Cancer Science & Therapy

Gloria I Sanchez

Gloria I Sanchez, PhD
Associate Professor
University of Antioquia, Group Infection and Cancer Lab, USA

Biography

Gloria I. Sanchez is an Associate professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Antioquia in Medellin, Colombia and leader of the research group Infection and Cancer. She earned her Ph.D. in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2000 at which time she joined the University of Antioquia where she started a research program focusing on the area of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and Cancer. From 2004-2006, she completed Postdoctoral Fellowships at the Catalan Institute of Oncology in Barcelona, Spain, at the Department of Internal Medicine and Human Genetics at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Michigan. During postdoctoral training, she participated in a multicenter worldwide study defining the time trends of HPV infection in cervical cancer and defining the role of HPV on Head and Neck and other human cancers.

Research Interest

Since 2000 Dr. Gloria I. Sanchez has been conducting research on various aspects of HPV-induced carcinogenesis. High-Risk  Human Papillomavirus (HR-HPV) infection has been recognized as the necessary cause for cervical carcinoma. The lifetime incidence of cervical infection is estimated to be as high as 80% and almost 50% of women acquire HPV infection shortly after sexual debut but about 90% of these infections clear in around 1-2 years. Only infections that persist progress to dysplasia and cervical cancer.

Current research is designed to understand how cofactors can influence the probability of HPV to become a persistent infection with particular attention to 1. Understand the contribution of HPV 16 variants and cell-mediated immune response mechanisms as risk factors for HPV persistence and cervical carcinogenesis. 2. To find new biomarkers of HPV persistence and cervical cancer. 3. To study the clinical application of new molecular biomarkers for risk stratification of HR-HPV positive women.