Richard K. Severson, Ph.D.
rseverson@med.wayne.edu

Departmental Role

I have two main positions within the Department: Associate Chair for Program Development and Director of the MPH Program. Both of these positions involve developing and expanding our Department. For example, as Director of the MPH Program, I am continually looking for new ways to grow and improve the learning opportunities for our students in both the classroom and in the practical arena of public health work. I am once again teaching the FPH7240 Epidemiology I course that I used to be the instructor for several years ago. I am trained as a cancer epidemiologist and I have been involved in case-control studies of prostate cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, pancreas cancer, kidney cancer, soft tissue sarcomas, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, acute myeloid leukemia, acute lymphocytic leukemia, and multiple myeloma.




Education

University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, BS Environmental Health, 1971
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, BS Mathematics, 1977
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, MS Biostatistics, 1979
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, PhD Epidemiology, 1986

Training and Experience

Assistant Professor, Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 1988-1993
Associate Professor, Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 1993
Associate Member, Division of Epidemiology, Michigan Cancer Foundation, Detroit, MI, 1993-1995
Associate Professor (tenure granted 8/97), Karmanos Cancer Institute and Department of Family Medicine, School of Medicine, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, 1995-1999
Associate Chair, Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, 1997-present
Program Leader, Population Studies and Prevention, Karmanos Cancer Institute, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, 1998-2003
Professor, Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences and Karmanos Cancer Institute, School of Medicine, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, 1999-present



Major Research Interests

Cancer epidemiology, study methods

Selected Publications Anderson LA, Gridley G, Engels EA, Morton LM, Cerhan JR, Cozen W, Severson RK, Davis S, Hartge P, Linet M.  Antibiotic use and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma: a population based case-control study.  Br J Cancer 98:161-164, 2008. Shen M, Cozen W, Huang L, Colt J, De Roos AJ, Severson RK, Cerhan JR, Bernstein L, Morton LM, Pickle L, Ward MH.  Census and geographic differences between respondents and non-respondents in a case-control study of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.  Am J Epidemiol 167:350-361, 2008. Canzian F, Franceschi S, Plummer M, van Doorn LJ, Lu Y, Gioia-Patricola L, Vivas J, Lopez G, Severson RK, Schwartz AG, Munoz N, Kato I.  Genetic polymorphisms in mediators of inflammation and gastric precancerous lesions.  Eur J Cancer Prev 17:178-183, 2008. Willett EV, Morton LM, Hartge P, Becker N, Boffeta P, Cerhan J, Chiu B, Cocco PL, Cozen W, Dal Maso L, Davis S, De Sanjose S, Smedby KE, Foretova L, Holly E, Matsuo K, Maynadie M, Melbye M, Severson RK, Spinelli J, Staines A, Vornanen M, Roman E.  Non-Hodgkin lymphoma and obesity: a pooled analysis from the InterLymph consortium.  Int J Cancer 122:2062-2070, 2008. Smedby KE, Vajdic CM, Falster M, Engels EA, Martínez-Maza O, Turner J, Hjalgrim H, Vineis P, Costantini AS, Holly E, Bracci P, Roman E, Spinelli J, Maso LD, Zheng T, Becker N, De Sanjosé S, Chiu B, Cocco P, Maynadié M, Foretova L, Staines A, Brennan P, Davis S, Severson R, Cerhan J, Breen EC, Birmann B, Grulich AE, Cozen W.  Autoimmune disorders and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma a pooled analysis within the Interlymph Consortium.  Blood 111:4029-4038, 2008. Cerhan JR, Engels E, Cozen W, Davis S, Severson R K, Morton LM, Gridley G, Hartge P, Linet M.  Blood transfusion, anesthesia, surgery and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in a population-based case-control study. Int J Cancer 123:888-894, 2008. Xu J, Schwartz K, Bartoces M, Monsur J, Severson RK, Sobel JD.  Effect of antibiotic on vulvovaginal candidiasis: a pilot prospective cohort study.  J Am Board Fam Med 21:261-268, 2008. Wang SS, Davis S, Hartge P, Cozen W, Severson RK, Cerhan JR, Rothman N.  Chromosomal aberrations in peripheral blood lymphocytes and risk for non-Hodgkin lymphoma.  JNCI Monogr 39:78-82, 2008. Habermann TM, Wang SS, Maurer MJ, Morton LM, Lynch CF, Ansell SM, Hartge P, Severson RK, Rothman N, Davis S, Geyer SM, Cozen W, Chanock SJ, Cerhan JR.  Host immune gene polymorphisms in combination with clinical and demographic factors predict survival in diffuse large b-cell lymphoma.  Blood 112:2694-2702, 2008. Morton LM, Wang SS, Cozen W, Linet MS, Chatterjee N, Davis W, Severson RK, Colt JS, Vasef MA, Rothman N, Blair A, Bernstein L, Cross AJ, De Roos AJ, Engels EA, Hein DW, Hill DA, Kelemen LE, Lim U, Lynch CF, Schenk M, Wacholder S, Ward MH, Zahm SH, Chanock SJ, Cerhan JR, Hartge P.  Etiologic heterogeneity among non-Hodgkin lymphoma subtypes.  Blood 112:5150-5160, 2008. Schenk M, Purdue MP, Colt JS, Hartge P, Blair A, Stewart P, Cerhan JR, De Roos AJ, Cozen W, Severson RK.  Occupation/industry and risk of non Hodgkin lymphoma in the United States.  Occ Env Med 66:23-31, 2009. Arnetz BB, Hamdan TA, Grzybowski M, Severson RK, Shukri SW, Jamil H.  War-related mental health disorders among Iraqis 10 years after the 1991 gulf war: A comparative study of soldiers and civilians living under sustained socio-environmental stress.  New Iraqi J Med 5:9-21, 2009. Purdue MP, Lan Q, Wang SS, Kricker A, Menashe I, Zheng TZ, Hartge P, Grulich AE, Zhang Y, Morton LM, Vajdic C, Holford TR, Severson RK, Leaderer B, Cerhan JR, Zahm S, Yeager M, Cozen W, Jacobs K, Davis S, Rothman N, Chanock SJ, Chatterjee N, Armstrong BK.  A pooled investigation of toll-like receptor gene variants and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.  Carcinogenesis 30:275-281, 2009. Colt JS, Rothman N, Severson RK, Hartge P, Cerhan JR, Chatterjee N, Cozen W, Morton LM, De Roos A, Davis S, Chanock S, Wang SS.  Organochlorine exposure, immune gene variation, and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.  Blood 113:1899-1905, 2009. Morton LM, Purdue MP, Zheng T, Wang SS, Armstrong B, Zhang Y, Menashe I, Chatterjee N, Davis S, Lan Q, Vajdic CM, Severson RK, Holford TR, Kricker A, Cerhan JR, Leaderer B, Grulich A, Yeager M, Cozen W, Zahm SH, Chanock SJ, Rothman N, Hartge P.  Risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma associated with germline variation in genes that regulate the cell cycle, apoptosis, and lymphocyte development.  Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 18:1259-1270, 2009. Bartoces MG, Severson RK, Rusin BA, Neale V.  Quality of life and self-esteem of long-term survivors of invasive and noninvasive cervical cancer.  J Womens Health 18:655-661, 2009. Roth LM, Markova T, Monsur JC, Severson RK.  Effects of Implementation of a Team Model on Physician and Staff Perceptions of a Clinic's Organizational and Learning Environments.  Fam Med 41:434-439, 2009. Purdue MP, Severson RK, Colt JS, Stewart P, De Roos AJ, Cerhan JR, Cozen W, Davis S, Hartge P, Schenk M, Blair A.  Degreasing and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.  Occ Env Med 66:557-560, 2009. Vajdic CM, Falster MO, de Sanjose S, Martínez-Maza O, Becker N, Bracci PM, Melbye M, Smedby KE, Engels EA, Turner J, Vineis P, Costantini AS, Holly EA, Willett E, Spinelli JJ, La Vecchia C, Zheng T, Chiu BCH, Dal Maso L, Cocco P, Maynadié M, Foretova L, Staines A, Brennan P, Davis S, Severson RK, Cerhan JR, Breen EC, Birmann B, Cozen W, Grulich AE.  Atopic disease and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma: an InterLymph pooled analysis.  Cancer Res 69:6482-6489, 2009. Mueller BA, Chow EJ, Kamineni A, Daling JR, Fraser A, Wiggins CL, Mineau GP, Hamre MR, Severson RK, Drews-Botsch C. Pregnancy outcomes in female childhood and adolescent cancer survivors: a linked cancer-birth registry analysis.  Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 163:879-886, 2009. Chow EJ, Kamineni A, Daling JR, Fraser A, Wiggins CJ, Mineau GP, Hamre MR, Severson RK, Drews-Botsch C, Mueller BA. Reproductive outcomes in male childhood cancer survivors: a linked cancer-birth registry analysis.  Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 163:887-894, 2009. Gold LS, De Roos AJ, Brown EE, Lan Q, Milliken K, Davis S, Chanock S, Zhang Y, Severson R, Zahm S, Zheng T, Rothman N, Baris D.  Associations of common variants in genes involved in metabolism and response to exogenous chemicals with risk of multiple myeloma.  Cancer Epidemiol 33:276-280, 2009. Wang SS, Hartge P, Cerhan J, Cozen W, Davis S, Severson R, Chatterjee N, Yeager M, Chanock S, Rothman N.  Immune gene polymorphisms and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in the NCI-SEER case control study.  J Clin Oncol, in press. Wang SS, Purdue M, Cerhan JR, Zheng T, Menashe I, Armstrong B, Lan Q, Hartge P, Kricker A, Zhang Y, Morton LM, Valdjic C, Holford T, Severson RK, Grulich A, Leaderer B, Davis S, Zahm S, Cozen W, Yeager M, Chanock SJ, Chatterjee N, Rothman N.  Common Genetic Variations in the Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) and TNF Receptor Superfamilies and Nuclear Factor Kappa Beta Transcription Factors and Risk of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.  PLoS ONE, in press. Gathany AH, Hartge P, Davis S, Cerhan JR, Severson RK, Cozen W, Rothman N, Chanock SJ, Wang SS.  Relationship between interferon regulatory factor 4 (IRF4) genetic polymorphisms, measures of sun sensitivity and risk for non-Hodgkin lymphoma.  Cancer Causes Control, in press. De Roos AJ, Davis S, Colt JS, Blair A, Airola M, Severson RK, Cozen W, Cerhan JR, Hartge P, Nuckols JR, Ward MH.  Residential Proximity to Industrial Facilities and Risk of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.  Env Res, in press. Geyer SM, Morton LM, Habermann TM, Allmer C, Davis S, Cozen W, Severson RK, Lynch CF, Wang W, Maurer MJ, Hartge P, Cerhan JR.  Smoking, alcohol use, obesity, and overall survival from non-Hodgkin lymphoma: a population-based study.  Cancer, in press.