By bridging the gap between clinical researchers and global policy-makers, Goldie has already enhanced the lives of tens of thousands of women and has the potential to do so on yet a broader scale.
“I am enormously honored to have received this award,” says Goldie. “As a physician trained in inner-city medical care, I have always been passionate about the power of public health and the power of science to make a difference. I consider it my responsibility to think hard about the best way I can leverage this support from the MacArthur Foundation to continue making a difference.”
Goldie graduated from Union with a major in biology and received her M.D. from Albany Medical College in 1988.
After completing her residency at Yale University-New Haven Medical Center, while still seeing patients, she received her M.P.H. in 1997 from Harvard University. She served as a
fellow at Harvard's Center for Risk Analysis for two years, and is currently an associate professor of health policy
and decision science in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health. In addition to her research interests, she is committed to integrating decision analytic methods into public health education curricula.
Goldie develops and validates computer-based models linking the basic biology of a disease and its epidemiology to outcomes in large populations. Her focus in the past several years has been on three viruses of major public health importance: HIV, hepatitis, and the human papilloma virus (HPV). Collectively, these three viruses-together with the conditions they lead to (AIDS, liver cancer, and cervical cancer, respectively)-are responsible for an enormous burden of disease, have a substantial impact on quality of life, are associated with both high medical and societal costs, and represent important public health challenges around the world. In recent years, Goldie has concentrated her efforts on identifying effective and cost-effective strategies to reduce the burden of cervical cancer, the most common cause of cancer death in women worldwide. Her work has informed cervical cancer screening guidelines in several countries, has contributed to debates around the potential of HPV vaccination, and has catalyzed key changes in
how public health leaders approach screening in the poorest countries.
Her landmark analyses show the promise of screening women once or twice in their lifetimes using HPV DNA testing or simple visual screening methods followed by treatment of precancerous lesions. These strategies are simpler, can be delivered by nonphysicians, are cost-effective-and they could potentially cut cervical cancer deaths globally by one-third. Goldie and colleagues have applied their work internationally, in the modeling of HPV vaccination in Costa Rica, and development of effective cervical health screening policies in such countries as Kenya, South Africa, Thailand, India, Peru, Haiti, Brazil, and Tanzania.