Prajakta Adsul, MBBS, MPH, PhD, University of New Mexico, USA
Dr Prajakta Adsul is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and a Member of the Cancer Control and Population Sciences Research Program at the Comprehensive Cancer Center at University of New Mexico. She serves as the Inaugural Director of the newly established Center for Advancing Dissemination and Implementation Science at UNM. Dr Adsul is a primary care physician by training and was a Cancer Prevention Fellow with the Implementation Science team at the US National Cancer Institute. As an implementation scientist, she uses community-based and participatory research approaches, often utilizing mixed methods, to develop and test interventions and implementation strategies in pragmatic studies for cancer prevention and control. Dr Adsul conducts research with both local and global communities and clinical organizations to promote the uptake and delivery of evidence-based cancer screening and management interventions with a multiple socio-ecological level focus to achieve population health outcomes. A key focus for her research is on cervical cancer prevention, including improving the implementation of HPV vaccinations and HPV screening, and management as evidence-based interventions. Over the past decade of research, she has led and contributed to several studies across the globe funded by the National Institutes of Health, American Cancer Society, and the World Health Organization, with over 60 publications that collectively contribute towards the science of dissemination and implementation in cervical cancer prevention globally.
Nathalie Broutet, MD, PhD, The University of Sydney, Australia
Dr Nathalie Broutet is a medical doctor with a PhD in infectious diseases epidemiology and public health. From September 2001 to July 2022, she worked at the World Health Organization in Geneva within the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research department. Her focus was on the prevention and control of reproductive tract and sexually transmitted infections, as well as their long-term consequences, such as congenital syphilis and cervical cancer, within the context of sexual and reproductive health and rights. She led the WHO research response to outbreaks, particularly those linked to sexual and reproductive health (SRH). Additionally, she spearheaded the department's normative work and research on increasing access to screening and treatment for the prevention and control of cervical cancer, aiming towards its elimination. She also led the development of several WHO strategies for the control of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including the strategy for the elimination of cervical cancer, which was approved by Member States in 2020. Dr Broutet works closely with regions, countries, ministries of health, to support implementation and strengthening National STI prevention and control programs and cervical cancer prevention and control programs. Since retiring from WHO, Dr Broutet is working as adjunct professor at the University of Sydney to support the implementation of cervical cancer prevention programs and with the UNIFOR in Brazil to organize a global health course for post graduate students. She is also chairing the European cervical cancer working group to develop the European guidelines for screening and treatment of pre-cervical cancer lesions led by IARC. Dr Broutet has more than 140 references in peer review journals and books.
Julia Gage, PhD, MPH, National Cancer Institute, USA
Dr Julia Gage is an epidemiologist serving as Program Director at the Center for Global Health (CGH) at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Dr Gage joined in 2023 to advance implementation research facilitating the introduction of human papillomavirus (HPV)-based cervical cancer screening and treatment within limited resource settings and rapidly disseminating best practices. Specifically, her focus is on shared decision-making and context adaptation in health care systems using systems-thinking, participatory engagement through facilitation, and embedded implementation research. Prior to joining CGH, Dr Gage was with the NCI Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics for over 15 years. Her research focused on the translation of novel discoveries regarding HPV natural history into improved screening and diagnosis for cervical precancer. In particular, she has pursued scientific investigations to identify and bring forth new technologies for cervical cancer prevention to low medical resource settings. Dr Gage served as NCI-lead for studies in Brazil, Nigeria, and Rwanda and led numerous epidemiological analyses from cohorts in the US, Canada, Nigeria, El Salvador, and Costa Rica. She has elucidated the role of HPV35 in cervical carcinogenesis among women of African descent and evaluated the performance of novel strategies for HPV testing, cytology, colposcopy, cervical pathology, and ablation treatment while identifying approaches for clinical improvement. While at NCI, Julia has enjoyed working with governmental partners on national screening programs in El Salvador and Peru. She also has served on numerous World Health Organization Screening and Management Guidelines committees.
