Director
Cancer Prevention & Detection Center, Employee Health Clinic
Research Scientist
Department of Cancer Prevention & Population Sciences
Assistant Research Professor of Epidemiology
Interdisciplinary Natural Sciences Program
Roswell Park Graduate Division, University at Buffalo
Associate Professor of Family Medicine
School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo

Dr. Martin C. Mahoney joined the staff of Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) in 1998, as Director of the Cancer Prevention & Detection Clinic and the Employee Health Clinic, and Research Scientist in the Department of Cancer Prevention, Epidemiology & Biostatistics. He earned his doctoral degree in Epidemiology from the Roswell Park Graduate Division, University at Buffalo (UB), in 1987, and his medical degree at the UB School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences in 1995. He completed residency training in Family Medicine at the UB Medical & Dental Consortium in 1998.

Dr. Mahoney is licensed by New York State and is a fellow of the American Board of Family Practice (1998) and the American College of Epidemiology (1998). He also is Assistant Research Professor of Epidemiology, Interdisciplinary Natural Sciences Program, Roswell Park Graduate Division, UB; Associate Professor of Family Medicine, UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, State University of New York at Albany.

Dr. Mahoney’s research focuses on examining cancer screening utilization and promotion; developing educational and training programs for physicians and non-physician providers; a case-control study on the effect of Chernobyl-related radiation exposure on the risk of leukemia in regions of Belarus; and the cost-effectiveness of various approaches to promoting the use of pharmacotherapy for smoking cessation in a Medicaid population.

Dr. Mahoney is a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Epidemiology, Society for Epidemiologic Research, the American Public Health Association, and the New York State Academy of Family Physicians. Currently, he serves on the Breast Cancer Prevention Guidelines Panel of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network and the Steering Committee for the National Cancer Institute Network for Cancer Control Research in American Indian and Alaska Native Populations.

Dr. Mahoney has authored or co-authored more than 75 journal publications, book chapters and abstracts. He is a Reviewer for Tobacco Control, Cancer, Journal of Rural Health, International Journal of Epidemiology, Public Health Reports, and the Western Journal of Medicine.

Description of Research

An evaluation of Tar Wars, a tobacco-free intervention program aimed at fifth grade students, was completed. The effectiveness of the program was assessed by measuring changes in knowledge regarding the effects of tobacco use, student advocacy against tobacco in their families, reduced experimentation and reduced adoption of tobacco use behaviors. The study included approximately 1,400 fifth grade students who completed a baseline survey on tobacco use and attitudes regarding tobacco. Students were then exposed to the Tar Wars Program, followd by a short pre-test and then a follow-up survey conducted six months later.

A Phase I clinical trail was completed of an edible hepatitis B vaccine administered to RPCI health care workers, who previously had received the parenteral hepatitis B series. A randomized, double-blind study design was used to assess the antibody response to the transgenetically produced hepatitis B antigen administered via raw potatoes. Tolerability of the potato vehicle and immunologic response were the main scientific outcomes evaluated.