This event is being delivered in partnership with Roche Diagnostics.
Screening has been very successful at preventing cervical cancer in the UK and elsewhere. For many years, research focused on improving the screening test, but the landscape is changing and participation in cervical screening has declined in recent years in the UK. Today’s focus needs to be on increasing participation amongst those at risk and those who are under-screened, helping to reduce health inequalities. Self-sampling and other non-speculum techniques may have a role, but making an impact on cervical cancer rates is not easy and requires careful implementation.
In this webinar, Professor Peter Sasieni CBE will cover some recent research on self-sampling. Athena Lamnisos, CEO of The Eve Appeal, will provide the patient perspective and highlight differences in cervical screening approaches and uptakes across the UK nations and internationally.
The talks will be followed by a Q&A.
This event will take place at 12:30pm and last approximately 1 hour.
CPD
This meeting is worth 1 CPD point (self credited).
Our panel
Professor Peter Sasieni CBE
Peter Sasieni CBE FMedSci is Professor of Cancer Epidemiology at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and Director of the Cancer Research UK Cancer Prevention Trials Unit at QMUL.
After graduating in mathematics from the University of Cambridge, he obtained a doctorate in biostatistics from the University of Washington. Returning to the UK, he worked with Jack Cuzick at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund and later at QMUL before moving to King’s College London where he was Director of King’s Clinical Trials Unit.
Professor Sasieni’s research applies epidemiological methods to cancer screening. He designs and runs clinical trials of early detection and prevention interventions.
He has published extensively on cervical screening and HPV vaccination including on the YouScreen trial of self-sampling in cervical screening non-attenders. He is currently collaborating with Professor Rebecca Fitzgerald to evaluate her oesophageal capsule sponge technology; Professor David Weller to study the potential for risk-stratified colorectal screening; and Professor James Catto on the IMProVE trial of prostate cancer screening; and is one of the lead investigators on the NHS-Galleri Trial evaluating GRAIL’s multi-cancer early detection blood test in population screening.
In 2023 he received The Don Listwin Award for Outstanding Contribution to Cancer Early Detection. In 2024 he was awarded a CBE for services to cancer early detection and prevention.
Athena Lamnisos
Athena Lamnisos is a senior third sector leader and is currently CEO of leading gynaecological cancer charity, The Eve Appeal, which is focused on the prevention and earlier detection of the 5 gynaecological cancers.
Athena is experienced at forging partnerships between private, public and not for profit sectors. She has a track record of directing successful change programmes in the arena of public health and oncology and is passionate about making service user voices central to strategy. Her career spans extensive cross sector working from environmental NGO Friends of the Earth which she led the communications and fundraising directorate through to leading public sector campaigns as a founding Board director of leading strategic communications consultancy Forster. She has held numerous trustee roles including at food waste charity FareShare and as a founding trustee of restorative justice charity The Forgiveness Project.
Athena has extensive experience in UK and international patient participation and stakeholder engagement work around gynaecological cancers and specifically, cervical cancer prevention. She has led international patient participation events and presented research papers and evidence as part of ENGAGE (the European Society of Gynaecological Oncology) and BGCS (the British Gynaecological Cancer Society). She has sat on policy forums on women’s health strategy, cancer prevention and HPV, genomics (and genetic testing programmes around BRCA and Lynch syndrome) as well as national cancer strategy convened by NHSE, DHSC and Health Improvement Scotland. These include the DHSC-led HPV Self-Sampling In-Service Evaluation Board, a project team led by the National Screening Committee looking at clinical and cost-effectiveness modelling of HPV-based screening in vaccinated populations, and a Health Improvement Scotland reference group reviewing cervical screening standards. Athena represents Eve as part of the Hatfield Vision Group convened by the FSRH (Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health) and is co-chair of the ACCESS International Consensus Group on Cervical Cancer.
