Karen Canfell

Karen Canfell is an Australian epidemiologist and cancer researcher.

After being awarded a D.Phil. from Oxford in 2004 with a thesis entitled ''Use of hormone replacement therapy as a potential co-factor in the neoplastic progression of HPV-related cervical disease,'' Canfell returned to Australia to work for the Cancer Council in Sydney where she continued to work on cervical cancer in particular and all its ramifications, as well as the epidemiology of breast and other cancers.

With the advent of HPV vaccines and the mass HPV vaccination programs in Australia for girls (starting in 2007) and boys (starting in 2013) to prevent HPV infection, her interests turned to monitoring the effects of such programs, appropriate screening for cervical cancer in Australia and other countries. A major focus has been how to do this effectively in developing and low-income countries as well as in high-income countries.

Together with her team, her work was fundamental in Australia making the 2017 transition of their national cervical screening program from cytology (pap smears) to a 5-yearly HPV DNA-based screening, and her work both with respect to other countries and in Australia means that Australia is on track to eliminate cervical cancer by 2028. Provided by Wikipedia