Moffitt Cancer Center Awarded $2 Million Grant For HPV Vaccination Study

Main Category: Cervical Cancer / HPV Vaccine
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 26 Aug 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health has awarded a $2 million grant to Moffitt Cancer Center to study the influences of physician, patient and policy factors on recommendations of HPV vaccination in the years following licensure of the vaccine.

Principal investigator Susan Vadaparampil , Ph.D., M.P.H., will focus on physician recommendations of GARDASIL, an HPV vaccine approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in females ages 9 to 26. GARDASIL protects against HPV types 16 and 18, which cause approximately 70 percent of cervical cancers, as well as HPV types 6 and 11, which cause approximately 90 percent of genital warts.

Researchers say it is crucial that physicians recommend and advocate for HPV vaccination, but current rates of immunization for children and adults in the United States are sub par.

Vadaparampil and her team will survey 1,000 physicians in pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology, and family and internal medicine three years and five years after the vaccine was licensed by the FDA. The goal is to determine how often physicians are recommending the vaccine, as well as what other factors may contribute to vaccine recommendations.

The $2,079,548 grant will fund Vadaparampil's study, "Recommendation of HPV Vaccination Among U.S. Physicians," which will conclude June 30, 2012. Vadaparampil will lead a team including co-investigators Anna Giuliano , Ph.D.; Ji-Hyun Lee , Ph.D.; and Gwendolyn Quinn , Ph.D. Co-investigators also include Dr. Richard Roetzheim and Dr. Karen Bruder from USF Health; Dr. Neal Halsey from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health ; and Dr. Jessica Kahn from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

About H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute

Located in Tampa, Florida, Moffitt Cancer Center is the only Florida-based cancer center with the NCI designation as a Comprehensive Cancer Center for its excellence in research and contributions to clinical trials, prevention and cancer control. Moffitt currently has 15 affiliates in Florida, one in Georgia and two in Puerto Rico. Additionally, Moffitt is a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, a prestigious alliance of the country's leading cancer centers, and is listed in U.S. News & World Report as one of "America's Best Hospitals" for cancer. Moffitt's sole mission is to contribute to the prevention and cure of cancer.

H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute