John Potter

John Potter, MBBS, MD, PhD, FRCPA is Member Emeritus at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and Honorary Professor at the University of Melbourne. Over a 40-year career in cancer epidemiology, he has been one of the world's most influential scientists in elucidating the relationships between diet, lifestyle, and cancer risk, and in translating epidemiological evidence into actionable global cancer prevention recommendations. Dr. Potter served as Head of the Cancer Epidemiology Program at Fred Hutchinson and led major international cancer prevention research programs spanning colorectal, breast, endometrial, and other cancer sites. He has been a central figure in the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research (WCRF/AICR) expert panel process, contributing to three major international evidence synthesis reports (1997, 2007, 2018) that established global dietary, physical activity, and body weight cancer prevention recommendations used by health agencies and governments worldwide. His scientific contributions span the full spectrum of dietary cancer research: from identifying specific foods and nutrients that modulate cancer risk (dietary fiber and colorectal cancer, folate and colorectal cancer, red/processed meat and cancer), to elucidating biological mechanisms (insulin-IGF axis, inflammation, gut microbiome), to developing the conceptual framework for understanding cancer as a metabolic disease with preventable dietary drivers. Professor Potter has authored over 350 peer-reviewed publications and has trained hundreds of cancer epidemiologists across North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region.