T. Colin Campbell, the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University, has received the American Institute for Cancer Research's 1998 Award for Excellence in Cancer Research.

In Sept. 3 ceremonies in Washington, D.C., Campbell was cited for "a lifetime of significant accomplishments in scientific research, and for his untiring efforts in furthering scientific knowledge and understanding in the field of diet, nutrition and cancer."

Campbell is the director of the China-Oxford-Cornell Diet and Health Project, a large-scale survey that, for the past 25 years, has examined the relationships among diet, lifestyle and mortality in the People's Republic of China. Analysis of the China Project data has shown the role of appropriate nutrition -- and plant-based foods in particular -- in preventing cancers and other diseases in populations of Western as well as Eastern countries.

Delivering his acceptance speech, Campbell called on the institute to create greater public awareness of what nutrition can do to foster health and prevent disease. The answer, he said, "is not about popping a few nutrient-like chemicals or altering a few select genes to intercept uncertain disease endpoints." Instead, Campbell said, "We now have exceptionally impressive research findings giving us enormous leads into ways that serious diseases like cancer can be averted, even reversed in their advanced stages, by proper nutritional strategies."

The American Institute for Cancer Research is the only major national cancer charity focusing exclusively in the area of diet, nutrition and cancer. Recipients of the Research Achievement Award are chosen by an independent panel of scientists.

A professor and researcher in the Division of Nutritional Sciences, Campell joined the Cornell faculty in 1975. Earlier this year he was cited by Self magazine as one of the 25 most influential people regarding food habits in the United States, one of only three scientists to receive that honor.