Investors pour billions of dollars into cancer research and treatment innovation each year. However, pennies on the dollar are directed toward rare cancers and cancers such as cervical cancer that disproportionately affects women and marginalized communities. In order for these fields to have sufficiently funded research that yield breakthrough advances, the healthcare industry needs novel funding models to target these fields, such as a cervical cancer research funding model. This is where the greatest innovation potential exists to close cancer equity gaps.

As a healthcare innovator, I’m bullish on cervical cancer research funding advances because the science is well-defined, critical unmet needs are well-documented and clear solutions exist for rapid application and profound impact.

Though cervical cancer is preventable, treatable and curable, it remains the fourth most common among women worldwide, demonstrating the need for increased cervical cancer research funding. Each year cases rise, with 660,000 new diagnoses and 350,000 deaths annually, with women of color and low-income communities and countries disproportionately impacted. It’s also among the lowest funded fields of cancer research. Patient outcomes reflect this funding shortfall: while five-year survival rates have improved dramatically for cancer overall in the last 50 years, cervical cancer outcomes have remained stagnant since the 1970s, underscoring the need for innovation in cervical cancer research funding.

My interest in this field is personal – I’m a technology executive who spent 10 years at Google developing and commercializing technology to advance industry. In 2020, I survived a deadly stage IIB cervical cancer diagnosis. My professional training illuminated the low-lift opportunities exposed in treatment and gave me the expertise to partner with field leaders to problem-solve together. By good fortune, my physician, world-renowned radiation oncologist Dr. Onyinye Balogun, also shares this point of view. This led us to found a cervical cancer innovation company, Mission-Driven Tech, in 2022.

Of all the challenges an early-stage MedTech company faces, securing cervical cancer research funding continues to be the greatest obstacle. As female-founders developing curative treatment hardware, the stakes are even higher.

Read the full article about cervical cancer funding by Eve McDavid at MedCity News.