# Karen Canfell

Source: https://onco.cc/people/karen-canfell/  
OnCo record `karen-canfell` (Person). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

An Australian cancer epidemiologist whose modelling put a date on cervical cancer elimination in Australia and who was first author of the pilot results of Compass, the trial behind the country's HPV-based screening.

## Summary

Karen Canfell's 2026 papers give the Cancer Elimination Collaboration at the University of Sydney's School of Public Health as affiliation. Two pieces of work tie the name to Australian cancer policy. As first author of the Compass pilot, run with the VCS Foundation in Victoria, the randomised evidence showed primary HPV screening finding more high-grade precancer than cytology in a population already partly vaccinated. As senior author of the 2019 Lancet Public Health modelling study, with Ian Frazer among the co-authors, the projection was that Australia's cervical cancer incidence could fall below four cases per 100,000 women around 2028, the threshold the national elimination strategy adopted.

## Fields

- Kind: Person
- Last checked: 2026-11-03
- Also known as: Canfell K
- Role: Cancer Elimination Collaboration, Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney
- Specialisms: Cancer epidemiology; Cervical screening; Modelling of HPV vaccination and screening

## Sources

- Canfell et al., Compass pilot (PLoS Medicine 2017): https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002388
- Hall et al., cervical cancer elimination in Australia (Lancet Public Health 2019): https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(18)30183-X

## Connected records

- institutions: [Australian Centre for the Prevention of Cervical Cancer](https://onco.cc/institutions/acpcc/)
- cancers: [Cervical cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/cervical/)
- fronts: [Prevention & Risk](https://onco.cc/fronts/prevention/)
- technologies: [HPV & HBV vaccination](https://onco.cc/technologies/hpv-vaccine/)
- trials: [Compass (primary HPV cervical screening trial)](https://onco.cc/trials/compass-cervical-hpv-screening/)
- people: [Ian Frazer](https://onco.cc/people/ian-frazer/)
- key papers: [Cervical screening with primary HPV testing or cytology in a population of women in which those aged 33 years or younger had previously been offered HPV vaccination: results of the Compass pilot randomised trial](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-canfell-compass-pilot-plos-med-2017/), [The projected timeframe until cervical cancer elimination in Australia: a modelling study](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-hall-cervical-elimination-australia-lancet-public-health-2019/)

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