Vicki Benard, PhD

Vicki Benard, PhD, is the Branch Chief of the Cancer Surveillance Branch in CDC’s Division of Cancer Prevention and Control. Prior to assuming her current position, Dr. Benard was an epidemiologist and team lead in the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control’s (DCPC’s) Epidemiology and Applied Research Branch. Her research focuses on cervical cancer and human papillomavirus (HPV). She leads an educational intervention study examining HPV co-testing in Federally Qualified Health Centers in the Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program.

Dr. Benard did her undergraduate work in statistics and math at the University of South Alabama, and earned her doctorate in biometry and epidemiology from the Medical University of South Carolina. She first joined DCPC in 1998 as a contractor working with the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP) to conduct a needs assessment of epidemiologic capacity in cancer control. Two years later, she became a staff epidemiologist. Much of her research has examined cervical cancer control and screening practices within the NBCCEDP, and she is well published on these issues.

Dr. Benard is also the lead for the Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network, which is comprised of eight funded research institutions and one funded coordinating center to conduct community-based participatory cancer research across its network centers, crossing academic affiliations and geographic boundaries.

The most recent articles Dr. Benard has first-authored include—

• 2016 Population-based incidence rates of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia in the human papillomavirus vaccine era.
• 2016 Change in provider beliefs regarding cervical cancer screening intervals after an educational intervention.
• 2015 Erratum to: The effectiveness of targeting never or rarely screened women in a national cervical cancer screening program for underserved women.
• 2015 The effectiveness of targeting never or rarely screened women in a national cervical cancer screening program for underserved women.
• 2014 Vital Signs: Cervical cancer incidence, mortality, and screening—United States, 2007–2012.
• 2014 Overview of the CDC Cervical Cancer (Cx3) study: an educational intervention of HPV testing for cervical cancer screening.
• 2012 Cervical carcinoma rates among young females in the United States.
• 2012 Timeliness of cervical cancer diagnosis and initiation of treatment in the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program.
• 2011 Cancer screening practices among physicians in the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program.
• 2010 Follow-up for cervical abnormalities in a managed care plan, 1999–2004.
• 2008 Examining the association between socioeconomic status and potential human papillomavirus-associated cancers.
• 2008 Assessment of follow-up for low-grade cytological abnormalities in the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, 2000–2005.
• 2007 Cervical cancer incidence in the United States by area of residence, 1998–2001.