Dr. Maura L. Gillison, Who Linked Throat Cancers to HPV, Dies at 61
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- Dr. Maura L. Gillison died June 21 at age 61 in her childhood family home in Willoughby, Ohio, from a rare cancer of the small intestine, according to her husband, oncologist Dr. David E. Symer
- Gillison became the first researcher in the early 2000s to definitively show that human papillomavirus (HPV) caused oropharyngeal cancers of the throat, tonsils, and base of the tongue
- Her findings overturned a nearly century-old consensus that the majority of head and neck cancers stemmed from cigarette smoking and excessive alcohol consumption
- Gillison joined MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston in 2017, where Dr. John V. Heymach, chair of thoracic/head and neck oncology, called her the most impactful head and neck medical oncologist for patients
- Many researchers initially dismissed HPV presence in head and neck tumors as laboratory contamination, a skepticism Gillison had to overcome with further evidence
- Unexplained rises in tonsil cancer cases during the 1970s and 1980s sparked her investigation into causes beyond tobacco and alcohol
Why it matters: Gillison's reframing of throat cancer as HPV-driven shifted prevention strategy toward vaccination and screening, potentially saving patients who would have been counseled only on smoking and drinking. Her death at 61 from a rare cancer — the same age range as many of her own patients — gives the research a personal dimension her peers have highlighted.
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