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

Departmental Role

I am the Director of the MPH Program within our Department. In this position, 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 teach the FPH7240 Epidemiology I course that is required for all our MPH students and for a substantial number of graduate students in other programs across WSU. I am trained as a cancer epidemiologist and I have been involved in cohort and 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, 1997-2011
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 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 110:70-78, 2010. Kato I, Land S, Majumdar AP, Barnholtz-Sloan J, Severson RK.  Functional polymorphisms to modulate luminal lipid exposure and risk of colorectal cancer.  Cancer Epidemiol 34:291-297, 2010. Wang SS, Abdou AM, Morton LM, Thomas R, Cerhan JR, Gao X, Cozen W, Rothman N, Davis S, Severson RK, Bernstein L, Hartge P, Carrington M.  Human leukocyte antigen class I and II alleles in non-Hodgkin lymphoma etiology.  Blood 115:4820-4823, 2010. 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 116:2993-3000, 2010. Kato I, Majumdar AP, Land S, Barnholtz-Sloan J, Severson RK.  Dietary fatty acids, luminal modifiers, and risk of colorectal cancer.  Int J Cancer 127:942-951, 2010. Gold LS, Milliken K, Stewart P, Purdue M, Severson R, Seixas N, Blair A, Davis S, Hartge P, De Roos AJ.  Occupation and multiple myeloma: a job-title analysis.  Am J Ind Med 53:768-779, 2010. Grulich AE, Vajdic CM, Falster MO, Kane E, Smedby KE, Bracci PM, de Sanjose S, Becker N, Turner J, Martinez-Maza O, Melbye M, Engels EA, Vineis P, Costantini AS, Holly EA, 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.  Birth order and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma – true association or bias?  Am J Epidemiol 172:621-630, 2010. Dombi G, Rosbolt JP, Severson RK.  Neural Network Analysis of Employment History as a Risk Factor for Prostate Cancer.  Comput Biol Med 40:751-757, 2010. El-Rayes BF, Jasti P, Severson RK, Almahanna K, Philip PA, Shields A, Zalupski M, Heilbrun L.  Impact of race, age, and socioeconomic status on participation in pancreatic cancer clinical trials.  Pancreas 39:967-71, 2010. Shen M, Menashe I, Morton LM, Zhang Y, Armstrong B, Wang SS, Lan Q, Hartge P, Purdue MP, Cerhan JR, Grulich A, Cozen W, Yeager M, Holford TR, Vajdic CM, Davis S, Leaderer B, Kricker A, Severson RK, Zahm SH, Chatterjee N, Rothman N, Chanock SJ, Zheng T.  Polymorphisms in DNA repair genes and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in a pooled analysis of three studies.  Br J Haematol 151:239-244, 2010. Purdue MP, Bakke B, Stewart P, De Roos AJ, Schenk M, Lynch CF, Bernstein L, Morton LM, Cerhan JR, Severson RK, Cozen W, Davis S, Rothman N, Hartge P, Colt JS.  A case-control study of occupational exposure to trichloroethylene and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.  Env Health Perspect 119:232-238, 2011. Wang SS, Menashe I, Cerhan JR, Cozen W, Severson RK, Davis S, Hutchinson A, Rothman N, Chanock SJ, Bernstein L, Hartge P, Morton LM.  Variations in chromosomes 9 and 6p21.3 with risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.  Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 20:42-49, 2011. Smedby KE, Foo JN, Skibola CF, Darabi H, Conde L, Hjalgrim H, Kumar V, Chang ET, Rothman N, Cerhan JR, Brooks-Wilson AR, Rehnberg E, Irwan ID, Ryder LP, Brown PN, Bracci PM, Agana L, Riby J, Cozen W, Davis S, Hartge P, Morton LM, Severson RK, Wang SS, Slager SL, Fredericksen ZS, Novak AJ, Kay NE, Habermann TM, Armstrong B, Kricker A, Milliken S, Purdue MP, Vajdic CM, Boyle P, Lan Q, Zahm SH, Zhang Y, Zheng T, Leach S, Spinelli JJ, Smith MT, Chanock SJ, Padyukov L, Alfredsson L, Klareskog L, Glimelius B, Melbye M, Liu ET, Adami HO, Humphreys K, Liu J.  GWAS of Follicular Lymphoma Reveals Allelic Heterogeneity at 6p21.32 and Suggests Shared Genetic Susceptibility with Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma.  PLoS Genet 7(4):e1001378, doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1001378, 2011. Gold LS, Stewart P, Milliken K, Purdue M, Severson R, Seixas N, Blair A, Hartge P, Davis, S, De Roos AJ.  The relationship between multiple myeloma and occupational exposure to six chlorinated solvents.  Occup Environ Med 68:391-399, 2011. Wheeler DC, De Roos AJ, Cerhan JR, Morton LM, Severson R, Cozen W, Ward MH.  Spatial-temporal analysis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in the NCI-SEER NHL case-control study.  Environ Health 10:63, 2011. Chang CM, Wang SS, Dave BJ, Jain S, Vasef MA, Weisenburger DD, Cozen W, Davis S, Severson RK, Lynch CF, Rothman N, Cerhan JR, Hartge P, Morton LM.  Risk factors for non-Hodgkin lymphoma subtypes defined by histology and t(14;18) in a population-based case–control study.  Int J Cancer, 129:938-9547, 2011. Kato I, Land S, Barnholtz-Sloan J, Severson RK.  APOE and FABP2 polymorphisms and history of myocardial infarction, stroke, diabetes and gallbladder disease.  Cholesterol, vol. 2011, Article ID 896360, 9 pages. doi:10.1155/2011/896360, 2011. 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. Lan Q, Wang SS, Menashe I, Armstrong B, Zhang Y, Hartge P, Purdue MP, Holford TR, Morton LM, Kricker A, Cerhan JR, Grulich A, Cozen W, Zahm SH, Yeager M, Vajdic CM, Schenk M, Leaderer B, Yuenger J, Severson RK, Chatterjee N, Chanock SJ, Zheng T, Rothman N.  Genetic variation in Th1/Th2 pathway genes and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma: a pooled analysis of three population-based case-control studies.  Br J Haematol, in press. Zierhut H, Linet MS, Robison LL, Severson RK, Spector L.  Family history of cancer and non-malignant diseases and risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia: A Children’s Oncology Group Study.  Cancer Epidemiol, in press. Becker N, Falster MO, Vajdic CM, de Sanjose S, Martínez-Maza O, Bracci PM, Melbye M, Smedby KE, Engels EA, Turner J, Vineis P, Costantini AS, Holly EA, Spinelli JJ, La Vecchia C, Zheng T, Chiu BCH, Montella M, Cocco P, Maynadié M, Foretova L, Staines A, Brennan P, Davis S, Severson R, Cerhan JR, Breen EC, Birmann B, Cozen W, Grulich AE, Newton R.  Self-reported history of infections and the risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma: an InterLymph pooled analysis.  Int J Cancer, in press.