Recognizing Sylvester’s enduring commitment to addressing the inequities that perpetuate cervical cancer in South Florida and beyond, the World Health Organization designated the University of Miami institution as the first WHO Collaborating Centre for Cervical Cancer Elimination.
As a collaborating center, Sylvester will work closely with the Pan American Health Organization, the WHO’s regional office for the Americas, to identify practices that will accelerate the elimination of cervical cancer by 2030.
“The collaborating center will provide important opportunities to share the lessons that organizations and academic institutions have learned while working independently to address the inequities in cervical cancer,” said Erin Kobetz, Ph.D., M.P.H., Sylvester’s associate director for population sciences and cancer disparity and the University’s vice provost for research and scholarship. “The most important lesson that we have learned at Sylvester, and working with the WHO, is to match our research priorities with the needs of communities and to engage local stakeholders in collaborative science and action that creates solutions to address gaps in cancer care, from screening to survivorship."
Other researchers and clinicians across the University have made addressing cervical cancer one of their top academic priorities.
“For years, we have worked diligently with our community partners and the WHO to create novel outreach programs that raise awareness and provide screening opportunities in marginalized communities that bear the largest burden of this preventable disease.”