Barriers to Implementation of Cervical Cancer Screening Programs in Lower and Middle Income Countries
Speaker: Linda Eckert, MD
University of Washington, Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Global Health
Linda Eckert is a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Global Health at the University of Washington. She has been a long time consultant on cervical cancer screening for the World Health Organization, and has also worked with Ministries of Health for cervical cancer prevention in Namibia, Malawi, and Botswana and practiced medicine in Kenya and Nicaragua. She is the author of Enough: Because We Can Stop Cervical Cancer, published in January of 2024 by Cambridge University Press.
US Screening and Management Guidelines: International Implications
Speaker: Patti E. Gravitt, PhD, MS
NCI, Deputy Director, Center for Global Health
Patti Gravitt is a molecular epidemiologist and implementation scientist whose research in HPV and cervical cancer spans the translational spectrum from natural history of cervical HPV across the lifespan to translation of evidence-based prevention tools to low- and middle-income countries. Dr. Gravitt has conducted several studies to clarify the role of HPV latency, diagnostic misclassification, cohort effects, and hysterectomy correction of cervical cancer incidence and mortality rates on the accuracy of our concept of cervical cancer risk in post-menopausal women. After nearly 20 years in academia, Dr. Gravitt joined the NCI in 2021 as Deputy Director for the Center for Global Health, where she leads implementation science efforts and provides scientific and programmatic direction across CGH's research, training, partnership, and dissemination goals.
Cervical Cancer Elimination Initiative: Progress and challenges in Latin America
Speaker: Mauricio Maza, MD, MPH
Pan American Health Organization, Regional Advisor
Mauricio Maza is the Regional Advisor for cancer prevention and control at PAHO/WHO. He was the Executive Director of Basic Health International (BHI), where he worked for over 17 years before joining PAHO. He received his degree as Doctor of Medicine from the Universidad Dr. Jose Matías Delgado in El Salvador, and his Master of Public Health from Harvard University with a concentration in Health Care Management and Policy. In 2015 Dr. Maza was named as a Young Leader by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and in 2016 he was chosen to be part of the International Agency for Research in Cancer of the World Health Organization (IARC) “50 for 50” initiative which goal was to identify 50 future leaders in cancer research from low- and middle-income countries. Dr. Maza believes in the need to advocate for more research and evidence-based health policies in limited resource settings.
Cervical Cancer Elimination Initiative: Progress and challenges in Africa
Speaker: Mila Pontremoli Salcedo, MD, PhD
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Mila Salcedo is an Instructor and Director of Training and Education programs for cervical cancer prevention in Mozambique, Texas and other low-resource settings at The Department of Gynecologic Oncology & Reproductive Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston/Texas. Dr. Salcedo is the co-Chair of Preinvasive Program at the International Gynecologic Cancer Society and the International Affairs Advisor for Teaching and Research at Santa Casa Hospital in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Dr. Salcedo served as an Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre (UFCSPA)/Brazil, where she was the Director of the Gynecology and Obstetrics Department at UFCSPA and the Chair and Director of Gynecology at Santa Casa de Misericordia Hospital of Porto Alegre, Brazil. Her primary research interests are in HPV, cervical and vulvar cancer prevention, and lower genital tract disease, especially in low resource settings.