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Presented By: School of Public Health

38th Annual Thomas Francis, Jr. Memorial Lecture with Guest Speaker, Dr. Nubia Munoz

"Human papillomavirus in the etiology and prevention of genital cancers"

The Department of Epidemiology at the School of Public Health invites you to join us for our 38th Annual Thomas Francis, Jr. Memorial Lecture on Tuesday, April 15, 2014 at 3 p.m. The lecture will take place at the School of Public Health, Building 1, in Auditorium 1755.

This year’s guest speaker is Dr. Nubia Muñoz. Dr. Muñoz is a former Unit chief at the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, an Emeritus Scientist of the National Cancer Institute of Colombia, and a member of the Society of Scholars of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Dr. Muñoz will speak on the topic of “Human papillomavirus in the etiology and prevention of genital cancers”.

A reception will immediately follow the lecture in SPH I, Community Room (Room 1680).

Summary of Talk:
The molecular epidemiological studies that led to conclude that infection with certain types of human papillomavirus (HPV) is not only the main cause but also a necessary cause of cervical cancer and also contribute to the etiology of other anogenital cancers and cancer of the oropharynx will be reviewed, as well as the implications of these findings in the great advances made in the prevention of HPV”associated diseases.

Bio:
Dr. Muñoz earned her Medical Degree and Board of Pathologist at the University of Valle in Cali, Colombia. She served a Fellowship in Pathology and virology at the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, and earned a Master’s Degree in Public Health and Cancer Epidemiology from The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. After completing her training she spent her 30 years career at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France. Through successive promotions she reached the rank of Chief of the Unit of Field and Intervention Studies, a position she held until the year 2002. She became then Emeritus professor of the National Cancer Institute of Colombia, consultant to the IARC and the Catalan Institute of Oncology in Barcelona.

She has conducted epidemiological research on cancers linked to infectious agents, which represent an important health problem in developing countries. She implemented various research projects in over 30 countries around the world. These have been instrumental in demonstrating the role of human papillomavirus (HPV) as the central and necessary cause of cervical cancer and a contributing factor in other cancers, such oral cancer; the causal role of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus in liver cancer; and elucidating the role of Helicobacter pylori in gastric cancer. At the same time, these various research projects provided her the opportunity of training local colleagues in Cancer Epidemiology. From her IARC unit she began to lead in the early1980s a massive effort that achieved two major goals: 1), demonstration that certain genotypes of HPV are unequivocally one the strongest cancer risk factors ever found. These findings have had important implications in primary prevention of cervical cancer by the use of prophylactic vaccines and on secondary prevention, by the use of HPV assays in screening programs.2), she has played a catalytic role in the initiation of the first HBV vaccine trials to prevent liver cancer in The Gambia, and later on the initiation and implementation of HPV vaccine trials to demonstrate their efficacy in the prevention of cervical cancer worldwide. She has authored over 380 scientific papers published in peer-reviewed journals and she serves on the editorial boards of seven international journals and on boards of several medical societies.

Dr. Muñoz has received various awards from her university and medical societies from Colombia, she is member of Academy of Medicine of Colombia, received the Distinguished Alumna Award of The Johns Hopkins University, the membership of the Society of Scholars of The Johns Hopkins University, the Distinguished Epidemiologist Award from three Epidemiology Societies of North America, the Sir Richard Doll award from the International Epidemiological Association (IEA) in 2008. In 2008 she was also nominated jointly with Harald zur Hausen to the Nobel Prize of Medicine by the International Epidemiological Association for her pioneer work on HPV and cervical cancer. She received the 2009 Bruchbacher prize for Cancer Research from the Charles Rodolphe Brupbacher Foundation for Cancer Research in Zurich and the first Canada Gairdner Global Health award from the Gairdner Foundation.

In 2010 she was named “Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur” by the French president, the highest honour conferred by France. In 2011 she received the “Cruz de Boyaca” the highest honour conferred by Colombia, her home country, and was invited to deliver the prestigious “Cutter lecture on Preventive Medicine” at the Harvard School of Public Health. In Nov. 2012 she was invited to deliver the Geoffrey Howe Memorial Lecture at the School of Public Health of Columbia University in New York. In 2014 she has been invited to give the Thomas Francis, Jr. Memorial Lecture at the School of Public Health of Michigan University.

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