Purnima Madhivanan, MBBS, MPH, PhD
Purnima Madhivanan is an Associate Professor with Tenure in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. She holds joint appointments in the College of Medicine, Bio5 Institute, Comprehensive Center for Pain & Addiction, and is a member of the UA Cancer Center. She completed her medical training in India and received a MPH/PhD in Epidemiology from the University of California Berkeley. She completed her postdoctoral training at San Francisco Department of Public Health on Clinical Trials Management. She is currently the Director of the NIH funded Global Health Training Program at UA and serves as a co-PI for the GHES consortium in collaboration with Stanford, Yale and University of California, Berkeley. She also directs the Fogarty-Fulbright Fellowship program for University of Arizona. She is the Founding Director of Public Health Research Institute of India located in Mysore, Southern India.
Cancer Focus
Dr Madhivanan has extensive experience in conducting multi-site domestic and international clinical and translational studies funded by NIH, ICMR, Merck & Co., ViiV Healthcare to name a few. For the past 25 years, her research has focused on disadvantaged populations, elucidating the dynamics of poverty, gender, and the social determinants of health, in particular the impact on women and children living in rural and limited resource communities. She has worked in India, Peru, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Nigeria, Ethiopia, South Africa and in the US. Her current research is examining the intersection of infectious and chronic diseases with a focus on cancer. Her work has resulted in more than 200 peer-reviewed publications. Her current research focusses on the intersection of infectious diseases and cancer prevention. Her current work is examining the vaginal and gut microbiome and their role in women's reproductive health and cancer, implementation research on integrating cervical cancer screening using self-collection into HIV care settings and primary care settings globally. Dr. Madhivanan serves as an advisor to a number of state departments of Public Health, non-profit as well as governmental research organizations. Dr. Madhivanan has been a PI of multiple federal and foundation grants, as well as a mentor and investigator of numerous NIH, CDC, and industry-sponsored studies and clinical trials.