Beverly Hills Doctor Recognized For Philanthropic Treatment

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — Dr. Patricia Gordon caught the bug for global philanthropic work early. But though she continued to travel, she couldn't figure out where to focus her philanthropy throughout her 27-year career as a radiation oncologist in Beverly Hills.

During a trip to Dakar, Senegal, doing research on a particular machine, Gordon found her focus when she learned about the global epidemic of cervical cancer. Some 350,000 women died of cervical cancer around the globe in 2020, according to the World Health Organization, consistent with numbers from years before.

Gordon would soon leave her private practice career to found CureCervicalCancer, a nonprofit organization that works to end the global cervical cancer epidemic by diagnosing and treating women around the globe through self-sustaining clinics.

"Ten years ago, I had no idea," Gordon told Patch. "I was clueless that 350,000 women were dying a painful, undignified, bloody, horrible death that was entirely preventable. Entirely preventable. And I'm an oncologist: Nothing is preventable that's a cancer, virtually."

The majority of global cervical cancer deaths occur in developing nations where women have no access to regular Pap smears and gynecological exams, unlike nations where such care is routinely available and cervical cancer death rates are low.

Cervical cancer is highly treatable with early diagnosis from screening for the human papilloma virus and or abnormal cervical cells, according to WHO.

Gordon opened her first clinic in Northern Ethiopia and has since created 105 clinics in 10 countries through CureCervicalCancer. The organization has treated nearly 9,000 women for cervical cancer and conducted more than 150,000 screenings.

The group just recently fulfilled its dream project, which will launch on Oct. 19: a mobile HPV testing van. The project felt like a longshot, considering the funding it required and the logistics of getting testing machines through customs. But since the pandemic stalled the organization's regular travel, it had more time to focus on bringing the difficult project to reality.

The WHO reported that 99 percent of all cervical cancer cases are linked to HPV. But HPV screening is much more difficult than the "see and treat" technique clinics currently use, which requires fewer tools than other methods of screening.

"You spray vinegar on the cervix. If the cervix turns a little white in a certain light, then 99 percent [of patients] will benefit from treatment," Gordon told CNN.

CureCervicalCancer did a study that found it only takes $6 to save a woman's life using the “see and treat” technique.

The Clinics

The nonprofit's early strategy was to show up with a couple of volunteers and hope for the best, which, Gordon said, worked at the time. But the organization now seeks to create clinics that can sustain themselves.

Before it opens a clinic, CureCervicalCancer will train a core group of community health care workers who will in turn find and educate patients in the area. A small group of “champion nurses” will go on to train more local nurses to conduct screenings.

Once cervical cancer is spotted, it can be treated using cryotherapy and thermocoagulation, two “quick, minimally invasive” treatment options, according to CureCervicalCancer. But finding and transporting the machines for these treatments has proven less simple, Gordon said.

One of the most significant challenges CureCervicalCancer faces when it opens a new clinic are language and cultural barriers. Having local nurses and community outreach personnel prepare for the opening of a clinic has proven essential.

Feeling completely present is one of the most special experiences for a clinic volunteer, Gordon said. Her favorite moment is just before a clinic day begins, when women line up — sometimes by the hundreds — waiting to be seen and treated, and Gordon knows what’s to come.

“Once you go on one of these programs, you are where your feet are," she said. "You are not on your phone. You're not checking your Instagram. You're 100 percent motivated to help take care of these women and make the process smooth.”

Recognition

Gordon was recently named a CNN Hero, which required an extensive process that took over a year and a half. It felt like applying to medical school all over again, Gordon said.

"The only thing that really matters is that the universe has shined a light on CCC. CNN has shined a light on CCC. So we are getting so much more visibility, and visibility hopefully will equate to dollars. Dollars equate directly to the number of women's lives that are saved."

Gordon is hoping the money will help the organization deploy more HPV mobile screening vans around the globe.