Whitworth, Hilary

Hilary Whitworth (PhD) is an Assistant Professor in the Clinical Research Department at LSHTM, with an MSc in Epidemiology and a PhD in immunology. She has worked in infectious disease research for 12 years; for the past 8 years, her research has been based in Sub-Saharan Africa.

One of Dr Whitworth’s primary research areas of interest is HPV infection and HPV vaccination. She is a co-investigator of the ongoing DoRIS trial, which is comparing the safety and immunogenicity of 1 vs 2 or 3 doses of 2 different HPV vaccines in Tanzanian schoolgirls. Dr Whitworth is also a member of the PATH-convened Single-Dose HPV Vaccine Evaluation Consortium, which aims to collate and evaluate data from clinical trials, observational studies and modeling analyses regarding the value of single-dose HPV vaccination for protection against cervical cancer. Results from the DoRIS trial and the work of the Single-Dose HPV Vaccine Evaluation Consortium contributed to the evidence base supporting the World Health Organization’s recent change in recommendations that allow for 1-dose or 2-dose HPV vaccination up to 20 years of age.

Dr Whitworth’s research continues to have a key focus on generating evidence to support strategies and policies that will contribute to cervical cancer elimination. She is a co-investigator of a Tanzania-based cluster randomised trial (the ‘Add-Vacc’ trial) that is evaluating the population-level impact of a novel gender-neutral HPV vaccination strategy, offering one-time single-dose HPV vaccine to boys alongside the existing national HPV vaccination programme in girls. She is also the LSHTM co-lead of a newly-formed multi-partner collaboration, led by the International Vaccine Institute, that aims to increase our understanding of the burden and epidemiology of HPV infection in eight countries across Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia to inform decision-making on strategies to reduce HPV transmission and prevent cervical cancer in these areas.