Rebecca Siegel

New Capabilities

Lead author of annual Cancer Statistics report

Cancer death rates in the United States peaked in 1991 at 215 deaths per 100,000 people. Since then, they have fallen 34%, averting an estimated 4.5 million deaths. The decline accelerated from about 1% annually in the 1990s to 2% annually by 2015-2020, driven primarily by plummeting smoking rates, earlier detection through screening, and advances in targeted therapies and immunotherapy.

Updated Jan 22