Turning Up the Heat on Cancer: Insights from the National Firefighter Cancer Initiative

Published: January 17, 2025

The Drs. Faiyaz Ali & Mariam Maribel Bhojani Visiting Scholars Endowment Lecture Series brings leading speakers to UTHealth Houston for impactful discussions of relevant topics within public health.

In December, the Bhojani Visiting Scholars Endowment Lecture Series hosted Alberto Caban-Martinez, PhD, DO, MPH of the University of Miami. Dr. Caban-Martinez presented "Turning Up the Heat on Cancer: Insights from the National Firefighter Cancer Initiative". The event was presented by the Southwest Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (SWCOEH).

Caban-Martinez has over 10 years of domestic and international research expertise in environmental and occupational epidemiology. He serves as the Deputy Director of the Firefighter Cancer Initiative at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and Co-Director and Principal Investigator of the FEMA-funded Fire Fighter Cancer Cohort Study, a national epidemiologic firefighter cohort study that includes under-represented firefighter subgroups such as arson investigators, firefighter trainers/instructors, wildland-urban interface and volunteer firefighters.

The following video includes various moments from the hour-long discussion.

The SWCOEH provides graduate-level training opportunities for occupational and environmental health professionals through our industrial hygiene, occupational and environmental medicine, occupational epidemiology, and Total Worker Health^® programs.