Biography

Dr. Kreimer received a Ph.D. in Infectious Disease Epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2003. She conducted post-doctoral research at the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, working on the largest case-control study to date on human papillomavirus (HPV) and oral cancer. She joined the National Cancer Institute as a research fellow, and in 2008 was appointed to the position of tenure-track investigator within the Infections and Immunoepidemiology Branch. In that capacity, she continues to focus her research on HPV and cancers at multiple sites, including the head and neck and anogenital region. Dr. Kreimer serves as an investigator on the Costa Rica Vaccine Trial, where she focuses on the evaluation of the HPV vaccine.

Research Interests

• Evaluating the role of HPV in cancers of the head and neck and other extra-cervical sites
• Describing the natural history and epidemiology of HPV infections at extra-cervical sites, particularly the oral region
• Determining the potential impact of HPV vaccination on extra-cervical infections
• Studying the long term impact of HPV vaccination

Human papillomaviruses are one of the principal infectious agents known to cause cancers in humans; it is estimated that approximately 5% of cancers worldwide are attributable to HPV infection. While it is well established that HPV is a necessary cause of cervical cancer, studies suggest HPV may also be a causative agent in a subset of oropharyngeal, penile, vulvar, vaginal, and anal cancers. Dr. Kreimer’s research focuses on the evaluation of the epidemiology and carcinogenicity of HPV at anatomic sites beyond the cervix. To that end, Dr. Kreimer conducts studies to evaluate the natural history of HPV infections at non-cervical sites and to assess the prospective association between HPV infection and risk of cancer at these sites.

With the advent and subsequent success of the HPV vaccine, a unique prevention opportunity has arisen for HPV-associated cancers, particularly for low-resource areas with no prevention alternatives such as screening. While likely that the HPV vaccine will protect against extra-cervical infections akin to the high prophylactic efficacy observed for cervical and vulvar infections, a direct evaluation of vaccine efficacy at these sites is lacking. To that end, Dr. Kreimer is actively involved in expanding the 7,500 women NCI-sponsored, community-based HPV Vaccine Trial (CVT) in Costa Rica to include the evaluation of efficacy at anatomic sites other than the cervix. In addition, Dr. Kreimer is responsible for the evaluation of the long term impact of HPV vaccination within NCI’s CVT trial.

Keywords

Human papillomavirus (HPV), HPV vaccination, HPV natural history, head and neck cancer, cervical cancer

Selected Publications

• Kreimer AR and Chaturvedi AK. Invited Perspective: HPV-associated oropharnygeal cancers—are they preventable? Cancer Prev Res. 2011; 4(9):1346-9.
• Kreimer AR, Rodriguez AC, Hildesheim A, Herrero R, Porras C, Schiffman M, Gonzalez P, Solomon D, Jimenez S, Schiller J, Lowy D, Quint W, Sherman M, Schussler J, Wacholder S, For the CVT Vaccine Group. Proof-of-Principle evaluation of the efficacy of fewer than three-doses of a bivalent HPV 16/18 vaccine.. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2011 Oct 5; 103(19):1444-1451.
• Kreimer AR, Gonzalez P, Katki HA, Porras C, Schiffman M, Rodriguez AC, Solomon D, Jimenez S, Schiller J, Lowy D, van Doorn LJ, Struijk L, Quint W, Chen S, Wacholder S, Hildesheim A, and Herrero R for the CVT Vaccine Group. Efficacy of a bivalent HPV 16/18 vaccine against anal HPV16/18 infection.. Lancet Oncology. 2011 Sept; 12(9):862-870.
• Kreimer AR, Villa A, Nyitray AG, Abrahamsen M, Papenfuss M, Smith D, Hildesheim A, Villa LL, Lazcano-Ponce E, Giuliano AR. The epidemiology of oral HPV infection among a multinational sample of healthy men. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev . 2011 Jan; 20(1):172-82.
• Kreimer AR, Bhatia RK, Messeguer AL, González P, Herrero R, Giuliano AR. Oral human papillomavirus in healthy individuals: a systematic review of the literature. Sex Transm Dis . 2010 Jun; 37(6):386-91.
• Kreimer AR. Oral sexual behaviors and the prevalence of oral human papillomavirus infection. J Infect Dis. 2009 May 1; 199(9):1253-4.
• D’Souza G, Kreimer AR, Viscidi R, Pawlita M, Fakhry C, Koch W, Westra W, Gillison ML. Case-control study of human papillomavirus and oropharyngeal cancer . NEJM. 2007; 356: 1944-56.