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Tim Key

BVM&S, MSc, DPhil


Professor of Epidemiology

  • Cancer Epidemiology Unit
  • MSc in Global Health Science module 9 lead: Nutritional Epidemiology

Tim Key has worked as a cancer epidemiologist at the University of Oxford since 1985. His main interests are the roles of diet and hormones in the aetiology of cancer, particularly cancers of the breast, prostate and colon, and the health status of vegetarians and vegans.

He currently works mostly on the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), as the principal investigator of the Oxford cohort of 60,000 subjects, including 30,000 people who don’t eat meat. He is also chairman of the EPIC prostate cancer group, coordinates the Endogenous Hormones and Breast Cancer Collaborative Group, and is a member of the UK Department of Health and Social Care’s joint Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition/ Committee on Toxicity working group on plant-based drinks.