Omer Kucuk

Omer Kucuk, M.D., conducted the first clinical trials to show the benefits of soy and lycopene supplements in prostate cancer treatment. He is a Professor in Hematology and Medical Oncology at Emory University’s Winship Cancer Institute. Dr. Kucuk came to Emory Winship from the Karmanos Cancer Center at Wayne State University in Detroit where he was a professor and co-leader of the population sciences and prevention program and member of genitourinary and head and neck cancer multidisciplinary groups. Dr. Kucuk has more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, review articles and book chapters to his credit, and he is on the editorial boards of numerous publications, including the Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention and Cancer Epidemiology. Nutrition and cancer is Dr. Kucuk’s primary research focus, and he has published extensively on various nutrients in combination with chemotherapy and radiation. Dr. Kucuk has been conducting clinical trials with lycopene and soy isoflavones in combination with standard therapy for prostate cancer since 1995. He is also investigating the effects of micronutrients and phytochemicals on biomarkers of cell growth, differentiation, inflammation and oxidative stress in a variety of cancers. Dr. Kucuk earned his medical degree at Hacettepe University Medical School in Ankara, Turkey. He conducted a residency and fellowship at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, Illinois, and a hematology and oncology fellowship at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago. Before joining the medical staff at Wayne State University, Dr. Kucuk served as professor and researcher at the University of Hawaii’s John A. Burns School of Medicine in Honolulu.