Science thomsonreuters.com

Originally I was trained as a clinical oncologist and after a few years of practicing I moved into cancer epidemiology with a specific interest in cancers that were caused by infections like Hepatitis B.

Hepatitis B is the major cause of liver cancer in Africa and so we had that peculiar experience of having a vaccine aimed at the prevention of a major human cancer but also at the prevention of an acute infection, which is a pretty nasty condition. Because of that duality, the vaccine was introduced both in developed and developing countries. After that, we did some work on Hepatitis C, and then we moved very rapidly into the research linking the infections with human papillomavirus (HPV) to genital cancers in general.

The major achievement of that line of research was the confirmation that cervical cancers, and later on many of the other genital cancers in men and women, are caused by unresolved infections with human papillomavirus. That occupied us for a good chunk of the 80s and early 90s at which time a new technological advance led to the creation of HPV virus-like particles that were extremely useful in inducing an immune response. After the vaccines were prepared and trialed, it was clear that the final answer to cervical cancer was massive vaccination of women worldwide.

The specificity of our work is to try and generate the background for a vaccine to be developed. Further work on that is participating in the trials that prove the vaccines do what they are supposed to do. We have done that with the Hepatitis B vaccines, and with the human papillomavirus vaccines.

However, the transfer of information across the worldwide science community is an essential component of our efforts. In practical terms, literally tens of thousands of health professional worldwide need to explain to hundreds of thousands of decision-makers and families about the arrival of a new vaccine and the benefits of having their children vaccinated. To do that in a number of different languages is a major task. It's almost as difficult and expensive as creating the vaccine itself. In the case of the HPV vaccine, there are some additional cultural components that play a significant role. This is a virus that is largely transmitted through sexual intercourse and in many cultures the concept of premarital sexual intercourse is almost a forbidden topic. So we have to explain to those families and those decision-makers that we are trying to prevent cancer by vaccinating children and downplay the discussion that children need protection because they have sex, potentially with infected males.

So how do we disseminate this information? The academic world is traditionally confident that by publishing in good journals, the world will read, will understand and march behind any progress that is significant for public health. And we have proven once more that this is not the case, the information is there and has been there for a number of years, and still the fraction of women that get vaccinated is relatively small. Certainly there are logistical barriers but it is knowledge, understanding and political will that are needed to make it happen. Indeed a decision like this requires a change in the state of opinion. To create that state of opinion, information is essential so we actually devote a good part of our time investigating ways of making that information available to the ones that, at the end of the day, have to put a needle in the arm of a woman.

Thomson Reuters has been extremely useful in that effort, because of their ability to reach an enormous amount of individuals in the world and because of the influence that their prestige has. So people listen when there is something to be said through that network.

The conventional way of disseminating scientific information via conferences, seminars or workshops that includes traveling are expensive and have a limited impact so we have to go to the next step: introduce a distance learning concept. This will allow anyone to connect him or herself from their own house at a time that is convenient for them and have access to questions and answers from the best in the world.

For us this is relatively new, because we are good at gathering the information, putting it into the right format and getting the best authors to contribute, but we are less experienced in reaching very large numbers of people. Thomson Reuters can be a very useful partner both in sourcing the necessary funding bodies interested in the project, as well as with the day to day planning of activities.

In a sense the work that we do, being public health essentially, has as a final end point: the dramatic reduction of cervical cancer from the world, particularly from the developing countries.

For example in 2010/2011 we plan a major educational effort on the new opportunities for cervical cancer prevention, focusing on Latin America and Africa. These are two populations with a very high risk of cervical cancer and have repeatedly failed to properly organize screening programs, therefore the prospect of introducing a mass vaccine is a major contribution.