CCR’s Ambs Retires
Dr. Stefan Ambs, a molecular epidemiologist with the NIH National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Center for Cancer Research, retired earlier this year after almost 25 year at NCI. His expertise is in prostate and breast cancer with a focus on cancer health disparities and risk factors that alter the tumor microenvironment.
A pioneer in his field, Ambs combined translational research and data science approaches to identify exposures that promote tumor development and contribute to the excessive burden of cancer in the African American community.
Ambs earned a master’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Tübingen, Germany. After completing his Ph.D. at the University of Würzburg, Germany, he trained as a postdoctoral fellow in NCI’s Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis for several years.
Ambs continued his research at a biotechnology company in California and at the Aventis Genomics Center in Cambridge, Mass. In 2001, he returned to NCI as a tenure-track investigator, earning a Master of Public Health degree in epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health shortly after. He then became a senior investigator in 2010.
Ambs’ research program thrives on the rare ability to combine epidemiology and data science research. His description of how inflammation may underlie the excessive burden of prostate cancer in men of African ancestry is a concept that has greatly impacted the prostate cancer field.
His lab’s research efforts involve analyzing tumor, blood and urine biospecimens from men who represent different population groups, including African American and European American men from the U.S., and Ghanaian and Nigerian men within Africa. His discovery that aspirin may limit lethal prostate cancer metastasis in African American men could offer an opportunity for improved prevention focusing on inflammation and inflammation-induced alteration in the tumor microenvironment.
More recently, Ambs and his team showed how aggressive breast and prostate cancers in African Americans have distinct molecular features. Other investigations by his group linked neighborhood environment and chronic stress signaling to increased systemic inflammation and tumor immunity suppression in cancer patients. Lastly, his laboratory’s breast cancer studies sought to define how co-morbidities, ancestral genetic factors and stress signaling may impact breast cancer biology.
“I have had the privilege of working alongside Stefan since 1992 as a colleague, collaborator and friend,” said Dr. Xin Wei Wang, an NCI senior investigator. “His expertise in cancer epidemiology has been instrumental in shaping the design of my liver cancer studies. Stefan is both scientifically critical and constructively engaged, always bringing thoughtful insight with a big smile to every discussion. His presence has been a rare and valued combination of rigor, generosity and wonderful friendship.”
In retirement, Ambs said he’s looking forward to adventurous traveling around the world. He also remains a special volunteer in the Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis.