AS A LEAD PARTNER IN THE GLOBAL INITIATIVE TO ADDRESS THE INADEQUATE TESTING AND TREATMENT OF CERVICAL CANCER, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Health System and Miller School of Medicine, will work closely with the Pan American Health Organization, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) regional office for the Americas, to identify practices that best enable girls born today to live in a world free of the cancers caused by one of the high-risk strains of the ubiquitous human papillomaviruses (HPVs).

“The world is united to end cervical cancer, and the University is immensely proud to officially take a leading role in this ambitious and essential endeavor,” says President Julio Frenk. “From the crossroads of Latin America and the Caribbean to the persistence of disparities around the world, we are honored to expand our collaborations to address a cancer that humankind already has the tools to eliminate.”

Dr. Stephen D. Nimer, director of Sylvester, highlighted the center’s multipronged approaches to develop local partners in marginalized pockets of Miami where the disease is especially virulent and where barriers to prevention, detection, and treatment persist.

“For years, we have worked diligently with our community partners and the WHO to create novel outreach programs that raise awareness and provide screening opportunities in marginalized communities that bear the largest burden of this preventable disease,” says Nimer, who also is the Oscar de la Renta Endowed Chair in Cancer Research and executive dean for research at the Miller School.

Though preventable and curable, cervical cancer still kills more than 300,000 women around the world who usually lack access to the vaccines, screening tests, and treatments that would prevent, detect, or cure the disease in its early stages.

In August 2020, the WHO launched a global strategy to accelerate the elimination of cervical cancer—which develops silently over years—with the goal of meeting three key targets by 2030.

Known as the 90-70-90 goals, the targets call for 90 percent of all girls to be fully vaccinated with the HPV vaccine by age 15; 70 percent of all women to be screened with a high- performance HPV detection test by age 35, and again at age 45; and 90 percent of all women with precancer or cervical disease to be treated, as well as 90 percent with advanced cancer to be under managed and palliative care.

“This designation provides a platform for true bidirectional engagement to generate sustainable and scalable solutions that address gaps in vaccinating, screening, and treating cervical cancer. So, by 2030, we really will have accelerated the promise of achieving elimination,” says Erin Kobetz, the John K. and Judy H. Schulte Senior Endowed Chair in Cancer Research at Sylvester and the University’s vice provost for research and scholarship.

A range of other researchers and clinicians across the University have made addressing cervical cancer one of their top academic priorities. They include Dr. Marilyn Huang, an associate professor of clinical medicine and co-director of translational gynecologic oncology research, who is developing new immunotherapies that show the promise of prolonging the survival of women living with recurrent or late-stage cervical cancer in South Florida and beyond.

In addition, Dr. Matthew Schlumbrecht, Sylvester’s chief of gynecologic oncology, is pursuing critical epidemiologic research demonstrating the global challenges in addressing persistent incidence of cervical cancer.

And, Sylvia Daunert, the Lucille P. Markey Chair of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Sapna Deo, a professor in the same department, collaborated with Kobetz and research associate professor Jean-Marc Zingg to develop a rapid HPV test that women anywhere in the world can administer themselves.

According to Kobetz, the test could be a game-changer in the fight against cervical cancer because women who live in places devoid of laboratories—or even regular electricity—would have access to secondary prevention and, in turn, life-saving treatment.

“The most important lesson that we have learned at Sylvester, and in working with the WHO, is to match our research priorities with the needs of communities and to engage local stakeholders in collaborative science and action that creates solutions to address gaps in cancer care, from screening to survivorship,” asserts Kobetz.