Grad student in PEP program receives grant to fund Pap smears

Craig Strafford, a 2008 graduate of the College's MPH program, was awarded a $20,000 grant from Hologic LP in July 2008 to help detect cervical cancer in Ohio's Appalachian region. Planned Parenthood of Southeast Ohio is using the funds to convert its old method of collecting Pap smears through glass slides to one that uses a liquid-based technology. Hologic LP produces a liquid-based product called ThinPrep.

"The ThinPrep technique is more accurate and, in the long run, less expensive than conventional glass slide Pap smears," said Strafford, who also presented a preliminary report on the outcomes of the study at a national Planned Parenthood meeting in February 2009.

Strafford said he based his application for the grant on his MPH culminating research project titled "Planned Parenthood of Southeast Ohio Cervical Cancer Screening Improvement Project." He reduced 55 pages of research down to one page to meet the grant application's requirements. He also used methodology he learned in a Health Services Management and Policy course to "augment the application."

"The grant provides needed funding for the women in southeastern Ohio," Strafford said.

Strafford's academic advisor was Frank Holtzhauer, clinical associate professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, and his secondary advisor on his culminating project was Randi Love, clinical associate professor in the Division of Health Behavior and Health Promotion.