Grant Number:	1U01CA319215-01 Interpret this number
Primary Investigator:	Kulasingam, Shalini
Organization:	Tulane University Of Louisiana
Project Title:	Comparative Modeling to Inform Cervical Cancer Prevention Policies and Practice In the United states
Fiscal Year:	2026

Project Summary Despite robust cervical cancer screening guidelines and vaccination efforts 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 for over two decades. New technologies continue to emerge, including HPV-self collected tests and novel biomarker-based tests that create tremendous opportunities for effective, equitable, and efficient cervical cancer programs in the US, but they also pose significant challenges for decision making. Given the limited availability of outcomes data for new screening and vaccination approaches from empirical studies, decision 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 shortterm 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 three US-based independent modeling groups 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 evaluating new and existing screening and HPV vaccination technologies and guidelines, identifying strategies for improving screening and vaccination adherence at the national, state and local levels, examining optimal screening and vaccination strategies for women living with HIV in the US, developing a risk factor generator of sexual behavior in the US to predict trends in HPV, and addressing challenges related to crosscancer modeling. Our efforts will also involve wide dissemination of findings and tools to various stakeholders to increase transparency and confidence in model-based analyses.





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