Jon Kerner, PhD

Dr. Jon Kerner joined the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer in 2008 as the Chair of the Primary Prevention Advisory Group and Senior Scientific Advisor, Knowledge Translation. He continues to be engaged with the Partnership full time in his role of Senior Scientific Leader and is based in Toronto. Dr. Kerner obtained a bachelor of science from McGill University and his PhD in community psychology from New York University. He received post-doctoral training in cancer epidemiology, biostatistics and clinical trials design from the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. Prior to joining the Partnership, Dr. Kerner spent 20 years as a peer-reviewed and funded researcher at two National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Georgetown University’s Lombardi Cancer Center. His community-based cancer control research integrated behavioural science, cancer epidemiology, and health services research and the development of research, practice, and policy partnerships within low income and medically underserved communities. He served on a large number of national grant review panels and was the first chair of the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Community Prevention and Control Study Section (now the Community-Led Health Promotion Study Section). In 2000, Dr. Kerner joined the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as an assistant Deputy Division Director and later Deputy Division Director for Research Dissemination and Diffusion. There, he facilitated the translation of evidence-based interventions into community public health and clinical practice, developed the first NCI dissemination and implementation research funding opportunities and supported NCI, NIH, and Centers for Disease Control collaborative health disparities research initiatives. He received an NIH Directors special merit award for his leadership in the design, development and implementation of the Cancer Control P.L.A.N.E.T., and an NIH Directors award for his work supporting evidence-based cancer control for America’s First Peoples.