Recent Events

January 2012

At Women In Government’s 18th Annual State Directors’ Conference, a presentation on HPV and cervical cancer was featured. Susan Garfield, DrPH, currently serves as Vice President, Bridgehead USA, and for over twelve years, her professional career has focused on innovations in healthcare, the economics of practice change, and the role of reimbursement and policy to the adoption of new technologies. Her presentation discussed Women In Government’s history with the issue; current trends with Medicaid; coding for molecular testing; excessive billing; the need for co-testing and genotyping with some patients; and other important updates in screening technology and related policies. To learn more, please view her presentation here.

November 2011

At Women In Government’s Second Annual Healthcare Summit a session was featured to provide an overview of the latest innovation in HPV screening – genotyping HPV – as well as include information on the challenges in adopting the new technology and obtaining physician reimbursement, along with ways in which legislators can raise awareness and support access. It also included a patient advocate perspective on ensuring that the latest screening technology is available.

Dr. Thomas Wright, Jr., a Professor of Pathology who heads the colposcopy services at Columbia University Medical Center, is an expert in gynecologic pathology, cervical cancer screening, and the human papillomavirus. He spoke about his studies on the pathogenesis of cervical cancer and novel approaches to cervical cancer prevention. His current research ranges from evaluating non-cytological cervical cancer screening tests to studying the safety and efficacy of screen and treat approaches to cervical cancer prevention.

Kirk Forbes spoke about the tragic loss of his daughter to cervical cancer. His inspirational story emphasized the fact that HPV and cervical cancer can be prevented, and there is no reason to continue losing women to this disease. He and his wife Brenda created the Kristen Forbes EVE Foundation in memory of their daughter. Kristen Forbes was 23 years old when she passed away from HPV caused cervical cancer in 2008. EVE stands for Educate and Screen, Vaccinate, and Eradicate. The main goal of the foundation is to educate the public about the availability of HPV testing and vaccines. To learn more, please visit his website here.

October 2011

At a session at the 12th Annual Southern Regional Conference, an overview of the HPV vaccines and their current uses was provided. Jennifer Smith, PhD, MPH, is an expert in the epidemiology of HPV and cervical cancer, and has conducted research on this topic since 1995. She spoke about her current research, which focuses on epidemiological studies of HPV and cervical cancer worldwide (primarily in North Carolina, China, and Kenya), with a focus on prevention via screening and prophylactic vaccines. Dr. Smith discussed cervical cancer prevention among women with limited access to preventative public health services. The presentation also feature information on the Cervical Cancer-Free America campaign, as a well as state campaigns in Alabama, Kentucky, and North Carolina. To view her presentation, please click here.

July 2011

At Women In Government's Oncology Task Force, an expert panel on HPV & cervical cancer was featured. Dr. Mark Einstein from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University spoke about the evolving clinical landscape of the infection and cancer. He emphasized that HPV is not necessarily a sexually transmitted disease, and discussed the cutting edge issues and research in prevention, screening, diagnosis, and treatment, including the possible link between HPV and other cancers. He provided an overview of the HPV vaccines and their current uses, and his presentation is available here. Dr. Jennifer Smith was also a panelist, and is the Director of Cervical Cancer-Free America. She spoke about the campaign of Cervical Cancer-Free America, and what they do to prevent the spread of HPV and cervical cancer, and her presentation is available here.  The third panelist, Deborah Arrindell, the Vice President of Health Policy at the American Social Health Association spoke about the United States Preventative Services Task Force Recommendations on Cervical Cancer, and her presentation is available here.

Kenneth Alexander, MD, PhD, the Chief of the Section of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at The University of Chicago spoke about sexual health and HPV and cervical cancer vaccines at the 18th Annual Midwestern Regional Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His presentation provided an overview of HPV and cervical cancer, with the main focus on adolescent vaccines. He also discussed the current and cutting-edge trends in research and HPV vaccine use. His presentation is available here.