Anne Szarewski (1 September 1959 – 24 August 2013) was a doctor who helped improve how cervical screening samples are tested and was involved in developing the

human papillomavirus Human papillomavirus infection (HPV infection) is caused by a DNA virus from the ''Papillomaviridae'' family. Many HPV infections cause no symptoms and 90% resolve spontaneously within two years. In some cases, an HPV infection persists and res ...

(HPV) vaccine.

Early life and education

Anne Szarewski was born in London in 1959, the only child of older Polish parents. She went to

Streatham and Clapham High School Streatham & Clapham High School is an independent day school for girls aged 3 to 18, in south London. The school was founded in 1887 by the Girls' Day School Trust, Girls' Public Day School Company, which established schools for girls providin ...

for Girls before studying medicine at London's

Middlesex Hospital Middlesex Hospital was a teaching hospital located in the Fitzrovia area of London, England. First opened as the Middlesex Infirmary in 1745 on Windmill Street, it was moved in 1757 to Mortimer Street where it remained until it was finally clos ...

, graduating MBBS in 1982."Appreciations - Dr Anne Szarewski"
''BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health''"Obituaries - Anne Szarewski"
''The BMJ''

Career

Szarewski began her career as a doctor at the

Whittington Hospital Whittington Hospital is a district general and teaching hospital of UCL Medical School and Middlesex University School of Health and Social Sciences. Located in Upper Holloway, it is managed by Whittington Health NHS Trust, operating as Whittin ...

and Royal Free Hospital. She then moved into family planning and sexual health, joining the

Margaret Pyke Margaret Amy Pyke (née Chubb; 1893–1966) was a British family planning activist and pioneer. A founding member of the British National Birth Control Committee (NBCC), later known as the Family Planning Association (FPA), she succeeded Lady ...

Centre in 1986. She trained in colposcopy at the

Royal Northern Hospital The Royal Northern Hospital was a general hospital on Holloway Road, London N7, near Tollington Way. It had inpatient, outpatient, accident and emergency facilities and was also a centre for postgraduate education. History The hospital was foun ...

under Mr Albert Singer. It was here she developed her interest in cervical cancer detection and screening. Her academic career began in 1992 at the Mathematics, Statistics and Epidemiology Laboratory of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, one of the forerunners of

Cancer Research UK Cancer Research UK (CRUK) is the world's largest independent cancer research organization. It is registered as a charity in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man, and was formed on 4 February 2002 by the merger of The Cancer Research Campaign and t ...

and continued after 2002 at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine,

Queen Mary University of London , mottoeng = With united powers , established = 1785 – The London Hospital Medical College1843 – St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College1882 – Westfield College1887 – East London College/Queen Mary College , type = Public researc ...

."A tribute to Anne Szarewski"
''Cancer Research UK scienceblog'' Szarewski became the editor of the ''Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care'' in 2003.

Research

Szarewski gained her PhD in ‘The effect of cessation of smoking on cervical lesion size and immune cell parameters’, where she showed that, in the absence of treatment, early signs of cervical disease that were picked up through screening in smokers were much more likely to disappear if women gave up smoking. While completing her PhD she also worked on HPV testing for cervical cancer with Jack Cuzick. Szarewski was the clinical lead on the study that showed that testing for the presence of HPV DNA in cells taken during cervical screening would pick up cases of pre-cancer that were missed by the routine test. This work was followed by a larger trial testing HPV screening – the HART study. Published in 2003, evidence from this played a role in the decision of the

International Agency for Research on Cancer The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC; french: Centre International de Recherche sur le Cancer, CIRC) is an intergovernmental agency forming part of the World Health Organization of the United Nations. Its role is to conduct and ...

(IARC) to recommended that HPV testing could be used in primary cervical screening in 2004. Szarewski was also a chief investigator, principal investigator and author on key HPV vaccine trials, helping to develop the bivalent HPV vaccine,

Cervarix Cervarix is a vaccine against certain types of cancer-causing human papillomavirus (HPV). Cervarix is designed to prevent infection from HPV types 16 and 18, that cause about 70% of cervical cancer cases. These types also cause most HPV-induced ...

Books

Szarewski wrote several books: *1988: Cervical Smear Test *1989: The Breast Book *1991: Hormonal Contraception *1994: Contraception *1995: A woman's guide to the cervical smear test *1996: The cervical smear test *1998: Contraception *2003: Contraceptive dilemmas *2004: Contraception *2006: Contraceptive dilemmas

Personal life

Szarewski married South African journalist Lester Venter when she was in her 40s. She loved reading, theatre, classical music and art exhibitions. According to a tribute in ''

The BMJ ''The BMJ'' is a weekly peer-reviewed medical trade journal, published by the trade union the British Medical Association (BMA). ''The BMJ'' has editorial freedom from the BMA. It is one of the world's oldest general medical journals. Origi ...

'',"Personal tribute - Dr Anne Szarewski"
''BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health'' Szarewski was a ‘lover of the  arts’. Classical music was her first love, with Richard Wagner her favourite composer, but she also enjoyed

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

– one colleague said she had visited the David Bowie exhibition at the

V&A museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

twice because she enjoyed it so much.

Death

Szarewski died unexpectedly in her sleep on 24 August 2013 at her home in

West Hampstead West Hampstead is an area in the London Borough of Camden in north-west London. Mainly defined by the railway stations of the same name, it is situated between Childs Hill to the north, Frognal and Hampstead to the north-east, Swiss Cottage ...

, five days before her 54th birthday. An inquest later found that she had died of acute haemorrhagic pancreatitis.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Szarewski, Anne People educated at Streatham and Clapham High School 1959 births 2013 deaths Academics of Queen Mary University of London 20th-century British medical doctors 21st-century British medical doctors 21st-century British women medical doctors English women medical doctors British people of Polish descent British medical researchers Cancer researchers Cancer research 20th-century English women 20th-century English people 21st-century English women 21st-century English people