The CERVIVA ICE programme represents an integrated inter-disciplinary proposal that is transformative and capacity-enhancing for 3 Fellows working in 3 key areas of health services research: epidemiology, economics and health psychology/intervention development. The application builds on substantial existing capacity and expertise within the internationally recognised CERVIVA research consortium (www.cerviva.ie) and extends the coverage of its research effort by addressing a series of important knowledge gaps within cervical pre-cancer/cancer and Human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated head and neck cancer [HNSCC]; these knowledge gaps also represent important challenges for policy-makers, service providers and health professionals.
Through an integrated interdisciplinary programme, the fellows will seek to derive significant outputs in three areas:
Area 1 (Epidemiology): Advancing the understanding of the natural history of HPV infection in the oral cavity (prevalence, persistence, clearance); developing a mathematical-biological model of the natural history of HPV infection in head and neck cancer; and extended longitudinal analysis of biomarkers for triage in cervical pre-cancer.
Area 2 (Health economics): Assessing the cost-effectiveness of novel biomarkers in cervical cancer prevention; and quantification of the differences in costs and effect of different strategies for the treatment of head and neck cancer, focusing on the potential gains from early detection.
Area 3 (Health psychology/intervention development): Developing and testing theorybased interventions to: reduce adverse psychological after-effects in women undergoing colposcopy and related procedures; and support health professionals in discussing HPV with head and neck cancer patients.
