HPV Cancer Center Consortium (Speaker Bios)

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. Most recently, she was nominated to serve 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 prior to joining UNM, she was a Cancer Prevention Fellow with the Implementation Science team at the National Cancer Institute. As an implementation scientist, she uses community-based and partnership-driven participatory research approaches focused on health equity, often utilizing mixed methods that can help develop and test interventions and implementation strategies in pragmatic studies for cancer prevention and control.

Heather M. Brandt, PhD is director of the HPV Cancer Prevention Program at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and co-associate director for outreach in the St. Jude Comprehensive Cancer Center. She also serves as a full member of the cancer center in the department of epidemiology and cancer control. She is a faculty affiliate in the University of Memphis School of Public Health and University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health. As a social and behavioral and implementation scientist, her research interests focus on disparities in cancer prevention and control and specifically on working with key thought leaders, partners, and those affected to successfully use what we know works to increase HPV vaccination. This involves examining, describing, and intervening on cancer-related health disparities through innovative approaches in partnership with “communities” (defined broadly and diversely). Her research emphasizes dissemination and implementation of evidence-based approaches, knowledge-based practice, and co-creating knowledge with key partners in order to improve outcomes through informed action on multiple levels. Most of her work has been done with churches, non-profit organizations, and health care settings, including in rural areas and the Southeastern United States, to improve cancer prevention and control outcomes.

Dr. Noel Brewer is the Gillings Distinguished Professor in Public Health at the University of North Carolina in the Department of Health Behavior at the Gillings School of Global Public Health. He has a PhD in health psychology from Rutgers University.

Dr. Brewer’s research explores why people engage in vaccination and other health behaviors that prevent cancer. He has published over 360 papers on these topics including behaviors related to HPV vaccination, tobacco warnings, and screening tests. He has been recognized by Clarivate as among the top 1% most cited researchers in the world since 2017.

The Announcement Approach Training developed by Dr. Brewer and colleagues teaches health care providers to communicate more effectively about HPV vaccination and other vaccines for adolescents. Over 1,200 providers in 17 states have received the training. The National Cancer Institute designated it as a Research-Tested Intervention Program, and the CDC and American Academy of Pediatrics now recommend use of presumptive announcements when recommending HPV vaccine. Free materials are available at hpvIQ.org.

Dr. Vivian Colón-López is the Lead Investigator and Associate Scientific Director of the Community Outreach and Engagement Office at the University of Puerto Rico, Comprehensive Cancer Center (UPRCCC). Dr. Colón-López has over 15 years of experience in Epidemiology and Social Disparities Population-based research. She has led a series of community-based research efforts on colorectal cancer, human papillomavirus related cancers, and HPV vaccination, with particular emphasis on addressing health disparities. Dr. Colón-López has peer-reviewed publications on the impact on the HPV vaccine school entry policy, the impact of hurricanes Irma and Maria, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, on vaccination rates (PMID: 34856874),and community outreach strategies for HPV vaccine promotion.

Angela Combs is a Regional Cancer Control Specialist with the Kentucky Cancer Program through the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center’s Community Impact Office. Angela works within the community network to reduce cancer incidence and mortality by promoting cancer education, research, and service programs, as well as providing local leadership for cancer prevention and control planning, implementation, and evaluation. She serves the Buffalo Trace and Gateway Districts.
Angela is a graduate of the University of Kentucky and Morehead State University. She worked as the coordinator for the KY HANDS Program in Lewis and Mason Counties and with Hospice of Hope as a medical social worker before coming to work with the Kentucky Cancer Program in 2019. Angela also worked as a program assistant and community educator for 18 years with the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service in Mason County.

Dr. Jennifer Erves is an Associate Professor of Health Policy and Director of Community-Engaged Research in the Office of Health Equity. She is a behavioral scientist focused on cancer prevention behaviors and lowering cancer disparities. Her current research focuses on improving HPV vaccine uptake among children and adolescent populations who have parents with concerns about the vaccine. She uses behavioral interventions, health communication and implementation science. Her long-standing interests in research include minority health with emphasis on cancer disparities, community engagement, clinical trial recruitment and retention, health behavior, and mixed methods and qualitative data analysis. She also works with other researchers, state level committees, as well as community-based organizations and members to develop strategies to reduce disparities across diseases.

Dr. Erves is a graduate of Tuskegee University, where she received her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in biology. She received her Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy in health education and health promotion from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her post-doctoral fellowship was completed for the Meharry Vanderbilt Community Engaged Research Core in Community Engagement. She recently received her Master of Public Health from Vanderbilt University. She is a Certified Health Education Specialist.

Dr. Julie Dang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of California, Davis and also serves as the Executive Director of the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Office of Community Outreach and Engagement. She has over 15 years of experience engaging diverse and underserved communities and clinics in the development, implementation, and evaluation of culturally tailored interventions to advance cancer health equity. Disparities in cervical cancer outcomes was the primary reason why she decided to pursue a career in cancer prevention and control. She has conducted extensive research on understanding and addressing the barriers and facilitators related to HPV vaccine uptake. She also serves on the steering committee for California’s HPV Vaccination Roundtable and co-chair the Roundtable’s Provider/Health Systems working group.

Dr. Julia Gargano is an Epidemiologist on the HPV Team in the Division of Viral Diseases in the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD), CDC. After earning her PhD in epidemiology in 2009, Dr. Gargano joined the CDC as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officer assigned to the CDC HPV laboratory in the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID). After EIS, Dr. Gargano worked as an Epidemiologist in the Waterborne Disease Prevention Branch from 2011–2015, and in 2015 she joined the newly formed HPV Team in NCIRD. In her current position, Dr. Gargano is the Principal Investigator for a population-based surveillance project on cervical precancers in the United States (HPV-IMPACT), collaborates on a study evaluating the impact of Botswana’s 2-dose HPV vaccination program, and participates in research and surveillance on other HPV-related topics, including HPV prevalence and cervical cancer screening utilization.

Dr. Hatch is a practicing physician at Oregon Health & Science University, dually board certified in Family Medicine and Preventive Medicine. In addition to her clinical work, she holds OHSU's Sharp Professorship for Cancer Prevention, and investigator appointments with OCHIN (a national network of community health centers), ORPRN (The Oregon Rural Practice-based Research Network), and the Knight Cancer Institute. As a researcher, she focuses on strategies to improve preventive health outcomes among vulnerable populations (particularly women and children), and she brings experience developing and assessing complex multi-level interventions using big data and mixed methods.

Dr. Pamela Hull is a medical sociologist with 19 years of experience in conducting community-engaged research with a focus on reducing health disparities in collaboration with community partners. Her research focuses on the implementation of evidence-based practices for cancer prevention and cancer care, specifically focused on HPV vaccination, social needs navigation, technology-based applications, and implementation science. Dr. Hull also she leads Markey Cancer Center’s community outreach and engagement efforts through the Community Impact Office.

Dr. Jennifer Isher-Witt is the Director of Data & Evaluation for HPV vaccination on the Interventions & Implementation team at the American Cancer Society. During her 5 years at the ACS, she has led the data arm of the Vaccinate Adolescents Against Cancer (VACs) national cohort, a 12-month quality improvement project designed to increase HPV vaccination rates among 9-13 year-olds in clinical settings. Dr. Isher-Witt also serves as the lead evaluator for the CDC-funded multi-year cooperative agreement to increase HPV vaccination rates in clinical settings and through additional state-level systems and stakeholders. Dr. Isher-Witt earned her PhD in social psychology from Duke University.

Dr. Jo's research identifies influential factors for HPV vaccine uptake, emphasizing social media's impact on public opinions and behaviors. She investigates digital platforms to identify the determinants of vaccine acceptance or refusal. With her expertise in public health nursing and informatics, Dr. Jo employs innovative strategies to counter misinformation and facilitate informed vaccination decisions.
Her work explores the perceptions and challenges related to the HPV vaccine among rural Indiana residents, focusing on social media's role in shaping these views. Furthermore, she conducts big data analysis of social media to identify misinformation and the public's informational needs concerning the HPV vaccine. This research aims to identify prevalent online narratives and misconceptions, assessing their influence on vaccine hesitancy.
Through these approaches, Dr. Jo utilizes social media to identify factors contributing to vaccine hesitancy and as a medium for public health education. Her efforts in applying informatics and social media analysis aim to promote informed decision-making and increase HPV vaccine uptake, demonstrating a sophisticated understanding of health communication and behavior change dynamics.

Deanna Kepka, PhD, MPH, is a Huntsman Cancer Institute investigator and a tenured associate professor in the College of Nursing at the University of Utah. She is a member of the Cancer Control and Population Sciences research group. She is the past Director of Global and International Health in the College of Nursing and the Founding Director of the 400+ member 12-state Mountain West HPV Vaccination Coalition. Kepka’s main research interests are the gaps in health care access and quality for vulnerable populations as related to the prevention, treatment, and survivorship of cancer with a focus on HPV-related cancers.

Electra D. Paskett, PhD is the Marion N. Rowley Professor of Cancer Research at The Ohio State University (OSU). She is Distinguished Professor and Director of the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control in the College of Medicine, Professor in the Division of Epidemiology in the College of Public Health, Deputy Director for Population Sciences and Community Outreach in the OSU Comprehensive Cancer Center and Founding Director of the Center for Cancer Health Equity at the James Cancer Hospital. Dr. Paskett’s over 500 peer-reviewed publications showcase her work in intervention research directed at cancer prevention, early detection and survivorship issues. Her studies use multi-level interventions in transdisciplinary teams with community-based participatory research to identify and intervene on factors causing disparities among underserved populations such as social and ethnic minority groups and rural/underserved populations. She has funding to use implementation science to improve colorectal cancer screening and a P01 to improve cervical cancer prevention services in Appalachia. She is a past-President of the American Society of Preventive Oncology, a former Deputy Editor of the journal Cancer, Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, and Section Editor of the journal, Cancer. Dr. Paskett is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Preventive Oncology and Epidemiology.

Dr. Lizette Rangel received her Master of Public Health and Doctor of Public Health from the University of Texas, School of Public Health. She is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Department of Medicine, Division of Epidemiology and Population Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine. She is also the Survivorship Workgroup Co-Chair for the Cancer Alliance of Texas. Her expertise is in developing and conducting evidence-based interventions to address health disparities in cancer prevention, survivorship, HPV vaccination, and immigrant health. Her current work focusses on health equity in cancer survivorship care delivery and outcomes with a focus on informal cancer caregivers and on the development of a community-based programs to address caregiver mental health.

Debbie Saslow, Ph.D., is the Strategic Director of Screening & Vaccination at the American Cancer Society. Since 1997, Dr. Saslow has served as the ACS subject matter expert for HPV-related cancers including cervical cancer. She provides strategic direction and evidenced-based guidance to the organization on the implementation of HPV cancer-related activities and is responsible for developing and updating ACS guidelines for cervical cancer screening and for HPV vaccination. Dr. Saslow also has served as Tri-Chair of the National HPV Vaccination Roundtable since its inception in 2014 and Tri-Chair of the National Roundtable on Cervical Cancer since its launch in 2022.

Dr. Scarinci has dedicated her career to tobacco control and cervical cancer prevention and control among underserved populations in the U.S. and in low- and middle-income countries. As a behavioral scientist, her work centers on the application of behavioral science to public health by promoting behavior change at the population level and developing, implementing, and evaluating evidence-based interventions. Once these community-based programs are established, she seeks to bring about sustainability and/or to inform policy changes. One example is a 17-year program to promote breast and cervical cancer screening among Latina immigrants in Alabama that relies 100% on the work of committed volunteers – Sowing the Seeds of Health. She has also been one of the leaders of OPERATION WIPE OUT – a statewide plan to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem in Alabama. In 2021, she was chosen as one of six “Champions of Health” worldwide by Rotary International for her work in cervical cancer prevention and control in the U.S. and other low- and middle-income countries.

Amy Steinkuhl is a Regional Cancer Control Specialist with the Kentucky Cancer Program through the University of Kentucky's Community Impact Office. Amy works within the community network to reduce cancer incidence and mortality by promoting cancer education, research, and service programs, as well as providing local leadership for cancer prevention and control planning, implementation, and evaluation. .
Steinkuhl has served the counties of her district from more than 25 years.
Amy also has the privilege to serve as the cancer survivorship program coordinator for KCP East. She has been fortunate to work with a wide variety of survivors, community programs and health care providers to create, direct and implement programs. She has also developed and directed weekend retreats young adults and female survivors, known as New Normal Workshops. She also developed and maintains the Kentucky Cancer Survivor Connection- an informational clearing house for all survivors in Kentucky, providing them with monthly updates of new guidelines, research findings, research participation opportunities as well as networking opportunities, resources specific to their journey, opportunities to participate in local, state and national events. It will fill the void that is being created by the dwindling number of support groups across the state.

Dr. Stokley is an epidemiologist and has focused her career on advancing vaccination programs to protect children, adolescents, and adults from vaccine-preventable diseases. She joined CDC in 1998 and from 2006-2013 led the Adolescent Vaccination Team, directing health services research to inform the implementation of newly licensed vaccines to prevent pertussis, meningitis, and human papillomavirus. She is currently serving as the Deputy Director for Science Implementation in the Immunization Services Division.

Dr. Stokley received her Master of Public Health in Epidemiology from San Diego State University and her Doctor of Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dr. Erika Thompson is an Associate Professor at the University of Texas School of Public Health San Antonio. She received her PhD in Public Health from the University of South Florida and MPH in Epidemiology from the University of Florida. Prior to her current institution, she was at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth Texas. Her research focuses on HPV-related cancer prevention and community engagement. She is the PI of a Merck Investigator Studies Program study to develop and test a decision tool for HPV vaccination among 27-45 year olds. Dr. Thompson has also led studies related to community and clinic interventions for HPV vaccination.

Dr. Tsui is Associate Professor at the University of Southern (USC) Keck School of Medicine, Department of Population and Public Health Sciences and Cancer Control Program Co-Leader and Director of Cancer Care Delivery Research and Implementation Science at USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. She is a health services, implementation science, and mixed methods researcher with expertise in cancer care delivery and health equity. Her multidisciplinary research focuses on improving access to, delivery and quality of guideline-recommended care across the cancer care continuum for medically underserved populations. Since the introduction of HPV vaccines, Dr. Tsui has led and contributed to HPV vaccine equity research at the local, national, and international levels using both primary and secondary data sources. Dr. Tsui currently leads a National Cancer Institute funded study that examines implementation of evidence-based strategies for HPV vaccination in safety-net settings. She is also MPI on an National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities study focusing on the impact of structural barriers and systemic racism on cervical cancer outcomes. Dr. Tsui completed her PhD in Health Policy & Management from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and her MPH in Epidemiology from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

Christina Turpin is the Director for the National HPV Vaccination Roundtable with the American Cancer Society (ACS). Along with the ACS National HPV Vaccination Roundtable team, she leads nationwide efforts to raise HPV vaccination rates and prevent HPV cancers with the ultimate vision of ending vaccine-preventable HPV cancers as a public health problem. She also serves as the current President of the Comprehensive Cancer Alliance of Idaho since 2017 and was recognized in 2020 by the Idaho Business Review Accomplished Under 40 for her efforts in the community. Christina has been with ACS for 14 years and started her career with ACS in Baltimore, Maryland before relocating home to Idaho. Prior to her current position, she focused on advancing priorities around cancer screening, HPV vaccination, quality of life, access to care, and health equity. Christina is a graduate of Penn State University and was inducted into the University’s Senior Honor Society for her service and leadership to her alma mater. She resides in Boise, Idaho and enjoys spending time with her husband and 3 children out in the woods, on the lake, or cheering on Penn State Football.

Dr. Susan Vadaparampil is Associate Center Director of Community Outreach, Engagement, and Equity at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, FL. She is also a Senior Member in the Health Outcomes and Behavior Program in the Division of Population Sciences. She currently serves as the Co-Program Director for Moffitt Cancer Center’s Behavioral Oncology Postdoctoral T32 Training Program. Over the past 20 years, Dr. Vadaparampil has developed a research program applying behavioral science, epidemiology, health services, and clinical perspectives to improve utilization of cancer prevention and control innovations across the cancer continuum. Her work in cervical cancer prevention and early detection has been influenced by transdisciplinary collaboration, focused on health disparities, and contributed to both the scientific literature and clinical practice. She has been funded since 2006 through research grants from organizations such as the National Institutes of Health and the American Cancer Society. Dr. Vadaparampil has published over 330 scientific manuscripts. Dr. Vadaparampil partners with several community organizations, including the American Cancer Society, to reducing the burden of cancer in our community. In 2020, she was appointed to the National Cancer Advisory Board based on her scientific accomplishments.