists.
Boyle is among the great epidemiologists of our time, such as Sir Austin Bradford Hill, Sir Richard Doll, Sir Richard Peto, Julian Peto, Abraham Lilienfeld, Peter Greenwald, Fred Li, Joe Fraumeni, and Brian MacMahon. Indeed, most were friends, colleagues, and collaborators.
Boyle was born and raised in Glasglow. He obtained a doctorate in statistics from the University of Glasgow and initially worked for the West of Scotland Cancer Surveillance Unit. In 1984, he joined the faculty of the Harvard School of Public Health in the Departments of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, and became a member of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
In 1986, he left Harvard for the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the United Nations cancer agency. There, he ran the Surveillance of Environmental Factors Related to Cancer in Humans (SEARCH) Program–launching a trailblazing series of international case- control studies assessing the causal factors of a number of cancers.
In 1991, the famous cancer surgeon, Umberto Veronesi, invited Boyle to head the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the newly formed European Institute of Oncology in Milan. There, Boyle built a high-functioning research unit that not only did research, but made sure that research findings impacted policy.
It was from The European Institute of Oncology that Boyle rose to international prominence with work that included reassessments of the European Code Against Cancer and developing a cancer atlas for the European Union. He served as a member of the European Cancer Advisory Board and worked as scientific advisor to the European Commission on the European Tobacco Contents Directive. Boyle’s work in the 1990s with the European Parliament to pass groundbreaking tobacco control regulation is lowering European tobacco consumption even today.
In 2004, Boyle was named director general of IARC. From there, he designed and gathered support for the first randomized prospective study to show that cervical cancer screening saves lives.
The study showed that very low-tech visual inspection of the cervix and immediate treatment of abnormalities prevented deaths. “See and Treat” is now commonly used in resource-poor regions of India, Africa, South America and even on the southern border of the United States.
In 2009, Boyle left IARC to found the International Prevention Research Institute in Milan, a private agency that would do epidemiology research to influence policy.
Over his career, Boyle was a both a critic and a supporter of modern medicine and science. In the mid 1980s he wrote a scathing criticism of a then widely acclaimed study with exaggerated claims of the success of chemotherapy.
The paper, in the journal Science, said chemotherapy was preventing 150,000 cancer deaths a year in the U.S. Boyle pointed out that the data was not analyzed appropriately. He reanalyzed it and showed that the paper’s authors were off by an order of magnitude. Boyle then noted there are 10,000 medical oncologists in the US preventing 15,000 deaths per year. “That is 1.5 lives saved per year per oncologist.”
When it was announced that a paper would be presented in the plenary session of the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual conference, claiming that prostate specific antigen testing reduced prostate cancer mortality—it got huge publicity even before presentation. ASCO asked Boyle to be the discussant of the paper.
He noted that the study did not use the required “intent to treat” analysis, and when analyzed appropriately the data showed there was absolutely no evidence of a protective effect and there was possibly even evidence that PSA screening was net harmful. Boyle proclaimed, “This publicity machine is wrong and a disservice to the cancer community.”
Perhaps the contribution Boyle was most proud of was his gathering of health experts and mentoring of young scientists. From the mid 1990s onward, his annual National Cancer Institute Directors (NCID) Meeting was a coveted invitation.
He always made sure that a large number of young scientists were invited to “hang out” with the movers and shakers in the cancer public health community. He always found sponsorship for those from developing nations who could not afford to pay their way. He had the ability to bring the best out in people from diverse backgrounds.
The annual group picture would have such unusual things as the director of the National Cancer Institute of Korea standing next to a medical oncology trainee from Tanzania. Through this meeting, he fostered the creation of many unusual friendships and valuable collaborations.
It was at the NCID meeting that he began a series of projects to bring attention to the growth of the cancer problem in Africa. Boyle was very concerned about the fact that cancer mortality was beginning to rise in developing countries just as it was starting to decline in developed countries.
He was among the first to point out the evolution of the cancer epidemic and point out that this demanded greater implementation of prevention and risk reduction. He was also concerned about the difficulty in getting adequate pain treatment into Africa.
Boyle built a high-functioning research unit that not only did research, but made sure that research findings impacted policy.
In 2017, Boyle was presented the Royal Medal of the Royal Society of Edinburgh by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. Other honors, including the Knight’s Cross of Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland and honorary doctorates from the Universities of Aberdeen and Dundee and a professorship at the University of Strathclyde.
He is a member of the National Academy of Science of Hungary, a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, and an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland.
Boyle was known for being intense and orthodox in his work, but he was also fun to be around. He was passionate about football (soccer to Americans). His favorite club was the Celtics. He would often explain to Americans “The Celtics I follow are a soccer team based in Glasgow, not a basketball team in Boston.”
A constant traveler, he was known to have a favorite Chinese restaurant in every city he visited. If he was in Bogota, Mumbai, Krakow, or Quebec City, he knew what the best Chinese restaurant was. His obsession with Chinese restaurants was so serious that one of his friends suggested that The Cancer Letter publish a list of Boyle’s favorite Chinese restaurants as a tribute to him.
Here it is:
- Restaurant La Chine, Lyon
- Mr Mann, Glasgow
- KuKu Taiwanese Food, Krakow
- House of Foong Lin, Bethesda
- Din Tai Fung, a chain of restaurants originally from Taipei
For Indian food, there was always Gaylord Fine Indian Cuisine in London and San Francisco (Boyle believed the London restaurant to be slightly better).
Boyle is survived by his wife, a brother, three daughters, two sons-in-law and three grandchildren. He was very proud of his three daughters. Each daughter has distinguished herself in medicine. Boyle often joked that the stream of strange foreign medical people arriving for dinner over the years was a clear risk factor in their career choices.
In true Boyle family fashion, the night before his funeral, his wife Helena said to some of those whose careers he helped, that we best pay tribute to Peter by supporting his passion and continuing his work.
Otis W. Brawley, MD, is the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Oncology and Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University.
