Patti E. Gravitt
Associate Professor
Departmental Address
615 N. Wolfe St., Room E6148
Baltimore, MD 21205
Research and Professional Experience
Dr. Gravitt's research interests are primarily focused on the molecular epidemiology and detection/screening for human papillomaviruses (HPV) and cervical cancer. She has developed and validated gold standard PCR-based methods for the detection and quantitation of human papillomaviruses.
Dr. Gravitt is currently involved in several projects in the US and abroad:
1) The Community Access to Cervical Health (CATCH) Study is an evaluation of sustainable cervical cancer screening methods in peri-urban India, in collaboration with Dr. Keerti V. Shah, SHARE India/Mediciti Institute of Medical Sciences and the Center for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics. Field work completed, ongoing evaluation of cost-effectiveness of screening in rural India in collaboration with Dr. Shalini Kulasingham, Univ. of Minnesota.
2) The HPV in Perimenopause (HIP) Study is being conducted in collaboration with Drs. Anne Burke and Raphael Viscidi at Johns Hopkins Hospital-affiliated clinics in the Baltimore Metropolitan area. The HIP study aims to describe the natural history of genital HPV infection through the menopausal transition. Click here for a link to the website.
3) In collaboration with Drs. Ron Gray and Maria Wawer (JHSPH), Dr. Gravitt’s laboratory is investigating the effect of adult male circumcision on HPV prevalence in men participating in a randomized controlled trial in Rakai, Uganda.
4) In collaboration with Dr. Anna Yemelyanova, JHU-Pathology, Dr. Gravitt is investigating new markers for cervical neoplasia, including nitric oxide and HPV oncoproteins.
5) In collaboration with Dr. Bob Gilman (JHSPH, IH), Dr. Gravitt is investigating the possible influence of soil transmitted helminth infection on HPV prevalence and persistence in Peru.
Dr. Gravitt also has active collaborations with the basic sciences, including a study of the role of nitric oxide on HPV-associated carcinogenesis with Dr. Michelle Ozbun (UNM) and a study of the immunologic effects of female sex steroid combinations on immune response to HPV VLP in collaboration with Dr. Sabra Klein (JHSPH). Dr. Gravitt’s laboratory works closely with intramural investigators at the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (Drs. Phil Castle, Sophia Wang, Mark Schiffman, Allan Hildesheim, Jill Koshiol, Sandy Dawson, and Phil Taylor), evaluating HPV type and viral load from large cervical cancer screening studies (e.g., Mississippi Delta Project, ALTS, Costa Rica Vaccine Trial) and case-control studies of cervical neoplasia (SUCCEED) and esophageal cancer.
Keywords
Epidemiology,human papillomavirus; cervical cancer; molecular epidemiology; misclassification; viral etiology of cancer; pcr
Honors and Awards
2000 – 02 Cancer Research Training Award Pre-Doctoral Fellowship NCI, NIH
2002-3 Ho-Ching Yang Memorial Faculty Fellowship in Cancer Prevention
2009 AMTRA Award
Selected Publications
Click here for a full listing of Dr. Gravitt's PubMed citations.
Castle PE, Schiffman M, Wheeler CM, Wentzensen N, Gravitt PE. Impact of improved classification on the association of human papillomavirus with cervical
precancer. Am J Epidemiol. 2010 Jan 15;171(2):155-63. Epub 2009 Dec 10. PubMed PMID: 20007673.
Gnanamony M, Peedicayil A, Subhashini J, Ram TS, Christopher S, Gravitt P, Abraham P. Human papillomavirus types 16 and 18 mRNA levels and not DNA levels may be associated with advancing stages of cervical cancer. Int J Gynecol Cancer. 2009 Nov;19(8):1415-20. PubMed PMID: 20009900.
Gravitt PE, Kirk GD. Progress and pitfalls in defining the influence of highly active antiretroviral therapy on human papillomavirus-associated cervical disease. J Infect Dis. 2010 Mar;201(5):650-2. PubMed PMID: 20105079.
Marks MA, Gravitt PE, Burk RR, Studentsov Y, Farzadegan H, Klein SL. Progesterone and 17{beta}-estradiol enhance regulatory responses to HPV 16 VLP in
peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy women. Clin Vaccine Immunol. 2010 Feb 3. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 20130130.
Averbach SH, Gravitt PE, Nowak RG, Celentano DD, Dunbar MS, Morrison CS, Grimes B, Padian NS. The association bewteen cervical human papillomavirus infection and HIV acquisition among women in Zimbabwe. AIDS in press.
