# Diane Harper

Diane Medved Harper is an American professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan. Her area of expertise is human papillomavirus (HPV) and the diseases associated with it, as well as colposcopy. She was one of the investigators for the clinical trials of two vaccines against HPV, Gardasil and Cervarix.

## Early life

Diane Lynn (née Medved) Harper was born to Dorothy Vivian (née Meyer) Medved and Mark Paul Medved; her father held a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering (Kansas State University). She grew up in Kansas City.

## Education

In 1976, Harper graduated from the Notre Dame de Sion School, Kansas City.
In 1979, she was awarded the Betsy Schumacker Woman Athlete of the Year, For Excellence in Athletic Competition by a Female Undergraduate, for crew rowing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Harper has a B.S., in Chemical Engineering (1980), from Massachusetts Institute of Technology
On 4 July 1981, her mother died, of breast cancer, while Harper was at graduate school. Harper later said:
   I've always been interested in women's healthcare, and that in part stems from my mother, who was very ill for many years, and who never seemed to feel that her concerns were heard or that her questions were answered by health professionals. As a patient, she also didn't seem to be getting the information she needed to make her medical decisions, and just felt generally dismissed. I had always known I wanted to be in science, but probably would have ended up in a very different field like engineering had it not been for my mother's experience, which motivated me to switch directions into medicine.
Harper has a M.S., Polymerics (1982), from Massachusetts Institute of Technology On Thanksgiving Day 1981, she decided to go to medical school instead of continuing to study engineering, telling her father that engineering was no longer her passion.
Harper has a M.D. (1986), from University of Kansas School of Medicine, where she did residencies in obstetrics and gynecology and Family Medicine.
Harper attended Stanford University and Harvard University for training in medical decision making and cost effectiveness analysis, towards a Public Health degree.
Harper has a M.P.H., Biostatistics and Epidemiology, from University of Kansas School of Medicine (1995).

## Career

From 1996 to 2009 she held a clinical, teaching, and research post at Dartmouth Medical School. From 2009 to 2013 she was a professor at the University of Missouri Kansas City's department of Biomedical and Health Informatics. From 2013 to 2017 she was a professor and chair of the department of Family and Geriatric Medicine at the University of Louisville. From 2018 to present (2024), she is a professor in the instructional track faculty in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School.
In 2016, Harper was appointed to the United States Preventive Services Task Force.
In 2018, Harper was appointed to the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI and the Physician director for Community Outreach, Engagement and Health Disparities at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center.

## Views on HPV vaccines

Harper has stated that Gardasil "is a good vaccine and ... is generally safe", and told the Guardian "I fully support the HPV vaccines ... I believe that in general they are safe in most women." However, since 2009 Harper has questioned the cost-benefit analysis of Gardasil in countries where pap smears are regularly available, and has stated that the vaccine has been overpromoted. In a 2011 NPR interview, she argued against mandatory HPV vaccines for schoolchildren, saying "Ninety-five percent of women who are infected with HPV never, ever get cervical cancer." In a July 2013 interview, she stated that she advocates personal choice and an individualized approach to HPV vaccination, saying that she provides "a balanced picture to my patients and their families and am not at all upset if they refuse the vaccine, especially at younger ages." Harper appeared on a December 2013 episode of Katie Couric's show Katie devoted to the HPV vaccine, and stated that newly developed pap screenings that combine HPV testing and cytology have a nearly 100% ability to detect pre-cancers and cancers; she also said that Gardasil doesn't last long enough to prevent cervical cancer and that there are some harms associated with it.
   "Even women who are vaccinated need to have regular Pap testing, as otherwise they are still at risk of developing cervical cancer. And women who decide not to have the vaccine can still protect themselves by undergoing Pap testing." - Diane Harper
Harper appeared at the International Public Conference on Vaccination, a conference held by the National Vaccine Information Center, a U.S. anti-vaccine group, apparently not realizing that it was an anti-vaccination event. She also appeared in The Greater Good, an anti-vaccine film.
Harper was interviewed for her opinions about prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human papillomavirus by the Institute for Healthcare Policy at the University of Michigan, where she works.

## Awards and honors

In 2006, while Harper was on the faculty and staff of Dartmouth Medical School, the New Hampshire Academy of Family Physicians named her the New Hampshire Family Physician of the Year.
In May 2013, Harper received the Prix Monte-Carlo Woman of the Year award in Monte Carlo for her contributions and discoveries defining the role of HPV in the pathology of cervical cancer.
In May 2013, Harper also received the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine Excellence in Education Award for her "excellence in education at every level from medical students, family medicine residents, residents in obstetrics and gynecology, national and international meetings, and to the public and national audiences via television, including an appearance on the Dr Oz show ...." The award also noted that Harper "helped establish the US national guidelines for the nomenclature of cytology and the screening and management of abnormal cytology and histology reports" and "consulted for the World Health Organization on the use of prophylactic HPV vaccines".
In October 2015, Harper was named the Alumna of the Year by the Notre Dame de Sion School, Kansas City.

## Publications

* Harper, Diane M.; DeMars, Leslie R. (July 2017), "HPV vaccines – A review of the first decade", Gynecologic Oncology, 146 (1): 196–204, doi:10.1016/j.ygyno.2017.04.004, PMID 28442134