Dr. Darren Brenner

Dr. Darren Brenner, PhD

Positions

Associate Professor

Cumming School of Medicine, Department of Oncology

Associate Professor

Cumming School of Medicine, Department of Community Health Sciences

Associate Director, Research

Forzani & MacPhail Colorectal Cancer Screening Centre

Member

Arnie Charbonneau Cancer Institute

Member

O'Brien Institute for Public Health

Child Health & Wellness Researcher

Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute

Contact information

For media enquiries, contact

Kelly Johnston
Senior Communications Specialist

Please submit your media request here

 

Admin Assistant
Sarah Mackenzie
Email:sarah.mackenzie4@ahs.ca

403.521.3708

 

Background

Educational Background

Doctor of Philosophy Epidemiology, University of Toronto, 2012

MSc Applied Health Sciences (Epidemiology), Brock University, 2008

BSc (Hon) Health Sciences, Brock University, 2006

Biography

Darren Brenner is a cancer epidemiologist who leads a program of research at the University of Calgary focused on using big data and precision health analytics to examine cancer risk and outcomes. He has over a decade of experience conducting observational and intervention research on chronic disease risk and survival.  Darren is leading several major prevention, screening and outcome data initiatives. He has been awarded several CIHR and CCS grants. He has over 170 publications to date. He is the chair of Canadian Cancer Statistics Committee since 2020. He is the Chair of the CPAC OncoSim All-cancers modeling committee. He was the co-lead of the highly impactful Canadian Population Attributable Risk of Cancer (ComPARe) project. In 2019 he was the co-recipient of the Canadian Cancer Society’s William E. Rawls Prize recognizing an exceptional young investigator.

Darren completed his PhD in Epidemiology at the University of Toronto followed by a post-doctoral fellowship at the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization in Lyon, France.

Research

Areas of Research

Area of Focus
  • Cancer Epidemiology
  • Molecular Epidemiology
  • Epidemiologic Methods
  • Cancer Screening
  • Cancer Outcomes Research
Summary of Research

Dr. Brenner is a molecular cancer epidemiologist in the Departments of Oncology and Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary. His research is focused on the intersection of lifestyle, genetics and molecular pathways in the development of several cancers. Dr. Brenner is currently leading studies to examine the utility of biomarkers in the prediction of cancer risk. We are also examining the impact of lifestyle (obesity, physical inactivity, smoking, poor nutrition) and environmental factors on relevant genetic and molecular pathways in colorectal, breast and lung cancer risk. '

 

Participation in university strategic initiatives

Courses

Course number Course title Semester
MDCH 742 Advanced Topics In Epidemiology

Awards

  • William E Rawls Prize, Canadian Cancer Society. 2019
  • Alberta Early Career Award in Oncology Research, Alberta Cancer Research Conference. 2021
  • Young Scholar Award, Department of Oncology . 2017

Publications