Prof Sir Richard Peto

Professor Peto's work has included studies of the causes of cancer in general, and of the effects of smoking in particular, and the establishment of large-scale randomised trials of the treatment of heart disease, stroke, cancer and a variety of other diseases. He has been instrumental in introducing combined 'meta-analyses' of results from related trials that achieve uniquely reliable assessment of treatment effects.
Professor Peto is statistician for Heart Protection Study.
The "statin" drugs lower blood cholesterol powerfully and prevent heart attacks. But their use is limited because of the uncertainty about their overall effects on long-term survival. The Heart Protection Study is the largest trial in the world of cholesterol-lowering therapy and antioxidant vitamin supplementation in people at increased risk of heart disease. 20,536 individuals were randomised in various prior disease (coronary or other occlusive arterial disease, diabetes, hypertension) or other categories (women, elderly, those with "low" cholesterol levels) where there was uncertainty as to how worthwhile, and safe, are these treatments. The patients were given simvastatin and/or vitamins. Compliance with the study treatments was good, resulting in large average reductions in blood levels of total cholesterol. After 3 years, neither treatment involves significant excesses of side effects or biochemical abnormalities. The study thus provides reliable evidence about the effects of these cholesterol-lowering treatments and antioxidant vitamin supplements on mortality and major morbidity in a wide range of circumstances.
Professor Peto also works on Mortality from smoking in developed countries.

Professor of Medical Statistics & Epidemiology at the University of Oxford. In 1975, he set up the CTSU, of which he and Rory Collins are now co-directors. Professor Peto's work has included studies of the causes of cancer in general, and of the effects of smoking in particular, and the establishment of large-scale randomised trials of the treatment of heart disease, stroke, cancer and a variety of other diseases. He has been instrumental in introducing combined 'meta-analyses' of results from related trials that achieve uniquely reliable assessment of treatment effects. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1989, and was knighted (for services to epidemiology and to cancer prevention) in 1999.