About
Professor Penny Webb has an MA in biochemistry (Cambridge) and a D. Phil in cancer epidemiology (Oxford). She spent a year working at the International Agency for Research in Cancer in Lyon, France, before moving to Brisbane in 1995. Professor Webb taught epidemiology in the Public Health Program at the University of Queensland for 5 years and, during this time, wrote the first edition of her highly successful textbook ‘Essential Epidemiology’ (CUP 2005, 2011, 2017, 2020, 2024) which has sold more than 40,000 copies worldwide.
Professor Webb moved to QIMR Berghofer in 2000 and now heads the Gynaecological Cancers Group which she established in 2008. She is a founding member of the Australian Ovarian Cancer Study (AOCS) and Australian National Endometrial Cancer Study (ANECS) Groups and principal investigator of the OPAL, OVARIAN, CURVVE and PROMISE studies. Her primary research focus is on identifying factors that influence risk of, and wellbeing and survival following ovarian and endometrial cancer.
Area of Interest
All aspects of the epidemiology of ovarian and endometrial cancer from aetiology and prevention, to diagnosis, patterns of care, quality of life and survival; particularly the role of environmental (non-genetic) factors in determining risk and outcomes.