Dr. Loffredo is an internationally known researcher and educator in the fields of cancer epidemiology and birth defects. His research focuses on environmental and genetic causes of cancer and birth defects, and especially on the roles that genetics play in mediating the risks from environmental chemical exposures. His currently funded research projects span liver, bladder, and lung cancer in relation to chronic infections such as HCV, and environmental factors such as smoking and secondhand smoke. He is the principal investigator of three NIH-funded R01 grants and several smaller studies, and he is a co-investigator in several ongoing projects on childhood cancer and congenital heart malformations in infants. Dr. Loffredo’s research record includes more than 50 peer-reviewed research papers and several books and book chapters.

Dr. Loffredo works extensively with international colleagues. His work on hepatitis C virus and environmental factors related to liver cancer involves collaboration with virology and toxicology experts in Sweden and Finland, respectively. His NIH-funded research projects on liver and bladder cancers are located in Egypt, where these two types of cancers are much more common than in the U.S., and where the lessons learned on the roles of HCV, environment, and genetics will have important implications for the control of these health problems in the U.S. His work on carcinogens in Egypt, starting in 1997 and funded continuously through the present time, formed the basis for a successful application to the NIH Fogarty International Center to establish a tobacco research center in Cairo, under his direction and in collaboration with the Egypt Ministry of Health and Population. This center is building the necessary infrastructure for Egypt to develop, test, and implement effect tobacco control policies.

Dr. Loffredo is also involved in local advocacy for public health. He is a charter member of the Children’s Environmental Health and Protection Advisory Committee (CEHPAC) to the legislature of the State of Maryland, under appointment by two successive governors. CEHPAC reviews existing laws and regulations for their impacts on children’s health, and advises the legislature on these matters through policy statements and critiques, and direct testimony. Dr. Loffredo was recently called upon to testify in support of proposed regulations to expand smoke-free ordinances in Maryland. He is also serving a 4-year term as a member of the NIH Epidemiology of Cancer review group, and was a past member of the Maryland Cancer Control Committee. He belongs to several professional societies dedicated to epidemiology and tobacco control.

His research interests include epidemiological and genetic studies of human cancer and birth defects.