Episode 23: Malcolm C. Pike, Ph.D.

Malcolm C. Pike, Ph.D., is a statistical mathematician by training and an epidemiologist by profession and is associated with New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering's Cancer Center. Dr. Pike, an author of more than 536 professional papers, is a renowned epidemiologist who has made seminal contributions to the understanding of hormone-related breast cancer. His research addresses key public health issues such as those relating to oral contraceptives and breast cancer. Dr. Pike received his Ph.D. degree in mathematical statistics in 1963 from Aberdeen University, in Scotland. Dr. Pike was previously the Director of the Cancer Epidemiology Unit at Oxford University from 1983 to 1987. His many honors include membership in the Institute of Medicine and the 2008 Distinguished Achievement Award from the American Society of Preventive Oncology. He discusses the application of statistics to today's world: the movie, Money Ball, starring Brad Pitt, Google and the differences between an individual with a quantative mind and a qualitative mind. Dr. Pike describes not the ultimate cure for breast, endometrial and ovarian cancer, but instead the steps which in the foreseeable future will reduce the adverse impact of those diseases by reaching an acceptable state of imperfection.