Lea Widdice, MD
Dr. Widdice’s primary research project is a study to examine the transmission of HPV between heterosexual couples with the intent to better understand the role of the male partner in the development of persistent HPV infection in women. Although epidemiology evidence shows that factors related to the male partner can increase women’s risk of cervical cancer, the reasons for this are unclear. The clinical importance of these efforts is based on the well established understandings that persistent infection with HPV is the cause of cervical cancer. Further understanding of factors leading to persistence of infection can help reduce the burden of cervical cancer. Dr. Widdice is also conducting a study to determine factors associated with adherence to HPV vaccination recommendations. In addition, she is developing a protocol to examine the impact of non-adherence to the recommended dosing schedule of HPV vaccine on the immunogenicity in a clinic population.
