Advisory Board

Dr. Victoria Charlton is a Doctor of Public Policy and Ethics (PhD, King's College London) and a Visiting Fellow at LSE Health. She currently works as an independent researcher and advisor specialising in bioethics and healthcare priority-setting. Previously, she held senior policy roles, including Head of Policy at the Academy of Medical Sciences and Specialist to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee. Her work focuses on ensuring that health policy and funding decisions for innovative medical treatments are transparently and ethically justified. She is also a qualified Chartered Accountant with strategic experience in the life sciences sector.

Link to institutional profile.

Relevant area of expertise: Dr. Charlton specialises in the ethical justification of HPV prevention strategies, specifically examining how Health Technology Assessment (HTA) and policy decisions impact the funding, prioritisation, and societal acceptance of screening and vaccination programs.

Other relevant links: ORCiD | ResearchGate | LinkedIn

Prof. Eduardo Franco is a Distinguished James McGill Professor at McGill University and a world-renowned authority on the molecular epidemiology and prevention of HPV-associated diseases. He served as the Interim Associate Dean and Director of the School of Population and Global Health, and chaired McGill’s Department of Oncology for over a decade. His landmark research since 1985 was foundational in establishing HPV as a necessary cause of cervical cancer, directly influencing global vaccination and screening modernizations. An Officer of the Order of Canada and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, his work spans over 630 scientific articles and multiple lifetime achievement awards. He is the President-Elect (2024–27) of the International Epidemiological Association and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

Link to institutional profile.

Relevant area of expertise: Prof. Franco specializes in cost-effective cervical cancer prevention via HPV screening and gender-neutral HPV vaccination. He is a pioneer in using epidemiologic methods to evaluate cancer screening efficacy and the natural history of HPV infections across diverse global populations.

Other relevant links:  ORCiD