The inaugural A V Hill lecture - Vaccines: from science to policy

Mon 25 February 2013

Chemistry, Department of

The Inaugural A V HILL Lecture by Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz
Vice-Chancellor, University of Cambridge

The third talk in a series of lectures organised by the Cambridge Philosphical Society in the Lent Term 2013

Abstract as follows:

Human papillomaviruses are responsible for 99% of cervical cancer. The relationship between the host immune response and the virus controls persistence, and hence the oncogenic potential of the agent in the vast majority of individuals. The occasional consequence is the establishment of malignant disease, which in turn requires therapeutic and preventative interventions.

Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz will outline the history of cervical cancer, its diagnosis and treatments over the centuries, and discuss the characteristics of human papillomavirus (HPV). He will consider how the discovery of an effective vaccine led as a matter of public health policy to a mass vaccination programme, and societal reaction.

Cost: free