How Dr. Jissy Cyriac Partners with Community to Improve Cervical Cancer Screening

Sep 17 9:37am | Jasmine Souers | @jasminesouers

For Jissy Cyriac, M.D., improving cervical cancer screening starts with more than offering a test. It starts with understanding what may prevent someone from getting screened and listening to the communities the screening is intended to serve.

As a Community Health Assessment and Improvement Measures Program (CHAMP) Research Awardee, Dr. Cyriac is working alongside community partners to improve cervical cancer screening in underserved communities. Her research explores challenges to screening and how education, trusted relationships, and new screening options could help more people access screening and early detection.

For the past two years, Dr. Cyriac has partnered with Alliance of Chicanos, Hispanics, and Latin Americans (ACHLA) and Pamoja Women through the Rochester Healthy Community Partnership (RHCP). The team began by asking community members about their experiences and perspectives on cervical cancer screening.

They found gaps in knowledge about cervical cancer, including what causes it, how often screening is needed, and whether someone without symptoms still needs to be screened. Participants also emphasized the need for clearer explanations from health care providers about why screening is important and what to expect during an exam.

Those conversations changed Dr. Cyriac's own approach as a clinician. After demonstrating the equipment used during a Pap test to study participants, she began showing and explaining the equipment to her patients before performing the screening.

Community partners help shape the research

Community input has influenced not only what the team studies, but how the research is conducted and communicated.

While developing educational materials, for example, Dr. Cyriac included a scientific image showing changes to cervical cells. Her community partners pointed out that the image would have little meaning for many community members. An example of what a normal or abnormal test result might look like to a patient would be much more useful.

The experience was a reminder that information that makes sense through a clinical or scientific lens may not always be the most helpful way to communicate with the community.

“Community partners have really pushed me to think in the shoes of the people I'm trying to reach,” Dr. Cyriac said.

ACHLA and Pamoja Women are involved throughout the research process. As trusted members of their communities, they help connect the research team with participants, troubleshoot challenges, and provide support. They also work alongside the research team to analyze findings and share results.

“They are there every step of the way,” Dr. Cyriac said. “They are co-collaborators and co-investigators, and they bring an expertise that we do not have because we do not know those communities as intimately as they do.”

Dr. Cyriac and her team also make a point of showing up for their partners by participating in community events, providing health education and bringing research findings back to the communities that contributed to them. Dr. Cyriac describes the partnership as a “two-way street.”

Expanding access to screening and early detection

The team is now using what it has learned to explore another option for cervical cancer screening: human papillomavirus (HPV) self-collection, which allows women to collect their own sample using a screening brush.

The pilot pairs screening with accessible health education shared through trusted community partners. Dr. Cyriac hopes this approach gives women the information and confidence to make screening choices that fit their needs and advocate for themselves in health care settings.

Looking ahead, she hopes to explore how community-based screening could become a more consistent option, with community partners helping raise awareness and connect people to screening opportunities.

An important part of that work is ensuring that screening leads to appropriate follow up. For people who receive an abnormal result, particularly those who are uninsured or underinsured, the team is thinking about how to help ensure they can continue through the next steps in diagnosis and care.

By working alongside community partners, Dr. Cyriac and her team hope to reduce challenges to cervical cancer screening and help more people benefit from screening and early detection.