Developing risk-assessment processes, diagnostics and monitoring guidelines to identify pre-cancer in the earliest stages and intercept with a spectrum of precision solutions, the Oral Cavity & Oropharyngeal Cancer/Cervical Cancer Venture team is working to intervene at just the right moment to stop these diseases before they start. The team is currently exploring the development of a vaccine to intercept these cancers.

Oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers, together, constituted the sixth most common cancer worldwide in 2009, with an estimated 500,000 cases around the globe.⁶ In the United States alone, more than 45,000 individuals are likely to be diagnosed with the condition this year and only slightly more than half will be alive in five years.⁷ Treatment for these conditions can include a combination of radiation therapy, surgery and chemotherapy and, in advanced stages, may result in disfigurement.⁸ In addition, cervical cancer was the fourth most commonly diagnosed cancer in women in 2012, with an estimated 527,600 new cases worldwide.⁹