Grant Details
Grant Number: |
5U01CA253912-05 Interpret this number |
Primary Investigator: |
Kim, Jane |
Organization: |
Harvard School Of Public Health |
Project Title: |
Comparative Modeling to Inform Cervical Cancer Control Policies |
Fiscal Year: |
2024 |
Abstract
Project Summary
Despite successful cervical cancer screening in the United States (US), over 13,000 women develop and 4,000
women die from cervical cancer each year. The discovery of human papillomavirus (HPV) as the necessary
cause of cervical cancer precipitated a surge of new evidence and development of innovative HPV-based
technologies, both screening and prophylactic vaccination, that have allowed for significant changes in our
approach to cervical cancer control over the past two decades. These new technologies represent tremendous
opportunities for effective, equitable, and efficient cervical cancer programs in the US but also pose significant
challenges for decision-making. Given the limited availability of outcomes data for new screening and
vaccination approaches from empirical studies, policy-makers have become uniquely reliant on mathematical
modeling to provide a synthesized evidence base for decision-making for cervical cancer control strategies.
These models can be used to integrate the most up-to-date data, extrapolate short-term findings into long-term
outcomes, and evaluate what-if scenarios that would otherwise be impractical or infeasible to conduct in
clinical studies. The proposed CISNET project will represent the continued, productive collaboration of five
independent modeling groups from the US, Australia, and the Netherlands that will leverage a series of state-
of-the-art mathematical models of HPV and cervical carcinogenesis for comparative modeling. We will pursue
analyses related to the impact of newly-revised screening and HPV vaccination guidelines, the comparative
effectiveness of forthcoming screening and HPV vaccination strategies and approaches, the optimal routes for
reducing cervical cancer disparities, the potential for cervical cancer elimination in the US, and optimal
screening and vaccination strategies in women living with HIV. Our efforts will also involve wide dissemination
of findings to various stakeholders to increase transparency and confidence in model-based analyses.
Publications
None