We Have the Tools: Preventing Cancer Before it Begins

02/17/2026

Written by Tarah Green, NRG Patient Advocate Committee Member and Director & Founder of Tenaciously Teal

“We have the tools to prevent HPV-derived cancers. It is supposed to be about prevention, not diagnosing the cancer.” – Dr. Joan Walker

My oncologist, Dr. Walker, has always had a bold approach to medicine, and by bold, I mean conqueror. “As a researcher and gynecological oncologist, she has fought back for so many women and their families who have faced an awful disease. She’s helped tens of thousands, if not millions, in one form or another, navigate a cancer diagnosis. She has done so by evaluating best practices and informed her decisions from research and through a patients-come-first lens.

Her approach to HPV vaccination to prevent cancer is no different.

Her confident approach and tenacity to get it right come from care for her patients and understanding of the research that informs her practice and skills. Dr. Walker has dedicated her life to supporting cancer fighters and broke the difficult news to several families, and grieved goodbyes.

Dr. Walker’s world-renowned research, opinions, and dedication to best practices have always derived from a goal of preventing cancer and saving lives – “less goodbyes.”

One of the reasons Dr. Walker is passionate about the mission of NRG Oncology, and why I am too, is because of what the organization represents at its’ core. In simple terms, NRG Oncology is a global community of physicians, researchers, and patient advocates who are united by a shared responsibility: to improve the lives and outcomes of cancer fighters through practice-changing clinical research. These are professionals from around the world who collaborate and ask hard questions all with the goal of finding better ways to treat, and ultimately prevent, cancer. Their work doesn’t just live in laboratories or journals; it directly shapes how patients are cared for every day.

I share Dr. Walker’s passion and the mission of NRG Oncology because I want people to understand who is behind the recommendations shared in this article. These are not abstract institutions or distant researchers. These are physicians who have sat across from patients, delivered life-altering diagnoses, and devoted their lives to changing those outcomes. So, when someone like Dr. Walker speaks boldly about prevention, it is not theoretical – it is personal and informed. The research they have helped build has given us something extraordinary: the chance to prevent cancer.

What does research tell us about HPV & Cancer Prevention?

Cervical cancer is caused in most cases by persistent infection with certain types of Human Papillomavirus (HPV), a common virus that most people will be exposed to in their lifetime. What decades of research have shown us is that preventing those high-risk HPV infections prevents cancer itself. The HPV vaccine was developed as a direct result of that research. Scientists identified the specific HPV strains responsible for most cervical cancers, created a vaccine to protect against them, and then followed vaccinated populations over many years. The results have been clear and consistent: vaccination dramatically reduces HPV infections, precancerous cervical changes, and ultimately cervical cancer rates.

The American Cancer Society’s estimates for cervical cancer in the United States for 2026 are:
• About 13,490 new cases of invasive cervical cancer will be diagnosed.
• About 4,200 women will die from cervical cancer.

Dr. Walker believes “no one has to die from cervical cancer”. However, she emphasizes that prevention requires parents to begin conversations with their children’s pediatricians about HPV vaccination early. The HPV vaccine is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for children starting at age 9, giving families the opportunity to protect against HPV-related cancers years before exposure typically occurs.

While many people associate HPV only with cervical cancer, it is also responsible for cancers of the head and neck. Unlike cervical cancer, there is currently no routine screening test to detect HPV-related head and neck cancers early.

The good news: HPV vaccination can prevent most HPV-related cancers.

HPV vaccination helps prevent:

• Cervical cancer
• Vaginal cancer
• Vulvar cancer
• Anal cancer
• Penile cancer
• Head and neck cancers

I lost a dear friend to cervical cancer caused by HPV, so when the call went out for volunteers to write about cervical cancer prevention, I knew I had to step forward. I wanted to understand more – not just for myself, but for the families who might still have the chance to prevent this disease. I knew I had the rare opportunity to learn from someone I trust deeply, someone who has dedicated her life to cancer research and who believes strongly in the evidence behind HPV vaccination as a safe and effective way to prevent the virus from leading to cancer later in life.

The HPV vaccine exists because researchers asked hard questions, conducted clinical trials, and followed the data wherever it led. It exists because physicians and scientists believed cancer prevention was possible. Today, that research has given families something previous generations never had: the ability to prevent cancer before it begins. That is a powerful shift – from reacting to disease to stopping it before it ever takes hold.

“While NRG Oncology continues to advance the treatment of cervical cancer, the burden of this disease would be substantially lower if HPV vaccination were more widely adopted. The HPV vaccine is one of the most effective tools for cancer prevention, offering protection long before precancerous changes can develop. Decades of rigorous research demonstrate that vaccination markedly reduces the risk of HPV-related cancers, helping families avoid a diagnosis that is entirely preventable. Choosing vaccination is an informed, proactive step that aligns with our collective commitment to safeguarding the health of this generation and the next,” stated Dr. David Miller at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas.

Because of my experience as a patient and now as an advocate, I have come to trust the process of research and the people who have dedicated their lives to it. I know firsthand that the care I received and the life I get to live today exist because physicians like Dr. Walker and Dr. Miller. That same research has now given us something even more powerful than treatment. It has given us prevention.

That is why HPV vaccination matters.

It matters because it represents decades of scientific commitment, clinical trials, and physicians refusing to accept cancer as inevitable. It matters because it gives families the opportunity to protect their children and themselves from cancer. And it matters because awareness is what allows people to participate in their own healthcare decisions. If patients don’t know prevention exists, they cannot choose it. It doesn’t have to be the narrative of reacting to cancer after diagnosis. We can stop it before it begins.

Dr. Walker has spent her life treating cancer, sitting with patients and helping them navigate some of the hardest days they will ever face. Now, she is using her voice to help ensure fewer people ever must sit in that chair at all. Her relentless fight has shifted from conquering cancer to helping prevent it because she knows what is possible when research leads the way.

We have the tools.
We have the research.
We can change the story for the next generation.
It was always supposed to be about prevention.