Martin C. Tammemägi, PhD

(Retired) Professor Emeritus

Dr. Tammemägi has a strong interest in cancer epidemiology with special interests in lung cancer screening and cancer risk prediction modeling. He has been a co-investigator and remains an active analyst in the U.S. Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO), the U.S, National Lung Screening Trial (NLST), and the Pan-Canadian Early Detection of Lung Cancer Study, and is an active associate member of the U.S. NIH NCI Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Network (CISNET) lung group. Dr. Tammemägi currently also serves as the Scientific Lead on Cancer Care Ontario’s Lung Cancer Screening Pilot for People at High Risk.

  • Cancer epidemiology
  • Cancer risk prediction modeling
  • Cancer screening, especially lung cancer screening
  • Canadian Society for Epidemiology and Biostatistics
  • International Epidemiology Association
  • International Society for Clinical Biostatistics

Barry SA, Tammemagi MC, Penek S, Kassan EC, Dorfman CS, Riley TL, Commin J, Taylor KL. Predictors of adverse smoking outcomes in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Nov 7 2012;104(21):1647-1659.

Tammemagi MC, Katki H, Hocking W, Church T, Caporaso N, Kvale P, Chaturvedi A, Riley T, Commins J, Berg C. Selection criteria for lung-cancer screening. New England Journal of Medicine. 2013;368(8):728-36. PMID: 23425165.

Lam S, McWilliams A, Mayo J, Tammemagi M. Computed tomography screening for lung cancer: what is a positive screen? Annals of Internal Medicine. 2013;158:289-90. PMID: 23420238.

Kovalchik SA, Tammemagi M, Berg CD, Caporaso NE, Riley TL, Korch M, Silvestri GA, Chaturvedi AK, Katki HA. Targeting of low-dose CT screening according to the risk of lung-cancer death. New England Journal of Medicine. 2013;369(3):245-54. PMID: 23863051.

Jin GY, Lynch D, Chawla A, Garg K, Tammemagi MC, Sahin H, Misumi S, Kwon KS. Interstitial Lung Abnormalities in a CT Lung Cancer Screening Population: Prevalence and Progression Rate. Radiology. 2013;268(2):563-71. PMID: 23513242.

de Koning H, Meza R, Plevritis S, ten Haaf K, Munshi V, Jeon J, Erdogan S, Kong C, Han S, Rosmalen J, Choi S, Miller M, Moolgavkar SH, Pinsky P, Berg CD, Berrington De Gonzalez A, Black W, Tammemagi MC, Hazelton W, Feuer E, McMahon P. Benefits and Harms of Computed Tomography Lung Cancer Screening Programs for High-Risk Populations. AHRQ Publication No. 13-05196-EF-2. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2013.

McWilliams A, Tammemagi M, Mayo J, et al. Probability of cancer in pulmonary nodules detected on first screening computed tomography. New England Journal of Medicine. 2013;369;10:910-9. PMID: 24004118.

Tammemagi M, Mayo J, Lam S. Cancer in Pulmonary Nodules Detected on First Screening CT – Reply to Correspondence to the Editor. The New England journal of medicine. 2013;369(21):2061-2.

Hocking WG, Tammemagi MC, Commins J, Oken MM, Kvale PA, Hu P, Ragard LR, Riley TL, Pinsky P, Beck TM, Prorok PC. Diagnostic evaluation following a positive lung screening chest radiograph in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial. Lung cancer (Amsterdam, Netherlands). 2013;82(2):238-44. PMID: 23993734.

Mehta HJ, Ravenel JG, Shaftman SR, Tanner NT, Paoletti L, Taylor KK, Tammemagi MC, Gomez M, Nietert PJ, Gould MK, Silvestri GA. The Utility of Nodule Volume in the Context of Malignancy Prediction for Small Pulmonary Nodules. CHEST. Chest. 2014 Mar 1;145(3):464-72. doi: 10.1378/chest.13-0708. PMID: 23949741.

Aberle DR, DeMello S, Berg CD, Black WC, Brewer B, Church TR, Clingan KL, Duan F, Fagerstrom RM, Gareen IF, Gatsonis CA, Gierada DS, Jain A, Jones GC, Mahon I, Marcus PM, Rathmell JM, Sicks J; National Lung Screening Trial Research Team. Results of the two incidence screenings in the National Lung Screening Trial. N Engl J Med. 2013 Sep 5;369(10):920-31. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1208962. PMID: 24004119.

Sin D, Tammemagi MC, Lam S, Barnett M, Duan X, Tam A, Auman H, Feng Z, Goodman G, Hanash S, Taguchi. Pro-Surfactant Protein B As A Biomarker For Lung Cancer Prediction. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2013 Dec 20;31(36):4536-43. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2013.50.6105. Epub 2013 Nov 18. PMID: 24248694.

Patz EF, Pinsky P, Gatsonis C, Sicks JD, Kramer BS, Tammemagi MC, Chiles C, Black WC, Aberle DR, et al. Overdiagnosis in Low-Dose Computed Tomography Screening for Lung Cancer. JAMA Internal Medicine 2014 Feb 1;174(2):269-74. DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.12738. PMID: 24322569.

de Koning H, Meza R, Plevritis S, ten Haaf K, Munshi V, Jeon J, Erdogan S, Kong C, Han S, van Rosmalen J, Choi S, Pinsky P, Berrington de Gonzalez A, Berg C, Black W, Tammemagi M, Hazelton W, Fueuer E, McMahon P. Benefits and harms of CT lung cancer screening strategies: a comparative modeling study for the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2014; March 4;160(5):311-20. DOI: 10.7326/M13-2316. PMID: 24379002.

Izano M, Satariano WA, Tammemagi MC, Ragland D, Moore DH, et al. (2014) Long-term outcomes among African-American and white women with breast cancer: What is the impact of comorbidity? Journal of Geriatric Oncology. ePublished in advance of print 10.1016/j.jgo.2014.02.003. PMID: 24613574.

Meza R, ten Haaf K, Kong C, Erdogan A, Black W, Tammemagi M, Choi S, Jeon J, Han S, Munshi V, van Rosmaien J, PM M, de Koning H, Feuer E, Hazelton W, Plevritis S. Comparative Analysis of Five Lung Cancer Natural History and Screening Models that Reproduce Outcomes of the NLST and PLCO Trials. CANCER. 2014;120:1713-24. DOI: 10.1002/cncr.28623. PubMed PMID: 24577803.

Tammemagi MC, Lam S. State-of-the-Art Review: Current Issues in Low-dose Computed Tomography Screening for Lung Cancer. BMJ British Medical Journal. 2014 (Clinical research ed). ePublished in advance of print 27 May 2014;348. DOI: 10.1136/bmj.g2253. PMID: 24865600

Tammemagi MC, Berg CD, Riley TL, Cunningham CR, Taylor KL. Impact of lung cancer screening results on smoking cessation. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 2014;106(6):dju084.

Boiselle PM, Chiles C, Patz E, Tammemagi M, Wood DE. Expert opinion: United States preventive services task force recommendation on screening for lung cancer. Journal of thoracic imaging. 2014;29(4):197.

McMahon PM, Meza R, Plevritis SK, Black WC, Tammemagi CM, Erdogan A, et al. Comparing benefits from many possible computed tomography lung cancer screening programs: extrapolating from the National Lung Screening Trial using comparative modeling. PLoS one. 2014;9(6):e99978.

Kvale PA, Johnson CC, Tammemagi M, et al. Interval lung cancers not detected on screening chest X-rays: How are they different? Lung cancer 2014;86:41-6.

Cressman S, Lam S, Tammemagi MC, Evans WK, Leighl NB, Regier DA, et al. Resource Utilization and Costs during the Initial Years of Lung Cancer Screening with Computed Tomography in Canada. Journal of thoracic oncology: official publication of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer. 2014. Epub 2014/08/12. doi: 10.1097/JTO.0000000000000283. PubMed PMID: 25105438; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4165479.

Tammemägi M, Church T, Hocking W, GA S, Kvale P, Riley T, Commins J, Berg C. Evaluation of the Lung Cancer Risks at which to Screen Ever- and Never-Smokers: Screening Rules Applied to the PLCO and NLST Cohorts. PLoS Medicine. December 2, 2014;11(12): e1001764. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001764.

Leung JM, Mayo J, Tan W, Tammemagi CM, Liu G, Peacock S, Shepherd FA, Goffin J, Goss G, Nicholas G, Tremblay A, Johnston M, Martel S, Laberge F, Bhatia R, Roberts H, Burrowes P, Manos D, Stewart L, Gingras M, Pasian S, Tsao MS, Lam S, Sin DD, for the Pan-Canadian Early Lung Cancer Study G. Plasma pro-surfactant protein B and lung function decline in smokers. Eur Respir J. 2015;45:1037-45.

Tammemagi MC. Application of risk prediction models to lung cancer screening: a review. J Thorac Imaging. 2015;30(2):88-100. Epub 2015/02/19.

Ritchie, A. J., C. Sanghera, C. Jacobs, W. Zhang, J. Mayo, H. Schmidt, M. Gingras, S. Pasian, L. Stewart, S. Tsai, D. Manos, J. M. Seely, P. Burrowes, R. Bhatia, S. Atkar-Khattra, B. van Ginneken, M. Tammemagi, M. S. Tsao, S. Lam, and Group Pan-Canadian Early Detection of Lung Cancer Study. 2016. Computer Vision Tool and Technician as First Reader of Lung Cancer Screening CT Scans, J Thorac Oncol, 11: 709-17.

Tremblay, A., N. Taghizadeh, A. M. McWilliams, P. MacEachern, D. R. Stather, K. Soghrati, S. Puksa, J. R. Goffin, K. Yasufuku, K. Amjadi, G. Nicholas, S. Martel, F. Laberge, M. Johnston, F. A. Shepherd, D. N. Ionescu, S. Urbanski, D. Hwang, J. C. Cutz, H. S. Sekhon, C. Couture, Z. Xu, T. G. Sutedja, S. Atkar-Khattra, M. C. Tammemagi, M. S. Tsao, S. C. Lam, and Group Pan-Canadian Early Lung Cancer Study. 2016. Low Prevalence of High Grade Lesions Detected with Autofluorescence Bronchoscopy in the Setting of Lung Cancer Screening in the Pan-Canadian Lung Cancer Screening Study, Chest 2016

Zafari, Z., Sin, D. D., Postma, D. S., Lofdahl, M. C., Vonk, J., Bryan, S., Lam, S., Tammemagi, C. M., Khakban, R., Man, S. F., Tashkin, D., Wise, R. A., Connett, J. E., McManus, B., Ng, R., Hollander, Z. and Sadatsafavi, M. Individualized prediction of lung-function decline in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ). 2016. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.151483. PubMed PMID: 27486205.

ten Haaf K, Tammemagi MC, Bondy SJ, van der Aalst CM, Gu S, McGregor SE, Nicholas G, de Koning HJ, Paszat LF. Performance and Cost-Effectiveness of Computed Tomography Lung Cancer Screening Scenarios in a Population-Based Setting: A Microsimulation Modeling Analysis in Ontario, Canada. PLoS Med 2017; 14: e1002225.

Weber M, Yap S, Goldsbury D, Manners D, Tammemagi M, Marshall H, Brims F, Mc WA, Fong K, Kang YJ, Caruana M, Banks E, Canfell K. Identifying high risk individuals for targeted lung cancer screening: Independent validation of the PLCOM2012 risk prediction tool. Int J Cancer 2017.

ten Haaf K, Jeon J, Tammemagi MC, Han SS, Kong CY, Plevritis SK, Feuer EJ, de Koning HJ, Steyerberg EW, Meza R. Risk prediction models for selection of lung cancer screening candidates: A retrospective validation study. PLoS medicine 2017; 14: e1002277.

Cressman S, Peacock SJ, Tammemagi MC, Evans WK, Leighl NB, Goffin JR, et al. The Cost-Effectiveness of High-Risk Lung Cancer Screening and Drivers of Program Efficiency. J Thorac Oncol. 2017 May 10. pii: S1556-0864(17)30354-4. doi: 10.1016/j.jtho.2017.04.021.

Han SS, Rivera G, Tammemagi CM, Plevritis SK, Gomez SL, Cheng I, Wakelee HA. Risk-stratification for second primary lung cancer. J Clin Oncology 2017; Jun 23:JCO2017724203. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2017.72.4203. [Epub ahead of print] PMID:28644772.

Martin C. Tammemagi, Heidi Schmidt, Simon Martel, Annette McWilliams, John R. Goffin, Michael R. Johnston, Glenwood D. Goss, Alain Tremblay, Rick Bhatia, Geoffrey Liu, Kam Soghrati, Kazuhiro Yasufuku, David M. Hwang, Francis Laberge, Michel Gingras, Sergio Pasian, Christian Couture, John R. Mayo, Paola V. Nasute Fauerbach, Sukhinder Atkar-Khattra, Stuart J. Peacock, Sonya Cressman, Diana Ionescu, John C. English, Richard J. Finley, John Yee, Serge Puksa, Lori Stewart, Scott Tsai, Ehsan Haider, Colm Boylan, Jean-Claude Cutz, Daria Manos, Zhaolin Xu, Garth Nicholas, Jean M Seely, Kayvan Amjadi, Harmanjatinder S. Sekhon, Paul Burrowes, Paul MacEachern, Stefan Urbanski, Don D. Sin, Wan C. Tan, Natasha B. Leighl, Frances A. Shepherd, William K. Evans, Ming-Sound Tsao, Stephen Lam, for the PanCan Study Team. Participant Selection for Lung Cancer Screening by Risk Modeling – The Prospective Pan-Canadian Study. Lancet Oncology. 2017. In press.

  • Research Methods in Health (undergraduate) (currently not taught due to grant/research course release)
  • Research Methods in Epidemiology (undergraduate) (currently not taught due to grant/research course release)
  • Epidemiology/Modern Epidemiology (graduate and Master of Public Health level)

Dr. Tammemägi is currently Co-Principal Investigator on the Terry Fox Research Institute funded Pan-Canadian Early Detection of Lung Cancer Study Extension (2017 to 2020), and the U.S. National Institutes of Health funded Incorporating Biomarkers to Improve Lung Cancer Risk Prediction Study (2016-2019).

In addition, Dr. Tammemägi is Co-Investigator on the following funded studies:

  • Optimising screening for lung cancer (National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia) NHMRC) (2016-2021).
  • Alberta Lung Cancer Screening Study (Alberta Cancer Foundation) (2014-2017))