Cervical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death for women worldwide; 85% of deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), despite the fact that well-established interventions exist. This disparity persists primarily due to limited access to expensive diagnostics and few patients returning for treatment of pre-invasive disease. In this talk, Dr. Jenna Mueller will describe a combination of innovations that are at different stages in the translational pipeline to transform the management of cervical pre-cancer in LMICs. These innovations include the Pocket colposcope, a portable device to screen women for cervical pre-cancer at the primary care setting, and gel ethanol ablation, an accessible treatment that involves injecting ethanol into a lesion to cause necrosis.

Dr. Jenna Mueller works with the Center for Global Women’s Health Technologies at Duke University to develop accessible biomedical devices to improve the management of cervical cancer in low and middle-income countries. She received a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University for her work developing optical systems and automated algorithms to improve the accuracy of cancer excision during surgery.