Joel B. Mason

Dr. Joel Mason, MD, is a Senior Scientist in the Diet & Chronic Disease Prevention for Healthy Aging directive at the HNRCA. He studies the cellular pathways by which 1-carbon nutrients, obesity, and the colonic microbiome alter the risk of cancer formation, and his team develops strategies based on this knowledge for the purposes of cancer prevention. 

Dr. Mason’s research accomplishments include the elaboration of cellular mechanisms by which abundant intake of folate protects against colon cancer; insights into how folate availability interacts with certain genetic traits and environmental factors in determining the risk of developing breast and colon cancer; and the demonstration—in both animal models and humans—that obesity incites inflammation and precancerous molecular changes in the lining of the colon. Dr. Mason investigates combinations of pharmacologic, dietary, and microbiologic agents in the prevention of obesity-induced colon cancer. He also examines the nutritional value of insect-based foods.

Dr. Mason has authored some of the most frequently cited papers in his field. He has been ranked as a Top Doctor and top Cancer Doctor in the U.S. by Castle Connolly and is consistently rated by his peers as one of the top gastroenterologists in Boston, MA (Boston Magazine) and the U.S. as a whole (U.S. News & World Report). 

Dr. Mason is a Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine and Professor of Nutrition at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. He is a staff physician in the Divisions of Clinical Nutrition and Gastroenterology at Tufts Medical Center and an Associate Editor of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Dr. Mason is a fellow of the American Gastroenterological Association and the American Society for Nutrition, and a member of the American Association for Cancer Research.