Pelayo Correa
Pelayo Correa | |
|---|---|
| Born | Pelayo Jesus Correa July 3, 1927 Sonsón, Colombia |
| Died | November 20, 2025 (aged 98) Brentwood, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Education | Universidad de Antioquia Medical School |
| Occupation | Pathologist |
| Medical career | |
| Field | Etiology of gastric cancer |
| Institutions | Universidad del Valle Medical School |
| Sub-specialties | Environmental causes of cancer in Colombia |
Pelayo Jesus Correa (July 3, 1927 – November 20, 2025) was a Colombian pathologist best known for defining "Correa's cascade", defining stepwise changes between normal stomach tissue and stomach cancer.[1]
Education and early life
Pelayo Correa was born in Sonson, Colombia, on July 3, 1927. He received his medical education at the Universidad de Antioquia and Emory University.
Academic career
Correa served as a faculty member at the Universidad del Valle Medical School in Cali, Colombia, from 1954 to 1970, becoming the chairman of the pathology department. He was a visiting scientist at the US National Cancer institute Biometry Branch from 1970 to 1973. He served as the Boyd Professor of Pathology at the Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans from 1973 to 2005. After his research laboratory was destroyed during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, he became a professor of pathology at Vanderbilt University, retiring in 2015.[2]
He was a long-time collaborator of epidemiologist, William Haenszel of the US National Cancer Institute, with whom he researched environmental causes of cancer in Colombia. He had a particular interest in the etiology of gastric cancer and the role of Helicobacter pylori in stomach disease. Correa published over 600 papers and book chapters on gastroenterology during his career.
Awards and honors
- 1992: American Association for Cancer Research Award for Research Excellence in Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention[3]
- 2013: Distinguished Achievement Award from the American Gastroenterological Association[4]
Personal life and death
Correa died in Brentwood, Tennessee on November 20, 2025, at the age of 98.[5]
References
- ^ Liu, Qingsong; Tang, Jianyuan; Chen, Shuanglan; Hu, Shuangyuan; Shen, Caifei; Xiang, Juyi; Chen, Nianzhi; Wang, Jundong; Ma, Xiao; Zhang, Yi; Zeng, Jinhao (October 2022). "Berberine for gastric cancer prevention and treatment: Multi-step actions on the Correa's cascade underlie its therapeutic effects". Pharmacological Research. 184 106440. doi:10.1016/j.phrs.2022.106440.
- ^ Wilson, Keith T.; Piazuelo, M.Blanca; Camargo, M.Constanza; Fox, James G.; Peek, Richard M. (March 2026). "In Memoriam: Pelayo Jesus Correa, MD (1927–2025)". Gastroenterology. 170 (3): 445–446. doi:10.1053/j.gastro.2025.12.021.
- ^ "Pelayo Correa". American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).
- ^ Stuart, Dagny (20 June 2013). "Correa honored by gastroenterological society". Vanderbilt University.
- ^ "Pelayo Jesus Correa". Williamson Memorial Funeral Home & Cremation Services. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
Further reading
- Li, FP (January 1998). "Tribute to Pelayo Correa, M.D., founding editor, Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, & Prevention". Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. 7 (1): 1. PMID 9456235.
- Ding, Lin; El Zaatari, Mohamad; Merchant, Juanita L. (2016). "Recapitulating Human Gastric Cancer Pathogenesis: Experimental Models of Gastric Cancer". Stem Cells, Pre-neoplasia, and Early Cancer of the Upper Gastrointestinal Tract. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology. Vol. 908. pp. 441–478. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-41388-4_22. ISBN 978-3-319-41386-0. PMC 5499694. PMID 27573785.
- Toh, James W. T.; Wilson, Robert B. (3 September 2020). "Pathways of Gastric Carcinogenesis, Helicobacter pylori Virulence and Interactions with Antioxidant Systems, Vitamin C and Phytochemicals". International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 21 (17): 6451. doi:10.3390/ijms21176451. PMC 7503565. PMID 32899442.