PhD, MPH
Professor, Department of Epidemiology
UNC-Chapel Hill
Cancer Epidemiology
Area of Interest
I have been involved in the initiation of cancer research projects internationally. In collaboration with Dr. Robert Bailey at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and Dr. Stephen Moses at the University of Manitoba, we are investigating the prevalence and risk factors for HPV infection in a cohort of approximately 2,500 young men in Kisumu, Kenya, in addition to assessing the influence of male circumcision on the natural history of penile HPV infection. Although men are certainly important in the transmission of HPV infection to their female partners, the prevalence of HPV infection among men and risk factors for persistence are poorly understood. In Nairobi, Kenya, I am currently initiating a supplemental study to an ongoing cohort study of high-risk women in collaboration with Dr. Craig Cohen from the University of Washington in order to investigate the natural history of HPV infection and cervical neoplasia among women in relation to co-existent sexually transmitted infections and HIV. I am interested in conducting research on infectious agents in the etiology of other cancer sites, such as prostate in collaboration with Dr. Elio Riboli as part of the IARC EPIC project.
As a recently appointed junior faculty member in the Department of Epidemiology at UNC, I am particularly interested in being involved in establishing collaborative research projects with other departmental colleagues in the immediate future, and in the longer-term future, I aim to become an independent, field-based epidemiologist of cancer/reproductive health research, and an active, contributing member of the UNC department of epidemiology. I would eventually like to establish an independent, solid research program as a faculty member that bridges issues of infections agents and cancer.
News and Stories
Cervical cancer screening doubles when under-screened women are mailed testing kits
Jennifer Smith, PhD, MPH, Noel Brewer, PhD, and colleagues report mailing HPV self-collection tests and offering assistance to book in-clinic screening appointments to under-screened, low-income women improved cervical cancer screening nearly two-fold compared to scheduling assistance alone.
UNC researchers to use $3 million grant to improve cervical cancer screening and treatment
The NCI awarded Jennifer Smith, PhD, MPH, Lameck Chinula, MD, and colleagues a grant to develop cost-effective screening and treatment strategies for invasive cervical cancer in women living with HIV in low and middle-income countries.
NCI grant funds UNC-led consortium studying HIV-related cancers in sub-Saharan Africa
A team of UNC researchers are partnering with colleagues at three institutions in Africa to study HIV-associated malignancies: Kaposi sarcoma, cervical cancer and lymphoma.
Mailed HPV tests can help find women at-risk for cervical cancer, study finds
Researchers led by UNC Lineberger's Jennifer Smith, PhD, MPH, published the results of mailing at-home, HPV self-collection kits to 193 low-income women in North Carolina who were overdue for screening according to national guidelines.
