Overview
Megan Huchko, MD, MPH, holds a dual appointment as an Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology and the Duke Global Health Institute. Dr. Huchko was an undergraduate at Duke before moving to New York City to complete medical school at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and residency training at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. She completed her fellowship in Reproductive Infectious Disease the University of California, San Francisco, and was a faculty member there.
Dr. Huchko practices as an ob/gyn generalist and specializes in cervical cancer prevention through her clinical work and global women’s health research. Her research focuses on optimizing the diagnosis and treatment of cervical cancer among vulnerable women in settings where health disparities occur. She has been working with the Family AIDS Care and Education Services (FACES) program in the Nyanza Province of western Kenya since 2006.
She designed and implemented a cervical cancer screening and prevention (CCSP) program for HIV-infected women enrolled in care at FACES. The CCSP program has provided a clinical resource, as well as a cohort to evaluate the epidemiology of cervical cancer among HIV-infected women, the feasibility of integrating cervical cancer prevention programs into HIV and general outpatient clinics, the safety of various diagnostic and treatment modalities, the efficacy of low-cost/low-resource screening modalities in HIV-infected women and provider and patient-level barriers and facilitators to uptake of cervical cancer prevention activities.
Currently, she is carrying out several large studies in central Uganda and western Kenya to evaluate the optimal implementation strategy for HPV-based cervical cancer screening in rural settings. At Duke, she leads the Center of Excellence in Global Women’s Health through the Global Health Institute and serves as Director for the Ob/Gyn Clinical Research Unit (CRU).
Current Appointments & Affiliations
Recent Publications
Applying the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills model to a video-assisted HPV intervention to promote self-screening uptake: a qualitative study in Western Kenya.
Journal Article BMJ Glob Health · May 6, 2025 INTRODUCTION: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the leading source of cervical cancer in Kenya. HPV, like other sexually transmitted infections, is stigmatised, which hinders efforts to address the disease. Education and empowerment are crucial in combating HP ... Full text Link to item CiteUpdated Review for Guidelines for Cervical Cancer Screening in Immunosuppressed Women Without HIV Infection.
Journal Article J Low Genit Tract Dis · April 1, 2025 OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this review was to examine new evidence since the authors' 2019 guidelines for cervical cancer (CC) screening in non-HIV immunocompromised persons and to provide updated recommendations based on literature review and expert opinio ... Full text Link to item CiteAutomated Image Clarity Detection for the Improvement of Colposcopy Imaging with Multiple Devices.
Journal Article Biomed Signal Process Control · February 2025 UNLABELLED: The proportion of women dying from cervical cancer in middle- and low-income countries is over 60%, twice that of their high-income counterparts. A primary screening strategy to eliminate this burden is cervix visualization and application of 3 ... Full text Link to item CiteRecent Grants
Technology-enabled Single-Visit Model for Cervical Cancer Prevention at the Community Level
ResearchCo-Principal Investigator · Awarded by National Cancer Institute · 2022 - 2027mSaada: a mobile application to strengthen community-based cervical cancer screening
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2022 - 2026United States-East Africa HIV-Associated Malignancy Research Center (USEAHAMRC) for Career Development and the Prevention, Early Detection and Efficient Linkage to Care for Oncovirus-related Cancers
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by University of California - San Francisco · 2020 - 2026View All Grants