The HPV Vaccine Controversy | Shobha S Krishnan, MD
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Latest Updates of Reviews and other pertinent information:
2012
Please click on
http://giahc.org/
for future updates.
Summer
2011:
GIAHC made a lot of progress over the summer. Click the following
link for details:
http://giahc.org/institute/news-and-updates.html
MARCH/APRIL/2011:
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS:
2011 Women’s Health Conference:
Dr. Krishnan will be presenting on GIAHC’s model at the 2011 Women’s
Health conference in Washington D.C on Friday, March 31st
http://www.bioconferences.com/CONFERENCES/WomensHealth/program.aspx
EUROGIN 2011:
The European Congress on Gynecological Infections and Neoplasia has
invited Dr. Krishnan to present GIAHCs grassroots effort in India in
Portugal on May 8th
http://www.eurogin.com/2011/
KUTCH PROJECT UPDATE:
Several more women have been screened and referred for treatment in Kutch. More villages are interested in having their women screened and treated for cervical cancer.
INTERVIEWS/ARTICLES:
Rethinking How to Teach People About Healthy Sex:
http://www.campusprogress.org/articles/rethinking_how_to_teach_people_about_healthy_sex/
Could Those Bumps Be
Genital Warts?
http://www.bottomlinesecrets.com/article.html?article_id=100002796
Current Health Teens: Human
Sexuality Newsletter, November 2010, Issue 3, Vol. 37- Six Things
You Probably Don't Know About STls
MILESTONE:
CERVICAL CANCER
TRAINING CENTER
GIAHC
and The Adyar Cancer Institute (India) have collaborated to launch a
cervical cancer outreach training Center in Chennai, India. The
program will commence on January 17th, 2011. The training is
for 12 days and is designed to give hands-on-training to
community health workers in cervical cancer, education, screening
and treatment. We hope to expand and scale up the program as
funding becomes available.
In photo: L to R - Drs. Malliga, Shanta, Shobha Krishnan
ADDITION TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
Dr. Anna Guilliano, HPV expert and internationally renowned for her work in HPV in males joins GIAHC board of directors - http://giahc.org/who-we-are.html
DECEMBER 2010:
GIAHC adds to its Board of Directors:
Mrs. Sushma Iyengar,
Founder of Kutch Maila Vikas Sangathan and a powerful woman
influencer in India….see under Board of Directors at http://giahc.org/who-we-are.html
Dr. Mathuram
Santosham, M.D, MPH,
Professor of
International health and expert on childhood vaccines, Johns Hopkins
University ...
see under Board of Directors at
http://giahc.org/who-we-are.html
Madelon L. Finkel,
PhD, professor of clinical public health and director of the Office
of Global Health Education at the Weill Cornell Medical College in
New York City...
see under Board of Directors at
http://giahc.org/who-we-are.html
LATEST REVIEWS:
COLUMBIA SPECTATOR:
HIGHLIGHTS
HPV Education and Outreach
STUDENT ORGANIZATION:
http://www.columbiaspectator.com/2010/11/05/barnard-group-raises-hpv-awareness
JOURNAL OF THE
AMERICAN ACADEMY OF DERMATOLOGY BOOK REVIEW: NOVEMBER 2010
One may ask why there is a controversy about
a vaccine that has the potential to reduce the
incidence of the second most common cause of cancer death in women
worldwide (cervical cancer). Dr Krishnan addresses this question
from the standpoint of the knowledge of the safety and efficacy of
this vaccine and the public's acceptance
of the vaccine in 2008,
2 years after its approval by the US Food and Drug Administration
(FDA)…Dr Krishnan does an outstanding job of explaining the HPV vaccine. Furthermore, she provides a superb
discussion on counseling patients with HPV infections…This discussion can be a useful guide for the
clinician who deals with patients with any STD…In summary, The HPV Vaccine Controversy is
a useful guide for the clinician and for the lay public 4 years
after FDA approval of the quadrivalent HPV vaccine …
OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2010
GIAHC appoints distinguished
member to Board of Directors:
GIAHC is in the process of forming a board that comprises an experienced, diversified, and, committed group of individuals who will strive to make its vision a resounding success. The following highlights the addition of a distinguished Gynecological Oncologist from the Cleveland Clinic to the GIAHC board:
Jerome
L Belinson is the President and founder of Preventive Oncology
International, Inc. (www.poiinc.org)
a
research organization that blends humanitarian work with
investigative science.
Dr
Belinson has worked for more than 14 years in rural China in
multiple provinces throughout the country. His initial study known
as SPOCCS I, The Shanxi Province Cervical Cancer Screening Study,
received international acclaim and it continues to serve as a model
for study design in epidemiology courses around the world. This
study provided the true sensitivity and specificity of multiple
screening technologies. The work of Dr. Belinson and his P.O.I.
colleagues has also been recognized for their careful adherence to
human values and the proper conduct of studies involving human
subjects in the third world.
In
addition to China, POI has conducted studies in the Dominican
Republic, Mexico, and the US.
Jerome L Belinson, MD is the Ex-officio Chairman of the Department
of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation
1990-2000. He has dedicated his career to advancing the screening
and treatment of gynecologic cancers.
Dr Belinson serves as
Professor of Surgery with the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of
Medicine of the
He
has served as an advisor to the Ministry of Science in India, the
medical advisory board for the Gates Foundation START project (to
develop a rapid low cost HPV test), and serves on the Board of
Directors of Grounds for Health, an organization that provides care
for women in the coffee growing regions of the world.
STUDENT ORGANIZATION:
Tali
Azenkot is a second-year student at Barnard College, Columbia
University where she is majoring in Biology. Originally from Israel,
Azenkot grew up in San Jose, California. In October 2010, she
founded The Human
Papillomavirus (HPV) Education and Outreach Project: A Student
Partnership with the Global Initiative Against HPV and Cervical
Cancer. The goal of the organization is to promote HPV awareness
in men and women and take action to minimize its disease
consequences. Azenkot is excited about working with other students
on college campuses, both nationally and internationally, to create
awareness and outreach campaigns. In addition, she is interested in
developing a study abroad program focusing on HPV education and
reducing the mortality specifically from cervical cancer around the
world. Azenkot was awarded a Merk Research Fellowship for biology
research in summer of 2010. She has founded and has been a student
leader on several teen coalitions during her high school years.
SEPTEMBER 2010:
Important
Milestone:
Much progress was made during Dr.
Krishnan’s visit to India in July- August 2010. There are plans
to expand the existing cervical screening program in Kutch.
The GIAHC flagship training center
will soon be launched at the Adyar Cancer Institute in Chennai
to train health workers from various communities in HPV and
cervical cancer prevention, screening and treatment programs.
Stay tuned for updates…..
GIAHC elects its first
chapter leader in India:
Mr.
Liladhar Gada
(Nickname: Adha, which means father in Kutchi)
Adha hails from a family of businessmen in Bombay who had their
beginnings in the district of Kutch, Gujarat. Adha's uncle was an
eye surgeon, and on his retirement, he decided to dedicate his
services to Kutch by organizing Eye Camps. Unfortunately on his way
to organize the first Eye Camp, Adha's uncle had a massive heart
attack and died at the railway station in Mumbai. His family decided
to continue on with his uncle's wish and they organized the Eye Camp
in his memory in Kutch in 1973. The camp was an ‘eye opener’for Adha.
He witnessed the void in medical facilities in rural Kutch. There
were more than 125,000 eye patients and at least 15,000 that needed
immediate cataract surgery. Adha and his late wife took time away
from their business activities and pledged to devote maximum time
it for eye camps and other
philanthropic work. In 1983, the Bidada Sarvodaya Trust, in which
Adha was the trustee, started an Eye hospital and medical center.
The center went on to add other specialties including, ENT, General
Surgery, Orthopedic, Cardiac and Dental services. In 1998, a 15 bed
rural referral hospitals started functioning at Bhojay. In their
first cancer prevention camp, Adha was moved by the existing
gynecologic problems like prolapse of the uterus, fibroids, ovarian
cysts, ovarian masses and many more devastating maladies. These
problems had remained unnoticed, unaddressed and untreated for more
than a decade for many of these women. Adha has traveled to almost
every village in western Kutch to talk to midwives about the
implementation of these programs. During the past ten years, the
Bhojay Sarvodaya Trust has arranged upwards of 40 gynecologic
diagnostic and surgical camps where over 25,000 women have been
examined and given free medicine and over 2300 surgeries have been
performed. Bhojay has become a unique center for gynecologic
patients. Adha intends to develop Bhojay as leading rural center for
the detection and prevention of cervical cancer with its
collaboration with Kutch
Mahila Vikas Sangathan (KMVS) an NGO and
GIAHC
(Dr. Shobha Krishnan and her team).
Interview…..
Glamour
Glamour interviews Dr. Krishnan
for its August 3rd 2010 article on:
I Sued My Ex for Giving Me an Std—and I
Won”
In one of the first cases of its kind, Karly Rossiter, 28, sued her former beau, saying he gave her HPV, the virus that causes cervical cancer. Gutsy? Yes. Controversial? Very. What would you do?
Speaking engagement:
Dr. Krishnan will be speaking at Columbia University on October 2nd on community service. The title of her talk is ‘Be the Change’.
JULY-AUGUST
Award:
Dr. Krishnan wins an award for
Best Overall Presentation in Capacity Building during the closing
ceremonies at the HPV 2010 conference in Montreal
Speaking
engagements, India:
JUNE 2010:
Speaking engagements:
She will be speaking on Capacity Building on July 7th,
at the International Papillomavirus Society Conference in Montreal,
Canada.
hhttp://hpv2010.org/main/index.php?option=com_conference&view=presentation&id=881&conference=1&Itemid=102
…much of Krishnan’s success in spreading the word about HPV lies in her method of delivery. Rather than projecting her own personal views on the reader, she objectively and sensitively presents the facts and allows her readers to formulate their own stance. Readers come away from The HPV vaccine controversy feeling passionately about what they can do to combat HPV, empowered to make informed health care decisions, and better equipped to advocate for patients.o:p>
Nursing Ethics, 17(3)
410–415, 2010
Dr
Krishnan’s interview with ASHA:
http://www.ashastd.org/hpv/hpv_overview.cfm
MAY 2010:
Winner of TWO 2010 International Book Awards:
The HPV Vaccine Controversy: Sex, Cancer, God and Politics is the winner
of TWO 2010 International book awards in the Women’s Health and
Sexuality categories
http://www.internationalbookawards.com/2010awardannoucement.html
Book review - British
Journal of Cancer:
Dr Krishnan provides a well-balanced view of the
strengths and weaknesses of the currently available prophylactic HPV
vaccines, including the need to continue screening efforts, and to
avoid feelings of fear and guilt on the part of a woman when a HPV
infection is detected during cervical cancer screening…British
Journal of Cancer (2010)
102, 1312–1312.
Appointment:
Dr. Krishnan has been
appointed to the experts’ panel of The American Social Health
Association (ASHA).
http://www.ashastd.org/sexualhealth/askexperts_experts.cfm